The Miami Herald reported that a North Miami man would be spending his 60th birthday in Miami-Dade’s Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center after being arrested on September 27. The man was being held with no bond after being charged with seven counts of sexual battery on a child between the ages of 12 and 16.
WPLG-TV reported that the arrest affidavit stated that the alleged victim told police that the man had sex with her three times, most recently at a hotel in the summer with the other two incidents occurring in the living room and guest bedroom of the man’s house. Police told WPLG that the man admitted that he went to the hotel with the alleged victim but denied having sex with her.
Sexual Battery Defense Attorney in Miami, FL
Sexual battery is more commonly known as rape, and any person who is arrested or even thinks that he or she might be under investigation for any kind of sex crime should say nothing to authorities until he or she has legal counsel. Even when a person is completely innocent, misstatements can be used against alleged offenders in a subsequent prosecution.
Sexual battery is a felony offense in Florida that is aggressively prosecuted. Florida Statute § 794.011 defines sexual battery as “oral, anal, or vaginal penetration by, or union with, the sexual organ of another or the anal or vaginal penetration of another by any other object.”
Offenses involving minors are generally classified as follows:
- If an alleged offender 18 years of age or older commits sexual battery upon an alleged victim 18 years of age or older, without the alleged victim’s consent, and in the process does not use physical force and violence likely to cause serious personal injury, sexual battery is a second-degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 15 years in prison;
- If an alleged offender commits sexual battery upon an alleged victim 12 years of age or older, without that alleged victim’s consent, and in the process does not use physical force and violence likely to cause serious personal injury and the alleged offender was previously convicted of a qualifying sex offense, sexual battery is a first-degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 30 years in prison;
- If an alleged offender 18 years of age or older commits sexual battery upon an alleged victim 12 years of age or older but younger than 18 years of age, without that alleged victim’s consent, and in the process does not use physical force and violence likely to cause serious personal injury, sexual battery is a first-degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 30 years in prison;
- If an alleged offender 18 years of age or older commits sexual battery upon an alleged victim 12 years of age or older, and the alleged victim was physically helpless to resist, the alleged offender coerced the victim to submit by threatening to use force or violence likely to cause serious personal injury on the victim, the alleged offender coerced the victim to submit by threatening to retaliate against the victim, or any other person, the alleged offender—without the prior knowledge or consent of the alleged victim—administered or has knowledge of someone else administering to the alleged victim any narcotic, anesthetic, or other intoxicating substance that mentally or physically incapacitated the victim, the alleged victim is mentally defective, the alleged victim was physically incapacitated, or the alleged offender was a law enforcement officer, correctional officer, or correctional probation officer, sexual battery is a first-degree felony punishable by a fine of up to $10,000 and up to 30 years in prison;
- If an alleged offender less than 18 years of age engages in any act with an alleged victim less than 12 years of age which constitutes sexual battery or, in an attempt to commit sexual battery, injures the sexual organs of the alleged victim less than 12 years of age, sexual battery is a life felony punishable by a fine of up to $15,000 and up to 30 years or life in prison;
- If an alleged offender commits sexual battery upon an alleged victim 12 years of age or older, without that person’s consent, and in the process thereof uses or threatens to use a deadly weapon or uses actual physical force likely to cause serious personal injury, sexual battery is a life felony punishable by a fine of up to $15,000 and up to 30 years or life in prison; and
- If an alleged offender 18 years of age or older commits sexual battery upon, or in an attempt to commit sexual battery injures the sexual organs of, an alleged victim less than 12 years of age, sexual battery is a capital felony punishable by death.
If you believe that you might be under investigation or you were already arrested for an alleged rape anywhere in the greater Miami-Dade County area, it is in your best interest to immediately contact The Hoffman Firm. Miami criminal defense lawyer Evan Hoffman can fight to possibly get your criminal charges reduced or completely dismissed.