The Qualities To Look For When Retaining An Attorney To Handle A Sex Crime Case

Interviewer: What are some things that you recommend that someone look for in a lawyer?  And at the same time, what are some red flags?

Fred Dry: The most important thing about seeking a lawyer for any type of the case is finding a lawyer who is willing to actually fight for you.  There are some lawyers who are looking for a shortcut, that is to say they’d rather negotiate a plea bargain than fight – and I’m not saying that plea bargains aren’t valuable but they aren’t valuable on every case – and sometimes if the plea bargain offer is very enticing to the defendant, maybe it indicates that the government has a lack of faith in their own case and they’re willing to take a very small payment for a very expensive product, so to speak.  That is to say if it appears too good to be true, maybe it is too good to be true. Maybe the deal is being offered because the case is not provable. So, if a lawyer says, “Well, I can get you a terrific deal”, how do they know before they’ve even been to court and reviewed all the facts and circumstances?

A Defense Lawyer Should Be Willing to Investigate the Case and Advise His Client Accordingly

The lawyer that a person hires should be a lawyer who is willing to investigate the case, make his own independent conclusion about how strong or how weak the case is and then, advise his client. At that point, the lawyer can explain why he is giving the advice, he can point to the specifics of the case whether the good or bad specifics, usually it’s both.  And then, the client’s in a position to make a decision based upon information not upon the feeling in their stomach. So, a lawyer who says, “I know exactly what’s going to happen on your case”, the first day you walk into his office, it’s kind of hard to understand how a person could know that much with so little information because at that point, they only have one side of the story.

If A Client is Truthful with His Attorney Regarding the Case, the Lawyer Can Make A Fairly Accurate Assessment of the Case’s Strength

While I believe that my clients do the best to tell me the truth, I believe that when I hear from the other side, I have a better idea of what transpired and sometimes, that helps my client remember things they didn’t remember when we first met. A lawyer who says “I know exactly what’s going to happen” on the first day he meets you, it makes you wonder how they can do that.

It is Advisable To Avoid An Attorney That Claims to Provide Guaranteed Results

Interviewer: It’ll be fair to stay away from a lawyer that offers a guarantee?

Fred Dry: A guarantee, I’ve had people come to me and say “I talked to the lawyer down the street and he gave me a guarantee”, and the question I always ask about the guarantee is how do you enforce that guarantee?  What’s being guaranteed?  Are you being guaranteed that you’re going to win or are you being guaranteed that you’re not going to go to jail?  Are you being guaranteed that you’re going to get probation?  What exactly is the guarantee?  Will you get your money back? The guarantee I give is that I’m going to do the best I can to win.

An Attorney Cannot Comment on the Potential Outcome of a Case Prior to Thoroughly Investigating the Case

If I can’t win, I’m going to get the best possible plea bargain that could be negotiated. But if the lawyer who gives you a guarantee that says “I’m going to keep you out of jail” and you go to jail, what happens then?  What is the lawyer’s going to do?  Is lawyer going to give you the money back?  Is he going to serve the jail sentence for you?  What’s going to happen?  The one who gives you a guarantee is the one who’s doing his best to guaranteeing that you’ll hire him.

The Penalties Associated with Possession of Child Pornography

Interviewer: What are some of the penalties that someone will be facing if they’re caught with like child pornography?

Fred Dry: A person with child pornography could get probation and that’s usually somebody who doesn’t have very many images.  Often times, the cases are looked at as more severe when you have more images, the more images you have the more severe the case is thought as being. How long you’ve been collecting the images? What other behavior you might have engaged in, that is along the same or similar lines, whether you’ve committed other crimes; if you’ve abused children somehow. If you have children in your home, that’s a further aggravation. Probation is not available to persons convicted of Criminal Sexual Assault or Possession of Child Pornography with images of children under 13 years of age. (730 ILCS 5/5-5-3(c)2(H)(V)

It Is Imperative For An Attorney To Be Meticulously Prepared To Defend A Falsely Accused Individual

Interviewer: How do typically start building a case for a defendant falsely accused of some sort of sexual assault?

Fred Dry: It’s simply defined by the words “Meticulous preparation”.  You have to research the facts, you have to research the law and you have to compare the law to the circumstances, the exact and specific circumstances you have talking to the witnesses, if necessary, using a private investigator to help you talk to the witnesses, to read case law, appellate and supreme court cases that have similar circumstances to see how they treat those circumstances.  And obviously, talking to your client and finding out what actually transpired, and that’s how you prepare a defense.

Most People Accused of Crimes Have Strong Opinions On Whether or Not they Should’ve Been Accused

Interviewer: Do you ever work with clients that feel so strongly about their innocence, that they try to represent themselves or try to talk?

Fred Dry: I think that most people who’re accused of crimes have strong opinions about whether or not they should have been accused.  Sometimes, a person has made a mistake and done something that might have been over the line. they may have committed a bad act but not with an intention to commit the bad act. So, that’s one way to approach it.  Did the person intend to commit this act that they committed or did they not actually commit the act that they’re being accused of committing or is it something they did that’s been misinterpreted?  And there are so many ways for these cases to arise and it’s hard to give you examples of all the possible ways.

A Criminal Defense Attorney Prepares the Best Possible Defense For Their Client in a Sex Crimes Case

Interviewer: Would you ever work with college or university students that they have put in this spot or been accused of some sort of sexual assault?

Fred Dry: I would work with anyone who’s been accused of a crime who wants me to defend them in a strong way. Obviously, if a person comes to me and they need a criminal defense lawyer, that’s what I do.

Allegations of Non-Consensual Sex Are Very Common in College or University Students

Interviewer: Is there kind of a situation for a student that maybe there is some party and there’s alcohol going on and they’ve been accused of maybe nonconsensual sex?

Fred Dry: That’s a very common way for these types of cases to arise.  And the question in those becomes was there consent there or was there not consent.  I can only say that I’ve had numerous cases where my client has been accused of some sexual offense where it’s started out as consensual and something happened during the course of their encounter or thereafter where the consent was withdrawn after the act occurred but the complaint was nevertheless made to the authorities and they accepted it and it becomes our job to show that there had been consent.

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