Have you been ARRESTED or contacted by the Police, a Detective, FBI, or CPS?
Sexual battery (sometimes called “sexual assault”) is one of the most common sex crime charges prosecuted by the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office. If you are convicted, you can expect harsh penalties that affect every aspect of your life from your freedom to your job and even where you’re able to live.
It’s important to note that an arrest or charge isn’t a conviction. But you shouldn’t attempt to handle this with an inexperienced attorney or one who hasn’t handled many sex crimes charges before.
Los Angeles sexual battery defense lawyer Ninaz Saffari and her team are prepared to fight for you and your future. Call Saffari Law Group today for a confidential consultation: (213) 460-4922.
Quite simply, this offense involves you (allegedly) touching the purported victim’s intimate body part in some harmful or offensive manner (i.e., without their legal consent), per California Penal Code section 243.4.
However, this can range from something as relatively innocuous as patting their buttocks to an act as relatively egregious as fondling genitals. Whatever degree of contact, it must result from a sexual motive – i.e., gratification, pleasure, arousal, etc.
Section 243.4 covers the following variations of this crime:
If you’ve previously been convicted of felony sexual battery, and you are now convicted of sexually battering a minor, you’ll definitely be charged with a felony. Pen. Code § 243.4(j).
This offense, found in California Penal Code section 243.4(c), involves sexually battering the victim by using fraud (e.g., misleading someone into thinking the touching serves a medical purpose, such as a physical examination).
This is a “Wobbler” offense (California Penal Code section 17(b)), which means the DA’s Office can charge it either as a felony or misdemeanor, depending on factors too numerous to discuss at length here, but which typically involve your prior criminal record (if you have one), the age of the purported victim, the degree of harm done to them, and so forth.
The Saffari Law Group is often able to resolve these types of cases in a highly favorable manner when we are involved early enough in the process, such as:
By a highly favorable resolution, we mean:
This often requires a great deal of investigative work in a very short time but the results are often better than you expected.
If you’re convicted of misdemeanor sexual battery, you’ll face up to one year in jail. A felony will get you a range of two, three, or four years in a state penitentiary.
The same exact “wobbler punishments” apply if:
Otherwise, sexual battery is charged as a misdemeanor with a maximum six-month jail sentence, including if the victim is your employee.
Finally, if you’ve previously been convicted of felony sexual battery, and you are now convicted of sexually battering a minor, this second felony conviction will get you 2, 3, or 4 years in a state penitentiary.
If the sexual battery was achieved by fraud, you can be charged with a misdemeanor or a felony, in which case you’ll face, respectively, a maximum of 12 months in jail, or a prison sentence of 2, 3, or 4 years. Pen. Code § 243.4(c).
The most severe consequence of even a misdemeanor sexual battery conviction – which is classified as a “Tier One” registerable sex offense – is a decade-long registration requirement, pursuant to California’s Sex Offender Registration statute (California Penal Code section 290).
This mandatory registration period can stretch out over your entire lifetime if you’re convicted of felony sexual battery, which is classified as a Tier Three registerable offense. This means that:
If you fail to do so even once, you’ll face misdemeanor or felony charges (depending on why you’re on the registry).
The defense we use depends on the specifics of your case, but may include:
We use Ninaz’s experience with 7,000+ cases to determine the best defense for you and your case. Get started with our Los Angeles criminal defense lawyer today: (213) 460-4922.
A sex crimes accusation can leave you feeling afraid and helpless, but you have hope. You have Saffari Law Group. Ninaz Saffari and her team will protect you and your future. We offer aggressive representation and a single-minded dedication to our clients. In addition to building an airtight defense against your charges, we advocate for you and ensure your rights are protected.
We also offer you compassion, not judgment. We know you may be feeling alone, so we stay in touch frequently, ensuring you are informed and have someone to talk to.
The following are only three examples of cases Saffari Law Group has handled which involved pending or prospective Sexual Battery cases, or which resulted in a sexual battery conviction after an extremely favorable plea agreement.
Charge: 2 counts Forcible Rape (Strike enhancements); max sentence: almost 48 yrs.; Result: plea to misdemeanor Sexual Battery – no additional incarceration
People v. R.T.: Our client, “Ralph”, had been falsely accused by a former girlfriend of brutally raping her on two separate occasions. As a result, he was facing several counts of Forcible Rape with each charged as a Strike.
Maximum sentence: almost five decades in a state penitentiary.
Unfortunately, Ralph had voluntarily made incriminating statements when interrogated by police. However, he was adamant that he had been falsely accused and, therefore, had no intention of accepting any type of felony deal.
So we took the case to trial. But for Ralph’s incriminating statements, he would likely have been acquitted because the accuser had consistently contradicted herself regarding the allegations during numerous interviews with the authorities. As a result, the jury hung 6-to-6.
So we went through a second trial. This time, however, the prosecutor realized that the accuser had contradicted what she had testified to during the first trial, thanks to our expert cross-examination.
We also presented medical experts to prove that the prosecution’s DNA evidence was insufficient. The Deputy DA therefore made Ralph an offer that even he couldn’t turn down (which still technically counts as a “win” – i.e., a criminal conviction – for the DA’s Office).
Result: Ralph plead to a single charge of misdemeanor Sexual Battery with no jail time, and no sex offender registration.
Pre-File: Client investigated for felony Sexual Battery with charges imminent; Result: DA’s Office declined further prosecution
People v. J.K.: Client hired us on a “Pre-File” basis after he found out sex crimes detectives from LASD were investigating him for the alleged Sexual Battery of a member of a WeHo hotel’s cleaning staff.
The client was a visiting professional from the East Coast and, therefore, had no idea how he was going to manage appearing at court hearings or, God forbid, spending time in jail.
Fortunately, he hired us. The first thing we did was notify the detective that we were representing the client and, therefore, all further attempts to contact him should go through us.
The second thing we did was pull the surveillance footage from the hotel that corroborated the client’s claims.
The third thing we did was have him take a polygraph examination from a top expert whose reputation within the law enforcement community was above reproach (not least of all because he had been a reserve sheriff’s deputy for over three decades). Fortunately, the results corroborated his claims of innocence, as well.
With all of this exculpatory information and evidence, we met with the detective and convinced him of the truth – i.e., that the entire incident was simply one major misunderstanding. Unfortunately, however, the detective had already forwarded the matter to the DA’s Office for prosecution.
Fortunately, the detective accompanied us to meet with the assigned Deputy DA, who, after reviewing our exculpatory package, agreed that criminal charges should not be filed.
Result: DA’s Office declined to file a criminal complaint; client went back home a free man.
Pre-File: Client arrested for felony Sexual Battery; result: declination of charges
People v. D.R.: Our client was investigated and arrested (by LAPD). Fortunately, he hired us on a Pre-File basis only days after the DA’s Office received the file from the investigating detective, but before the criminal complaint was filed.
We dove in head-first with our top private investigator to put together an exculpatory package. Based on the circumstances at the time, we decided to initially meet only with the detective to bring him around to our position of innocence.
Not only did that happen, but to his credit, the detective actually called the assigned prosecutor to let him know that the arrest should never have happened because our client was innocent. Fortunately, the prosecutor agreed after reviewing our package.
Result: Declination of charges – no criminal complaint was ever filed.
Are you being investigated for a sex crime? Call our Los Angeles sexual battery defense lawyer right away. Our team can investigate your case, determine your options, and get to work on your defense immediately.
Call Saffari Law Group today for a confidential consultation: (213) 460-4922.