False Accusation of Sexual Assault Lawyer Maryland

A person who says an accusation of sexual assault is untrue occupies an uncomfortable position, because a denial by itself changes nothing about how a Maryland case proceeds. The investigation still runs. Devices still get examined. The matter still moves toward a decision about charges, and later toward a courtroom, on the strength of the record rather than the strength of the denial. The question that governs the case is not how wronged the accused feels. It is what the State can prove.

Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., founded in 1997, represents people in Maryland who dispute an accusation of sexual assault. An accusation is not proof. The State must prove every element of the offense charged, and those elements are specific. Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-304 defines rape in the second degree as a felony carrying up to 20 years and reaches conduct without consent; conduct where the victim is substantially cognitively impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless and the actor knows or should know that; and conduct where the victim is under 14 and the actor is at least 4 years older. Each of those routes has parts that the State must establish.

The firm claims no ability to tell a true accusation from an untrue one, and no lawyer has that ability. The work is the record: what it contains, what it omits, and what it can support. Request a consultation through the firm’s 24/7 phone intake at (888) 437-7747.

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An Accusation Is Not Proof: What the State Must Establish

Maryland sexual offense statutes are built from elements, and each element is a separate thing the State must establish. A denial does not defeat an element. Evidence bearing on an element does.

Consider the structure of § 3-304. Rape in the second degree is a felony carrying up to 20 years, and the statute reaches distinct routes: conduct without consent; conduct where the victim is substantially cognitively impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless and the actor knows or should know that; and conduct where the victim is under 14 and the actor is at least 4 years older. A case built on the second route depends on the complainant’s condition and on what the accused knew or should have known, which are questions about observable circumstances rather than about who sounds more sincere. A case built on the third route depends on ages, which are documentary.

The graded structure of the offenses matters as well. Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-303 defines rape in the first degree, a felony carrying imprisonment not exceeding life. Sexual offense in the third degree under § 3-307 is a felony carrying up to 10 years. Sexual offense in the fourth degree under § 3-308 is a misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year or a $1,000 fine. Where a minor is involved, § 3-602 addresses sexual abuse of a minor as a felony carrying up to 25 years, and § 3-324 addresses sexual solicitation of a minor. Which provision an accusation implicates determines what the State has to establish and what a conviction would carry, including the tier I, tier II, and tier III classifications set out in Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-701.

Defense work in this posture is unglamorous. Counsel gathers the documentary record: messages in full rather than in excerpt, location and timestamp data, transportation and payment records, building and workplace access logs, and the statements of people who were present or nearby. Counsel tracks how the account developed across each retelling. None of that establishes a state of mind. It tests whether the elements the State must prove find support in anything beyond the account itself.

How Mr. Sris and the Firm’s Of Counsel Attorneys Handle These Cases

Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys work a disputed accusation through the record rather than through arguments about credibility in the abstract.

Counsel takes a full account from the client once, carefully, and in writing. A version told in fragments to relatives, coworkers, and investigators produces inconsistencies that have nothing to do with truthfulness and everything to do with retelling. The firm captures the account early and completely, including the unflattering parts, because a defense built on a partial account fails when the missing part surfaces.

Counsel reconstructs the timeline from documents. Messages, call logs, location data, ride-share and payment records, door-access logs, and third-party schedules describe where people were and when. Those records expire on their own schedules, so the firm identifies and preserves them early.

Counsel maps how the accusation developed. The initial report, the recorded forensic interview, follow-up statements, and messages between the complainant and others show what was said first and how it changed. The firm treats that development as evidence about the record, not as a judgment about the person who made the accusation.

Counsel examines the elements in turn. For a charge under § 3-304, the analysis separates the consent route from the incapacity route and from the age route, because they call for different proof. For § 3-308, a misdemeanor carrying up to 1 year or a $1,000 fine, both the exposure and the analysis look different than they do under § 3-602, a felony carrying up to 25 years.

Counsel prepares for the collateral proceedings that arrive regardless of the criminal outcome, including employment and school matters that run on their own tracks. The firm handles the criminal case and advises on how conduct in those parallel proceedings can affect it.

The Attorneys Who Handle Disputed Accusations in Maryland

Mr. Sris founded the firm in 1997 and holds the title Owner and Founder. He is a former prosecutor. He is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York.

Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys share these files. The division of labor follows the record: part of the work is documentary reconstruction, part is analysis of the statutory elements, part is correspondence with investigators and the prosecutor, and part is preparing the client for the proceedings that follow. The firm’s Of Counsel attorneys contract directly with the firm.

The firm practices in criminal defense and concentrates in Maryland matters involving allegations of sexual offenses, including those addressed by Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-303, § 3-304, § 3-307, § 3-308, § 3-602, and § 3-324, along with the classifications set out in Md. Code, Crim. Proc. § 11-701. Md. Code, Crim. Law §§ 3-305 and 3-306 were repealed and are not current law, though they still appear in older material.

The firm makes no claim about its ability to determine what happened between the people involved. It takes the client’s position as the client states it, tests the record against the elements the State must prove, and prepares the case the record supports. The firm maintains 24/7 phone intake. Request a consultation at (888) 437-7747.

Frequently Asked Questions

I did not do this. Why do I need a lawyer at all?

Because the case proceeds on the record rather than on the denial. Investigators are already gathering material, and a person who is confident of innocence often speaks freely, agrees to searches, and assumes the matter will resolve itself. Those steps shape the file a prosecutor later reads. Counsel works to see that the record includes what supports your account: messages in full rather than in excerpt, documents that fix a timeline, and witnesses who were present. Counsel also handles contact with investigators, so that the account you give is complete and considered rather than improvised under pressure.

Can I just tell investigators the truth and expect the matter to end?

Telling the truth is not the same thing as resolving an investigation, and a truthful account given without preparation can still cause harm. You do not know what investigators already hold. An honest answer about a date, a location, or a sequence of events can conflict with a timestamp or a message you have forgotten, and that conflict enters the file as an inconsistency rather than as an ordinary lapse of memory. Counsel can arrange for your account to be given, if giving it serves you, in a form that is accurate, complete, and checked against the documentary record first.

What does it mean that the State must prove every element?

Maryland offenses are defined by parts. Md. Code, Crim. Law § 3-304, for example, reaches distinct routes: conduct without consent; conduct where the victim is substantially cognitively impaired, mentally incapacitated, or physically helpless and the actor knows or should know that; and conduct where the victim is under 14 and the actor is at least 4 years older. The State must establish the elements of whichever route it charges. A defense therefore does not consist of asserting that the accusation is untrue. It consists of showing what the record does and does not support as to each part of the offense charged.

The accusation has already cost me my job and contact with my children. Can the firm address that?

The firm handles the criminal matter. Employment actions, school disciplinary proceedings, and family court matters run on separate tracks with their own timelines, and they often move faster than a criminal case. What happens in them can affect the criminal matter, because statements made in a workplace interview or a family proceeding can reach investigators. Tell counsel about every parallel proceeding as soon as it starts, and take no position in any of them without discussing it first. Counsel advises on how those proceedings interact with the criminal file and coordinates with separate counsel where a matter calls for it.

What records should I gather while the case is pending?

Gather everything, and delete nothing. Full message threads with the complainant and with anyone you spoke to about the events, including the parts that do not flatter you. Call logs. Photographs as original files rather than screenshots, since the metadata lives in the original. Ride-share, taxi, and payment records. Building or workplace access logs. Names and contact details of anyone present at the time or in the days around it. Employment schedules. Then stop discussing the case with anyone other than counsel, because each retelling creates another version that can be set against the ones before it.

This page provides general information and does not create an attorney-client relationship. Case results depend on a variety of factors unique to each case. Results may vary.

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