False Accusation of Sexual Assault Lawyer New York

Saying an accusation is false does not, by itself, create a legal position. New York’s Penal Law contains no section for a denial, and a criminal case is not resolved by the strength of a person’s insistence that the conduct never happened. What the denial does is set the terms of the defense work: the accusation has to be tested against the statute the prosecution has chosen, element by element, and the record that exists has to be located and preserved before it degrades.

An accusation is not proof of anything. Under Article 130 of the New York Penal Law, the prosecution must prove every element of the offense it has charged, and lack of consent is among those elements in every Article 130 case under N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05. That is the structure a defense is built inside. It is a structure that operates regardless of how the accusation came to be made, and it does not require anyone to characterize the motives of the person who made the report.

Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C. has represented people facing criminal charges since 1997. Mr. Sris, Owner and Founder of Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., is a former prosecutor, and he and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys begin the same way in every one of these matters: by reading the accusation closely, identifying the section it points toward, and mapping what the prosecution would have to establish under that section. Request a consultation by calling (888) 437-7747.

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The Range of Article 130 Charges and What a Record Actually Contains

Article 130 is wider than the phrase sexual assault suggests. Forcible touching under N.Y. Penal Law § 130.52 is a class A misdemeanor. Sexual abuse in the first degree under § 130.65 is a class D felony. Rape in the third degree under § 130.25 is a class E felony, and its subdivisions seven through nine reach contact without consent where the lack of consent arises from a factor other than incapacity. Rape in the first degree under § 130.35 is a class B felony and a sexually violent offense under Correction Law § 168-a(3), the section that supplies the definitions used for sex offender registration.

The article also reads differently than it did for many years. L.2023 c.777 repealed N.Y. Penal Law §§ 130.40, 130.45 and 130.50 outright, so the criminal sexual act degrees are no longer part of the Penal Law and should not be treated as current authority. The conduct terms changed with them. Under § 130.00, vaginal sexual contact means contact between the penis and the vagina or vulva, with no penetration element, while oral sexual contact and anal sexual contact are defined separately, and the penetration-based term sexual intercourse was deleted from the article. The effective date of the restructure is not settled: the act states January 1, 2024, but it was signed January 30, 2024, and that discrepancy has not been resolved. The date of the alleged conduct governs which version of the article applies to a given matter.

The record in these matters is usually assembled rather than found. Messages exchanged before and after the alleged conduct, building and transit access data, ride and payment records, call logs, and the accounts of people who were present in the hours around the allegation are the ordinary material of a defense investigation. Much of it is held by third parties on retention schedules that were never designed with a criminal case in mind. Memory is also a variable that runs in every direction, including for the accused person, which is one reason contemporaneous records carry the weight they do. None of this is a matter of characterizing the person who made the report. It is a matter of establishing what independently verifiable information exists about a period of time, and then comparing that information to what each account describes.

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

Work opens with scoping the exposure. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys identify which Article 130 section the allegation is being pressed toward, which route to lack of consent under § 130.05 the prosecution appears to be relying on, and whether the alleged conduct even matches the conduct definitions in § 130.00 as they now read. Those questions frequently produce a narrower or different picture of the charge than the one a client arrived with.

Protecting the client’s own position while the matter develops runs alongside that. A person who believes the accusation is false often wants to explain the situation to investigators, to an employer, or to the person who made the report. Each of those impulses carries consequences that are difficult to unwind. Counsel becomes the channel for communication so that the client is not building the prosecution’s timeline through informal contact.

Investigation follows, and it is time-sensitive. Preservation letters go out to custodians of records that will otherwise be overwritten. Devices belonging to the client are handled so that nothing is lost and nothing looks as though it was removed. People who were present are identified and their accounts documented while the sequence of the evening is still recoverable.

Preparation for the forum the matter may reach proceeds throughout. That means motions practice where the record supports it, engagement with the prosecution where engagement is productive, and trial preparation from the beginning rather than after negotiations stall. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys do not offer clients a prediction of outcome. What they offer is a defense organized around the elements of the charged section and the material that can be documented.

Background of the Attorneys

Mr. Sris is the Owner and Founder of the firm, which has practiced since 1997. He is a former prosecutor. That experience shapes how a file is read on the defense side: what a charging decision rests on, which parts of a report are conclusions rather than observations, and what remains to be established before a matter is ready to move. He is admitted in Virginia, Maryland, the District of Columbia, New Jersey, and New York.

The attorneys who work with him serve in an Of Counsel capacity and contract directly with the firm. Mr. Sris and the firm’s Of Counsel attorneys handle matters of this kind collectively, which allows statutory analysis, record collection, and motions work to proceed in parallel rather than sequentially. Clients are told which attorneys are assigned to the matter and how responsibilities are allocated, so that the person handling a court appearance is not learning the file on the way to the courthouse.

Intake is reachable through a 24/7 phone intake line, and consultations are scheduled by appointment. A caller who has been accused but not charged is in the same position as a caller who has been arraigned in one respect: the sooner the record is examined, the more of it is still there to examine. Request a consultation by calling (888) 437-7747.

Frequently Asked Questions

What changes legally when the accused person says the incident never happened?

Legally, the charge is analyzed the same way it would be in any other Article 130 matter. The prosecution still has to prove every element of the section it charged, including lack of consent under N.Y. Penal Law § 130.05. A denial does not create a separate category of case and does not shift the analysis away from the statute. What it does change is the practical focus of the defense, which tends to move toward the timeline, the records that document it, and whether the alleged conduct fits the definitions in § 130.00 at all.

Which Article 130 offenses are misdemeanors and which are felonies?

The article spans a wide range. Forcible touching under N.Y. Penal Law § 130.52 is a class A misdemeanor. Rape in the third degree under § 130.25 is a class E felony. Sexual abuse in the first degree under § 130.65 is a class D felony. Rape in the first degree under § 130.35 is a class B felony. The section charged determines the classification, and the same underlying account can be evaluated under more than one section, which is why the first step is identifying precisely what has been charged or what is being contemplated.

What kinds of records does a defense investigation try to preserve?

The categories are ordinary but perishable: messages and call logs on the devices of the people involved, building or campus access records, transportation and payment records that place people in time, and the accounts of anyone who was present. Third-party custodians overwrite much of this on their own schedules. If you are in this position, the practical value of contacting counsel early is that preservation requests can go out while the material still exists, rather than after a custodian has cycled through its retention period.

Why does the date of the alleged conduct matter to which statute applies?

New York restructured Article 130. L.2023 c.777 repealed N.Y. Penal Law §§ 130.40, 130.45 and 130.50 outright, and the conduct definitions in § 130.00 were rewritten around vaginal, oral and anal sexual contact. The effective date is unsettled, because the act states January 1, 2024 while it was signed January 30, 2024, and the discrepancy has not been resolved. The date of the alleged conduct governs which version of the article applies, so that date is one of the first facts counsel pins down.

Does the firm handle matters where an accusation has been made but no charge has been filed?

Yes. That stage is often when the most can be done and the least has been done, because the record has not yet degraded and no statements have been locked in. An investigation may be open with the accused person unaware of its scope, and contact from investigators can arrive without warning. If you have been accused and no charge has issued, counsel can address communication with investigators, preservation of records, and the analysis of what section the allegation would fall under. Request a consultation by calling (888) 437-7747.

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.

Attorney Advertising. Law Offices Of SRIS, P.C., principal office: 4008 Williamsburg Court, Fairfax, VA 22032. By appointment. Call (888) 437-7747 to schedule.

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