Qualified Legal Representation from Denver and Colorado Springs, Colorado
Child-related criminal offenses such as the possession, production or distribution of child pornography, child abuse, enticement of a minor and the sexual assault of a child are aggressively investigated and prosecuted by all branches of the military. If you have been charged with a crime involving a minor by any service branch, it is essential to protect your rights, career and freedom with the help of a qualified attorney. An experienced attorney can work effectively to prevent a conviction, which could result in:
- Discharge and the loss of your military career
- Confinement
- A federal conviction
- Required sex offender registration
Military prosecutors will be ready to aggressively handle your case. It’s important that you are ready, too. An experienced criminal defense attorney in private practice handling military law can defend your rights and prepare a comprehensive and effective defense.
How an Attorney Can Help You
Military child pornography and solicitation of a minor cases provide a useful perspective on how a military criminal defense attorney can provide invaluable legal assistance. In these and other child-related criminal cases, prosecutors will likely focus on computers, phones, external drives and other electronics, or on the results of a sting operation. The prosecution will get free assistance from a computer expert in addition to investigative work from a team of special agents. The experts will have a comprehensive understanding of computer forensics that may contribute to strengthening the case against you. Your appointed military defense attorneys will likely not have these advantages.
Our military criminal defense attorneys can conduct an independent investigation that may reveal key evidence supporting your defense. An attorney can also ask important questions, such as:
- Did you obtain illegal images found on your computer by accident via, for instance, an unwanted and unprompted download or unsolicited email?
- Are you the true owner of the electronic device on which illegal images were found?
- Did somebody else have access to your computer or electronic device?
- Were you aware that the individual with whom you were chatting with online was a minor?
- Were your full constitutional rights observed in a sting operation or other method of detection and arrest?
Answers to these questions, backed by evidence provided by experts or investigators, have led to the dismissal of charges in many cases.
When a conviction may seem likely at first, making trial inadvisable, a knowledgeable and experienced attorney can use negotiating skills, current information regarding sentencing trends and your own background to contest the charges against you at trial. Our attorneys are trial tested and ready to hire experts and fight even the most sever charges involving children. In addition to fighting charges at trial, our attorneys can argue for the most advantageous sentence. For instance, your prior record may play a role in the military court’s sentencing, as may your mental health, character letters from supervisors, fellow service members, family and friends, and military honors and awards. Also, prosecutors do not like to lose in trial, and many choose not to allow drawn-out and protracted negotiation battles. An attorney with extensive plea-bargaining skills may succeed in using this and other information to reduce your legal consequences to a small fraction of their original maximum.
If you face criminal charges to minors, don’t take chances with your career, reputation and future. Obtain qualified legal representation.