Repeated sexual assault of a child defense

What is sexual assault of the same child?

Section 948.025 of the Wisconsin Statutes prohibits sexual assault of the same child.  The offense is best defined when considering the penalties.

Class A felony:

• At least 3 instances of sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a child under the age of 13 years old, and the contact/intercourse caused great bodily harm to the victim.

Class B felony:

• At least 3 instances of sexual contact or sexual intercourse with a child under 13 years old, and the contact/intercourse caused great bodily harm to the victim; or
• At least 3 instances of sexual intercourse with a child under 12 years old; or
• At least 3 instances of sexual intercourse with a child under 16 years old, by threat of force or violence; or
• At least 3 instances of sexual contact with a child under 16 years old, by threat or force, if the defendant is over 18 years old at the time of the offense

Class C felony:

• At least 3 instances of first or second degree sexual assault of a child.

Obviously the penalties become more serious as the actions do.  Importantly, the number of offenses required doesn’t change, instead remaining at 3.

What are the elements of the offense?

All crimes in Wisconsin have elements, or parts.  The government must prove each element beyond a reasonable doubt.  Wisconsin Criminal Jury Instruction 2107 provides the elements of repeated acts of sexual assault of a child:

• Firstly, the defendant committed at least three sexual assaults of the victim; and
• Secondly, at least three sexual assaults took place within a specified period of time.  The specified period of time is between two specific dates.

While crimes normally have more than two elements, you’ll notice that this charge focuses on the underlying charges.  Instead of breaking down each charge into separate elements, this jury instruction just focuses on numerous instances of first degree sexual assault of a child and second degree sexual assault of a child.

Mandatory minimum penalties

Certainly one of our primary goals while fighting a repeated sexual assault of a child case is avoiding conviction.  A conviction carries with it certain negative stigmas and makes your professional life very difficult moving forward.  Unfortunately, a conviction for this offense also carries a mandatory term in prison.

• For cases involving sexual contact or intercourse with a child under 13 years old, the mandatory term of initial confinement of 25 years in prison.  Initial confinement is the amount of time the defendant actually sits in prison.  Importantly, this applies to either the Class A or Class B felony offenses listed above.
  • Remember, Class A felonies require life imprisonment upon conviction.  The court simply determines a date the defendant is eligible for release on extended supervision.  This date cannot occur before the defendant serves 25 years in prison.
• For cases involving sexual intercourse with a victim under 12 years old, or sexual intercourse by use or threat of force with a victim under 16 years old, the mandatory term of initial confinement is also 25 years in prison.  This is the term of initial confinement.
• For all other cases, the mandatory term of initial confinement is 5 years in prison.

How do we defend my repeated sexual assault of a child case?

First of all, it’s important you realize that a website can only discuss cases generally.  Until we meet for our initial consultation, our criminal defense attorneys are unaware of the specific facts and circumstances of your case.  But we’ll try to discuss some common issues we encounter in sexual assault cases.

Are you a step parent?  Or an estranged grandparent?  An aunt or uncle?  Unfortunately sometimes children learn that the quickest way to eliminate you from his or her life is to create an allegation regarding some sort of negative behavior.  With the internet and television constantly over-sexualizing children in our culture, it doesn’t take much for that allegation to take a sexual turn.  Our first step in a case like this is bring in an investigator to figure this issue out.  Are there specific videos, movies, or other places this child learned these things from?  Or, in another credibility situation, has this child previously alleged another family member raped him or her?

On a more legal end, frequently law enforcement personnel use search warrants during sexual assault investigations.  Was the search warrant properly drafted?  And was it supported by some sort of affidavit that properly indicated they would probably find evidence of a crime?  Certainly a defective search warrant will change the trajectory of your criminal case.

While these are only two examples of issues we encounter while defending sexual assault cases, we’ll go through every potential pre-trial motion to determine applicability to your case.  If there’s a basis to challenge some police action with one of these motions, we’ll certainly proceed that route.

Speak with one of our sexual assault experts: (414) 270-0202

At Van Severen Law Office our criminal defense attorneys understand what you’re up against.  The charges you face are incredibly serious.  Upon the most serious conviction for this offense, you face life in prison.  The most mitigated offense is still a Class C felony, and carries a 40 year penalty.  We remind you not of these penalties to scare you.  Instead, we’re simply reminding you to hire an expert.

Our criminal defense attorneys regularly defend sexual assault cases.  We defend sexual assault of a child cases.  We understand the legal and social issues you’re going to encounter when fighting a charge like repeated sexual assault of a child.  And we’re here to help.  We’re here to fight the government and achieve the very best result for you.

To speak with one of our criminal defense attorneys, contact Van Severen Law Office at (414) 270-0202.