When someone is arrested in Kalamazoo on a sexual assault charge, the accusation itself is often so sensitive that there may be times when a rush to judgment is called for that errors in due process can occur along the way. Despite the accusations leveled against them, those accused of sexual misconduct still have a right to fair trial, and if anything determined to be special circumstances by the trial judge takes away from that right, then there’s always a possibility that the conviction may be challenged and/or possibly overturned in the appellate courts.
Such is the recent case of a Bay City man whose conviction for sexual assault was thrown out by a State Court of Appeals panel after it was successfully argued that the testimony used to convict him at trial should not have been allowed as evidence of proof. The evidence in question was offered up by the alleged victim’s minister, who detailed the abusive accts the 3-year old said that the defendant performed on her. The judge on the case ruled that the hearsay rule didn’t apply to excluding the testimony as evidence largely because it was believed the defendant had threatened girl if she talked. Yet surprisingly, that same judge who had overseen the man’s conviction was the one who decided to overturn it based on the same evidence that he had allowed earlier. The man has since been remanded to local authorities as he awaits a new trial.
Improprieties allowed in a criminal trial not only affect the accused, but also the community by robbing them of the chance to correctly allow the system to take its course in the case. Anyone who feels that they were wrongfully convicted may wish to work with a seasoned criminal defense attorney to help him or her receive fair treatment from the courts while arguing his or her case.
Source: Mlive.com “Bay City man headed to district court after Michigan Supreme court overturns his sexual assault conviction” Cole Waterman, Sep. 11, 2013
