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The short answer is – immediately.  When it comes to sex crimes in Michigan, you should never take a “wait and see” approach. Sex crimes are taken very seriously in Michigan and carry with them severe penalties including long periods of incarceration.

Plus, sex crimes investigations are often extensive and could take weeks or months before any official charges are authorized. Authorized means an official charge against you, which usually begins when the investigating officer submitting their findings or report to the county prosecutor to review and approve, or authorize.  If the prosecutor approves, the officer will then appear in court before a Judge or Magistrate and “swears to” a warrant for your arrest.  Once the Judge or Magistrate sign it, there will now be a Felony Arrest Warrant for you.

If you have done something that might make you susceptible to a Criminal Sexual Conduct (CSC) charge, or other sex crime or assault, if you are suspicious that someone may be making a complaint against you, and certainly if you have been contacted by police or law enforcement, you must consult and retain an experienced assault and sex crime attorney immediately.

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MI sex crimes lawyer Patrick Barone explains sodomy laws.Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct, commonly referred to as CSC, is the unlawful sexual assault or touching or penetration of another. In Michigan, there are four separate offenses each defined by the acts of behaviors of the alleged offender.

Each level of offense is called a “degree.” In order to support an allegation, the state must demonstrate a range of factors or legal ideas that are present in each degree of the charge. Such variables may include the age of the victim, the relationship of the perpetrator to the victim, and whether force or coercion was used in the commission of the alleged crime.

Punishment for Michigan Criminal Sexual Conduct

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With the advent of the novel covid 19 virus many officers who arrest suspected Michigan DUI drivers are now worried about the contamination risks associated with a breath test. Obtaining a breath sample places an officer directly at risk for exposure because the officer must do all of the following:

  • Be very near to a DUI suspect as they exhale into the breathalyzer.
  • Look directly into and inspect a DUI suspect’s mouth prior to the blow.
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When a person is arrested for criminal sexual conduct, they are taken to jail to be fingerprinted, booked, and in most jurisdictions, held until arraignment. The person may, depending on whether the jail officers feel like it, be given a phone call. Next, that person will be taken in front of a judge to be arraigned. At the arraignment, that person will have an opportunity to plead guilty or not guilty and the judge will order bond conditions.

Bond conditions typically include an amount of money the person must pay to be released, no contact with the accuser, and no travel outside the state. The amount of cash bond someone must pay is a significant issue. The bond amount for the most serious sex crimes can be in the tens and thousands of dollars. It can be the difference between never spending more than a few hours in jail versus spending months in jail waiting for a trial because their client or client’s family could not pay the bond.

If a good sex crimes lawyer is at the arraignment the lawyer will try to convince the judge that a minimal bond amount is appropriate and therefore give their client a better chance of being released.

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Hiring an attorney early in the process is important for several reasons.

    1. First, if you haven’t been formally charged with a sex crime or, as Michigan calls it, criminal sexual conduct, a good attorney can intervene and try to prevent charges from ever being filed. We call this part of the situation in the pre-charge phase. In this phase, someone has been informed by somebody, possibly the alleged victim, that the alleged victim or the family intends on filing a police report. In some cases, we’ve helped people in the pre-charge phase avoid the stress and embarrassment of long and public proceedings in court because we could show detectives and prosecutors that there is not enough evidence to even charge our client with criminal sexual conduct.
    2.  Hiring an attorney early in a Criminal Sexual Conduct case is important because in most sex crimes cases, police will try to interview the accused person. In this interview, the investigator will ask questions that can be designed to elicit incriminating responses. Even though the person may be innocent of a sex crime, that person may give an answer that can incriminate him or her. One should NEVER speak to the police about a criminal situation, ESPECIALLY a criminal sexual conduct crime, without an attorney because an attorney can spot these issues in the interview and advise innocent clients not to respond.
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How Do I Find a Top Rated Drunk Driving Lawyer in Michigan?

Michigan DUI lawyer Patrick Barone knows Michigan DUI law and how to beat a DUI.If you’ve been arrested for operating a vehicle while intoxicated, also called DUI/OWI in Michigan, then you’re looking at potentially severe penalties. Your driving privileges can be suspended or revoked causing you to lose your drivers license and your ability to drive.

For many kinds of drunk driving cases, you’re also looking at the real possibility of jail time. Even if this is your first DUI arrest, you’ll want to find a top rated drunk driving lawyer in Michigan.

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With marijuana use on the rise in Michigan more and more drivers are found to have marijuana in their system or to even be intoxicated from using marijuana containing products. This is exactly what happened in a causing death case recently decided by the Michigan Court of Appeals. The name of the case is People v. Baase.  In this case, the driver was not intoxicated but was he was driving on a suspended license.  The victim on the other hand had THC in her system.  The defense attorney argued that the accident would not have happened but-for the victim’s diminished capacity to “react to the world around her.”

The Michigan Court of Appeals did not agree with the defense attorney’s arguments and found that the victim’s THC was not relevant.  It is not clear from the opinion if the victim had used recreational or medical marijuana. And while this case did not involve an intoxicated driver, the ruling would likely have been the same whether a DUI driver who caused death or serious injury was under the influence of alcohol, marijuana or both.

What were the Facts of this Suspended License Causing Death Case?

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A localized pilot program to allow Michigan police officers to test a driver’s saliva for the presence of marijuana has been expanded statewide.  If you have used marijuana or cannabis containing products and then drive a motor vehicle in Michigan, you should be aware that roadside testing for marijuana use is now available to all law enforcement officers throughout the state.

An example of the kinds of units used in Michigan include the Alere™ DDS®2 Mobile Test System. According to the manufacturer’s website, the handheld unit is easy to use and produces accurate results. It can also analyze for up to six different drugs, including Marijuana.

In evaluating a driver, a police officer would correlate the results of a saliva test with all of the other observable signs of impairment, such as any observations made at the roadside, the driver’s performance on field sobriety testing, and any admissions made. If the officer believes, based on a combination of all of the evidence acquired at the roadside that probable cause exists to make an arrest, then the driver will be taken into custody and charged with DUI. While many people refer to these charges as DUI, in Michigan the crime is called OWI or operating while intoxicated.

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Michigan law recently changed regarding the penalty imposed for a DUI with a high BAC (Blood Alcohol Content) where serious injury has occurred.  This change enhances the causing serious injury DUI charge such that it is almost on par with a DUI causing death case.

Now, if you operate a car in Michigan while intoxicated and cause serious injury to another person, you may be sent to prison for up to ten years. The typical penalty for a first offense DUI causing serious injury is five years in prison. A BAC of .17 or above raises this maximum penalty to 10 years where there is a prior conviction in the past 7 years. See Michigan Compiled Laws Sec. 257.625(5)(b).

If a violation of Michigan’s law against intoxicated driving law results in the death of another person, the driver may be found guilty of a felony punishable by a maximum term of imprisonment of 15 years and/or a fine of at least $2,500 but not more than $10,000. A high BAC where a death occurs increases, combined with a prior offense in the prior 7 years, raises the maximum term of imprisonment from 15 years to 20 years.  See Michigan Compiled Laws Sec. 257.625(4)(b).

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