Two Types Of Liability For Sexual Assault Charges
There are 2 sides to every story and there are also 2 types of liability for wrongful acts such as rape, homicide, assault, and drunk driving.
When most think of sex crimes, their mind quickly goes to criminal charges and jail. This is normal and usually the legal aspect of these cases follows that trend. Similar to homicide case, civil lawsuits typically follow criminal charges when the alleged perpetrator has financial means as in the case of OJ Simpson. In the case of Chicago Bulls star Derrick Rose, however, this has yet to happen and most likely won’t happen provided that no new evidence is uncovered. This is similar to the Caitlyn Jenner case where ultimately no criminal charges were brought against the former Olympian.
Mr. Rose’s former girlfriend is accusing him of rape. She alleges in her civil complaint that he and friends, drugged and gang raped her 2 years ago in his home located in Beverly Hills, California. Despite these allegations, however, the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office has yet to bring any criminal charges against Mr. Rose. This is more than likely to a combination of a lack of evidence and issues with the alleged victim’s credibility. Civil lawsuits, however, are very different from criminal prosecution. As many of my readers already know, the burden of proof in a civil lawsuit is a “by a preponderance of the evidence” while the burden of proof in a criminal case is guilt “beyond a reasonable doubt.”
The burden of proof in civil cases is much lower which is the reason why many civil cases settle. While the burden of proof is different, the rules of evidence still apply to civil lawsuits. Evidence obtained or discovered during a civil lawsuit is admissible in a criminal prosecution. Further, while there is a relatively short statute of limitation in civil matters (2-3 years depending on the jurisdiction), it’s much longer on the criminal side and in some cases indefinite
While the criminal case against Mr. Rose appear to be going nowhere, you can bet that his attorneys will quickly invoke his 5th Amendment right against self-incrimination, if anything in his potential testimony at a deposition could give legs to a criminal cases. While obviously Rose wants to limit his civil exposure, he doesn’t want have to deal with criminal charges. In civil lawsuits, a person can’t usually refuse to answer a question with the only exception being, attorney client privilege or self-incrimination.
While a lack of a response can prevent a possible criminal prosecution, there is nothing stopping a plaintiff’s lawyer from using it to settle a civil lawsuit. This is where Derrick Rose finds himself despite the alleged victim weak allegations. While he and his attorney have stated that these accusations are frivolous, they will settle this case to prevent it from giving a dead prosecution life or a civil trial.
Right now, Mr. Rose’s team of attorneys are playing the proper strategy which is deny, deny, deny but behind closed doors, they may be talking some type of civil settlement that includes confidentially provisions. Making a statement about a potential criminal incident is never a good strategy and it will usually only hurt your case. Answering questions or making statements open you up to loaded questions from prosecutors and police. For more watch my video on talking to police. If you have more questions about sex crime or criminal charges in general I encourage you read my book or watch one of my 30 videos.
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