When facing false allegations, it is not at all uncommon for the accused to take the accusation as a joke, fail to prepare a proper defense and then find themselves convicted of crimes they never committed and sentenced to hundreds of years in prison. One couple, in Kern County, California, was sentenced to 200 years in prison. Regardless of what anyone tells you, begin preparing a defense as soon as an accusation is made.

In many cases, a false accusation of molesting is made by a child in a heated divorce or custody matter. This specific problem has gotten so out-of-hand in this country that it has been given a name; the S.A.I.D. Syndrome (Sexual Allegations in Divorce). What better tool would a woman have to assure that she retains custody than hollering "abuse."

By far, the biggest problem with a false allegation of child sexual abuse is that it is the only crime where the accused is not innocent until proven guilty, but is guilty until they prove beyond any doubt that they are innocent. I cannot stress strongly enough that if a child says it happened, the burden of proof is clearly on the accused, not the accuser. Why? Because society is full of psychologists, social workers and victim advocates who do not investigate, but validate and prosecutors who are trying to make headlines by convicting a child molester. Understand that society, for the most part, condemns anyone even accused of molesting a child. Even the most hardened rapists and murderers in prison despise a convicted molester. In reality, once the allegation is made, for the accused, it's close to a no-win situation. That is the primary reason that many who are innocent accept a plea agreement, especially when they are told if they do not, they face life in prison.

False allegations, over the past years, have become close to an epidemic, especially since the reporting laws have changed with the introduction of the Mondale Act. Under the Mondale Act, anyone failing to report any incident of suspected child abuse can be convicted of a felony. As a result, physicians, teachers and other professionals are afraid not to report any incident, regardless of how small, out of fear that they may be prosecuted themselves.

Your key to a successful solution to a false allegation charge amounts to retaining proper legal counsel, documenting everything that happens pertaining to the matter and proving your innocence well prior to any trial. Certainly, any proper defense will cost, but far less than attempting to reverse a conviction.

If you find yourself in a position of being confronted with a false allegation of sexually molesting a child, under no circumstances take that allegation lightly, regardless of how ridiculous you, or anyone else may think it is. As a simple matter of fact, you may well be in for the fight of your life and, if you lose, you, like hundreds of others, will find yourself sentenced to prison for years for crimes you never committed.

One of the most heart breaking aspects of our work is to have talked with an accused, prior to their trial, who refuses to take their situation seriously. Any recommendations we make are disregarded with statements like;

And then getting a second telephone call from their family, after trial, asking us to help get the conviction reversed.

It takes a jury about 5 seconds to say, "We find the defendant guilty as charged." When those words ring out, suddenly the situation does become serious and the accused is then ready to "do it right." The problem is, at that point, they are caught up in the legal system. It could easily take years and far more cost to have their conviction reversed than it would to have properly been prepared for trial. In addition, what most people fail to understand is that the reversal of a conviction does not mean it is over. Normally, a conviction is reversed in favor of a new trial, so after thousands of dollars, they find themselves right back at square one and again, if they fail to properly prepare, they could easily be convicted a second time.

There are no shortcuts in building a defense for these cases. They require a qualified attorney, investigator, a support staff and experts in order to build and present evidence that proves, beyond any doubt, that the allegations made against the accused are false and they are innocent.

Any accused can find a thousand reasons, usually financially, not to properly defend themselves, but all the excuses vanish and their thinking quickly changes when they are convicted. Then it becomes a matter of, "Get me out of prison." On many occasions, the accused was convicted after they attempted every shortcut possible, which included them personally preparing what they believed was their own perfect defense.

As to finances, think carefully. If someone is convicted and sentenced to 25 years in prison, how much money could they have made during that 25 years? Wouldn't that amount have been far more than the cost of a proper defense that may have prevented the conviction.

Again, if you do find yourself in a position of being falsely accused of sexual abuse and please note, I said "falsely" accused;

One final consideration. Many times in sexual allegation cases, prosecutors offer a plea agreement that is accepted, even though the accused is innocent, because the plea amounts to far less than the accused could get if tried and convicted. If you do enter a guilty plea to a felony sex crime:

The following issues are derived based on national studies and research;

Your survival is based on your ability to educate yourself and take an active part in your own defense.

You have accessed one of the many pages here at the Cowling Investigations, Inc., a False Allegation Defense Website. For an explanation of how we assist our clients who have been falsely accused, see Our Expertise, We Can Help. If you have been falsely accused, see What to Do - What Not to Do When Falsely Accused.