Aggrevated Criminal Sexual Abuse

[aski3]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? Illinois
I was hoping that you can give some advice or help me find additional resources. My husband was a therapist at a chiropractic clinic and a 17 year old female patient accused him of impoperly touching her. After his boss made him take a leave of absence, my husband became very depressed and started drinking and doing marijuana. We convinced him to check into the hospital and a psychologist put him on an antipsych med for a research grant. When he was released and on the med two police had come to the house and questioned him by himself. He was told (after an hour) by the police that if he wrote a confession letter and a letter to the patient that he was sorry, then the patient would not press charges. I looked at "the Innocence Project" that you had recommended on another post. What caught my interest was the section of why innocent people confess. My husband's lawyer had informed us the only reason the case escalated was due to the two letters. Long story short, he took a plea of attempted aggrevated criminal sexual abuse which he was told by the prosecuter and his lawyer that he would have 30 months of probation (which is complete), a felony for life but would only be a sex offender for 10 years. Now we find out this is for life. This case was dragged on for a year and a half, my husband developed Crohn's disease during this process and became very ill and felt he would be unable to drag out the case any longer. The mother of the patient then sued us and the chiropractic clinic. My husband and I feel that the way this case was handled was very unjust. We are now trying to find out if there is anything we can do from this point or is it to late. Reading "The Innocence Project" I have hope that their are people who care about injustice. However, is there any help since he was not sent to prison. Thank you for listening and all of your help.

[Ohiogal]

YOu would have to contact the Innocence Project to find out if they would help him.

[FlyingRon]

The Innocence Project handles cases where people are imprisoned for things they didn't do. What appears missing from your post is the statement that your husband, in fact, didn't do what he confessed to. If he inappropriately touched the victim, the fact that they wouldn't have gotten a conviction absent the confession and guilty plea is not "unjust", just opportunistic for the prosecution. Lots of crimes wouldn't be solved absent confessions, but that doesn't make them unjust or invalid.

[aski3]

Thank you that does make sense. Wanted to clarify a little. My husband did not do what the female accused him of. After an hour of the police talking to him they told him if he wrote the confession letter and apology letter then the girl would not press charges. He felt he was coerced into writing these documents so he could return to his work which was his livliehood. He was never read his Miranda rights, so he thought he could trust the police. He thought that they were a mediator between him and the female.
Also, the female wrote a statement and told the police a statement. These statements have contridicting timelines and information. For example, one statement said female undressed and got under the sheet on the massage table, my husband entered the room, massaged, he left the room, she dressed, he went back into the room after she was dressed and my husband had a cancelation and could work on her problem areas longer, my husband left the room she undressed and got under the sheet, my husband came in and touched her improperly. The other statement states the female undressed and got under the sheet, my husband entered, massaged, touched her improperly, husband left the room, female dressed, he entered the room after she was dressed, said he could work on her longer, husband left room, female undressed again, husband re-entered room, massaged, and left room for female to redress. There are several details that contridict each other in these statements and of course there are a lot of details that would be too much too share and would waste your time more than I have. Sorry, I feel I am well educated but in a medical background, the law is very confusing to me because I haven't studied it enough. Just wanted to know is there anything we could pursue from this point??? Especially, since the prosecuter gave our lawyer the stipulations of the plea bargain and her "law" book (not sure of the title) to read the statue at the time of the plea bargain which boiled down to 30 month probation, 10 year sex offender, and a felony, but what the court entered was per statue which now means lifetime sex offender since the statue has changed since that day which my husband would not have agreeded to. Our lawyer advised us to take the plea bargin and said 10 years was not a long time since we were still young and after 10 years not many employeers are concerned about one felony. My husband was getting very sick and he was very scared that he would have to go to prison for something he did not do. Did not know if we have a case and should hire another lawyer (our previous lawyer has written us a statement and said he would let a judge know he advised us incorrectly by leading us to believe that the statue he read to us would not change even if the law changed) or if we should wait until 10 years have gone by and then hire a lawyer since 10 years was the original time frame. There were many things during the year and a half of procedings that we did not understand which is why we feel what has happened is unjust. Thank you for letting me ramble and sorry for wasting your time. If you have any advise, especially good resources, please let me know. Have a good 4th of July.

[FlyingRon]

Your options for criminal procedure remedies are long gone as you realize. Your best bet perhaps is to pursue some sort of clemency with the governor. Knowing Illinois political history, a campaign contribution may help.