A Huntington Beach man faces up to 100 years in prison after being convicted of sexually assaulting four women and taping the encounters, the Los Angeles Times reports.
As the newspaper reports, allegations of sex crimes in Huntington Beach can lead to serious penalties. In situations where the defendant is a registered sex offender, as is the case here, penalties can often be increased, leading to decades in prison.
Huntington Beach criminal defense attorneys have represented many defendants accused of sex crimes that carry possible long prison sentences. As in any criminal case, a defendant has the right to a fair trial. That means he or she must be able to confront the accusers, analyze the evidence, question it and prepare a strong defense.
In the case of the 30-year-old Huntington Beach man, he had his day in court and was convicted by a jury. The Los Angeles Times reports that he was convicted of several sex crimes after being accused of bringing drunk and drugged women to his apartment and forcing them to have sex with him while he secretly recorded the encounters.
The videos were used by prosecutors to show the women hadn’t consented to the sex after they had met him at local bars. In one case, the man had sex with a woman consensually but later raped her and a video tape shows she was assaulted on camera. After breaking free, the woman reported the assault, which led to additional charges when police found other videos.
He was previously convicted in 2005 of lewd acts on a child, which required him to register as a sex offender. According to the newspaper, he faces a minimum sentence of 100 years to life when he is sentenced in January.
The Orange County Register reports that the man would take advantage of the women after they had likely been drugged. Many were confused when they woke up the next morning and didn’t remember what happened. The state convinced jurors that the videotapes showed the crimes being committed.
Two of the four victims said “no” before being sexually assaulted, while the two others were semiconscious and couldn’t consent. The man claimed that he recorded the encounters to show the women consented since he was on parole for the prior sex-based crime.
The jury of nine women and three men said the man was guilty after three weeks of trial and three hours of deliberations. He was convicted of intent to commit rape, two charges of forcible rape, three counts of rape of an intoxicated woman, three misdemeanor counts of secretly filming another person with intent to arouse and several other felony sexual assault charges, The Register reports.
A defendant is guaranteed a fair trial and an experienced lawyer can provide that. Being able to scrutinize the state’s case, witnesses and evidence is all appropriate and guaranteed for every citizen. One can only hope that the truth is presented to the jury and not allegations that are baseless.
Contact the Houman Fakhimi trial attorney at (714) 705-6701 as soon as possible if you are charged with a crime. Protecting your rights and setting up an aggressive defense at the beginning stages is critical in defending against criminal charges.