Forcible touching charges dropped for business professional (Manhattan)
2020
Lance’s client was arrested for allegedly touching the sexual or intimate parts of another person inside a subway train. During the arrest, the NYPD noticed that he had been previously arrested for the same thing. Under a new law, the second time you’re convicted for forcible touching, you face sex offender registration. In initial negotiations, the prosecutor was willing to seek a program instead of jail but it was a sex offender program and the conviction would give him a permanent criminal record. Our client contacted us for help. During the months to come, we filed a suppression motion to suppress the evidence including any confession that our client provided to the police and the case was ultimately scheduled for trial. The prosecutor, aware that our client had an arrest history, was very reluctant to be reasonable but Lance was able to successfully negotiate a deal to have the criminal forcible touching charges dropped and replaced with a non-criminal violation which would resolve the case with no criminal record, no jail, and no sex-offender program.