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Charged With Statutory Rape in Charlotte? We Can Help

If you have been arrested for engaging in a sexual relationship with a minor, call the Charlotte statutory rape lawyers at Randall & Stump, PLLC right away. While it may be part of a consensual relationship, you will still face very serious criminal charges. To avoid being convicted of a sex crime, you need to work with an experienced and aggressive sex crimes lawyer.

Call us today at (980) 237-4579, or reach out online to schedule a free and confidential case consultation.

Why Hire a Statutory Rape Lawyer?

Some of the most serious criminal accusations you can face are for sex crimes involving a minor. Allegations of a child sex offense, statutory rape, or child molestation can ruin your reputation, cost you your job, destroy your relationships, lead to felony charges, and result in prison time and sex offender registration. Your life could be ruined, even if you beat the charges.

Under the umbrella of sex crimes is a commonly misunderstood offense that sometimes involves consensual relationships: statutory rape.

Regardless of consent, you can be charged with statutory rape if there is evidence you were sexually involved with a minor younger than 16-years-old, or a minor under the age of 18 with whom you share a certain relationship– such as a student-teacher relationship.

If you’re under investigation or arrested by law enforcement because of the seriousness of these allegations, the best thing to do is invoke your right to remain silent and get a lawyer.

A lawyer makes sure you don’t answer a police officer’s questions or do anything that could hurt your defense. Your lawyer will instruct you not to talk about the case with others, including friends and family. You’ll learn not to contact the alleged victim or any of your mutual friends and stop using your social media.

Another reason to hire a lawyer is to benefit from an independent investigation, which is not driven by the goal of seeking an arrest like the one police conduct. Your lawyer will take a close look at the state’s evidence and scrutinize the weaknesses and deficiencies of their evidence. Your lawyer will dig deep and gather evidence regarding the circumstances and your alleged relationship. The purpose of an independent investigation is to get to the truth of the matter. In turn, your defense attorney can craft a defense specific to your situation.

After conducting an independent investigation, an experienced sex crimes defense lawyer will be in a better position to negotiate with the prosecutor to avoid charges, have the charges dropped, or have the charges reduced. Your situation can improve vastly early on in the case. If the prosecutor forges ahead with felony charges, your attorney is better prepared to mount an aggressive defense in court.

The Benefit of Hiring Our Statutory Rape Attorneys in Charlotte

You don’t want to hire just any criminal defense attorney in Charlotte when so much is on the line. To give yourself the best chance of success, you need to hire a lawyer with specific experience defending against statutory rape allegations. You also want your lawyer’s firm to have years of experience reaching successful outcomes in sex crime cases.

Our team at Randall & Stump, PLLC has over 35 years of combined experience in state and federal criminal courts. Two of our attorneys previously worked with prosecutor offices, which gives them an advantage in court. They know how prosecutors plan their cases and go about pushing for convictions. We also have a Board-Certified Specialist in both State and Federal Criminal Law by the North Carolina State Bar. There are only 53 specialists in both state and federal criminal law in NC.

When you hire us, you work with aggressive attorneys who pursue the best possible outcome in every case, regardless of how bad the case looks initially. Review our case results, which highlight the efforts we put into each case. We push for charges to be dismissed and dropped whenever possible. If a prosecutor intends to move forward with charges, we negotiate for a reduction or prepare a strong defense for trial. It’s the prosecutor’s job to prove you committed a crime beyond a reasonable doubt, and we don’t make their job easy.

Our tenacity and results aren’t all you’ll get from our team. We are a client-focused firm, and we believe each person who walks through our doors should be treated with compassion and respect. Because we prioritize our clients, you can always get answers to your questions and explanations of your rights and options. You’ll never be left in the dark about what’s going on with your case.

The Age of Consent in North Carolina

The age at which a minor is legally able to consent to sexual intercourse in North Carolina is 16 years old. However, North Carolina’s age of consent law has exceptions.

For example, there is an exception in which minors older than 16 years cannot lawfully consent to sexual intercourse. In North Carolina, an employee of a school cannot participate in any sexual activity with any student at that school unless the parties are married.

North Carolina Statutory Rape Laws

North Carolina has several statutes that address sexual intercourse with minors. If prosecutors believe there is evidence you had an unlawful sexual relationship with such a minor, you will face sex crime charges under one or more of the following statutes:

  • Statutory Rape of a Child by an Adult – NCGS §14-27.23
    You can be charged and convicted of statutory rape if you are at least 18 years old and engage in vaginal intercourse with a minor under the age of 13. This offense is classified as a class B1 felony.
  • First-Degree Statutory Rape – NCGS §14-27.24
    You can be charged with first-degree statutory rape if you engage in vaginal intercourse with a victim under 13 while you are at least 12 years old and at least four years older than the victim. This is a class B1 felony.
  • Statutory Rape of a Person Who is 15 Years of Age or Younger – NCGS §14-27.25
    If you engage in vaginal intercourse with a minor who is 15 years or younger, and you are at least 12 years old and at least six years older than the other party, you may face class B1 felony charges. You can be convicted of a class C felony for this offense if you engage in intercourse with someone younger than 15 while you are at least 12 years and four-to-six years older than the alleged victim. The only exception to this statute is if you were married to the other party.

There are additional offenses that involve sexual acts other than vaginal intercourse:

  • Statutory Sex Offense with a Child by an Adult – NCGS §14-27.28
    You can be charged and convicted of a class B1 felony if you are at least 18 and engage in a sexual act with a child who is under 13 years old.
  • First-Degree Statutory Sex Offense – NCGS §14-27.29
    You may be charged with a class B1 felony if you engage in a sexual act with a child under 13 years, and you are at least 12 years old and at least four years older than the victim.
  • Statutory Sex Offense with a Person Who is 15 Years of Age or Younger – NCGS §14-27.30
    You can be charged with a class B1 felony if you engage in a sexual act with someone 15 years or younger, and you are at least 12 years old and at least six years older than the other person. You may face class C felony charges if the alleged victim is younger than 15, and you are at least 12 years old and are four-to-six years older than them.

If you have been arrested or are under investigation for having sex with or performing another sexual act with someone 15 years or younger, call our Charlotte statutory rape lawyers as soon as possible. If you’re more comfortable, reach out through our online form.

Mistake of Age is Not a Defense in North Carolina

In North Carolina, statutory rape is a strict liability offense, which means if you committed the sexual act with someone within the age range defined by law, you are guilty. It does not matter if the person told you they were 18 or older, or if you saw an ID that stated they were older. Even an honest mistake or misunderstanding does not relieve you of criminal liability. If the person was not, in fact, old enough to lawfully consent to sex, then you can be convicted of statutory rape.

Jail Time and Penalties for Statutory Rape in North Carolina

If you are convicted of a class C or B1 felony in North Carolina, you face a significant amount of time in prison. The potential length of your sentence depends on North Carolina’s felony punishment chart. When you are sentenced, the judge will look at the offense level, the aggravating or mitigating factors in your case, and your prior criminal record. But for reportable offenses that are class B1 or higher felonies, there are higher maximum penalties.

For a Class C felony, you face between 44 and 182 months in prison, depending on your prior record level and any mitigating or aggravating factors.

For a Class B1 felony, you could be sentenced to anywhere between 144 and life in prison without parole. Talk with an experienced lawyer about the maximum penalty. It could be much more than you anticipate. For example, for a first-time class B1 felony offense, the presumptive minimum is 192 months. But the maximum is 291 months in prison.

To better understand the prison sentence you face for statutory rape charges, call the Charlotte statutory rape attorneys at Randall & Stump, PLLC right away. We will carefully review the charges against you and your criminal history to advise you of a potential sentence.

Sex Offender Registration in North Carolina

If you are convicted of statutory rape or a statutory sex offense, you will be required to register as a sex offender. Registering as a sex offender will have long-term consequences for your daily life because the sex offender registry is a public database. For years after you complete your sentence, your name, face, personal information, and criminal history will be public. You may have to tell people you were convicted of a sex crime on job, loan, and rental applications, and it may come up in immigration and child custody conversations.

To avoid such a punitive outcome, you need to work with a Charlotte statutory rape lawyer to defend yourself.

North Carolina Statutory Rape Statute of Limitations

For some crimes, prosecutors face a statute of limitations. This means they have a specific amount of time to bring the charges against you. After that time, if they attempt to file charges, the judge will likely dismiss the case.

However, North Carolina prosecutors have no statute of limitations for felony offenses. As a result, there is no time limit for how long prosecutors have to file felony statutory rape charges against you, which means charges can be sought if an accuser doesn’t disclose allegations until years after the crime allegedly occurred. With that being said, prosecutors prefer to file charges as soon as possible to work with fresh evidence.

Call Our Charlotte Statutory Rape Lawyers Today

If you have been accused of a crime for having a sexual relationship with someone younger than you, contact Randall & Stump, PLLC immediately. Statutory rape charges can be difficult to defend because you cannot claim consent or mistake of age as a defense. The strongest defenses are that you did not have a sexual relationship with the minor, you are within less than four years of the other party’s age, or you and the other party are legally married.

Let us thoroughly investigate the allegations against you and determine the strongest strategy to obtain the best possible outcome in your case. Contact us online, or call (980) 237-4579 to schedule a consultation.