Criminal Investigation
Alleged Rape
Background:
An attorney who was representing a local college student who had been accused of rape needed our expertise to prove his client`s innocence. Having served as law enforcement officers, we assess each criminal defense case on its merits and if we feel that the accused may be innocent, we agree to take the case. We were told that the accused met another student at a party and had sex with her after the event in the accuser's car. The accused also stated that they continued to see each other after the alleged rape for several days, attending the same events and exchanging emails and text messages. The accused stated that after he informed the accuser that what had happened a few nights earlier was not the beginning of a relationship but was rather just a one night stand, she did not react well and was extremely angry. A few weeks later she reported to the university police that she was forcibly raped by the accused. He subsequently was arrested and charged with rape.
Challenge:
When we interviewed the accused, we found his demeanor to be credible and his story plausible. Because of the recent publicity of similar events, he was facing an uphill battle. We had to show with documented evidence that what he was saying was true and that the complainant was simply motivated by revenge.
Response:
If the accused was telling the truth, the key evidence would come from his mobile phone and his email. When asked if the emails and text messages were still available, he stated that he had deleted them and they were no longer available. We instructed the counsel to immediately send a "preserve records" letter to the email service provider. We provided him with the necessary information on how to write and serve the letter, as well as helping him with drafting the court order to be signed by the presiding judge. Meanwhile, we turned our attention to the mobile phone of the accused. It was an iPhone where we could obtain a physical forensic image which increased the odds of recovering deleted text messages. Our analysis of the phone revealed numerous deleted text messages which clearly showed the incident was totally consensual. We recovered close to one hundred deleted text messages exchanged between them after the alleged rape took place where she was referring to the event as “a magical experience,” “one of the greatest nights of her life,” etc. This proved to be smoking gun evidence of his innocence.
Results:
When our report was presented to the prosecutor, all charges against the accused were dropped.
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