Legal Question in Criminal Law in Virginia

Re: carnal knowledge

I am sorry to hear all this. He needs to hire an attorney as soon as possible and talk to the attorney about whether you might get any charges dismissed or reduced. Good luck.

Re: carnal knowledge

This sounds like a very serious situation, and needs to be treated as extremely serious.

Cases as serious as this have been won before. I work with a criminal defense expert consultant who has helped defeat many very serious criminal charges.

So is it possible? That is... should he bother trying to fight it?

Yes, because it might be possible to beat the case, and because the consequences to his life are going to be so gigantic.

So, on the one hand, I don't want to suggest you or he give up without a fight. On the other hand, I want you to appreciate that this may be the most serious crisis of his life, and it cannot be treated lightly.

I don't know what he can afford, but this is the time to put it all on the line. If he loses this, nothing else will matter. So he should dig deep and get a lawyer. He should SHOP AROUND and not just fall for the first one that sounds good. And more expensive does NOT necessarily mean better. He should consider the cost of the lawyer as a SEPARATE question from how good the lawyer seems to be. Simply paying more might not get you a better result.

However, is it possible to win? Yes. Probably in terms of technicalities and details that might not be obvious right now, either obvious to you or included in your summary.

It will be very difficult to win. But since the consequences are so huge, you have to fight even on slim odds..

But, for example, what you describe sounds very confusing about the DNA sample and a lawyer would check whether there are any errors in that.

It is unfortunate that he talked to them, and what he said might be used against him. (But a lawyer might be able to object to that and suppress any confession.)