When sexual battery cases include forensic evidence aside from DNA, they usually include one more of the following:
- Electronic Evidence
- Fiber Evidence
- Fingerprint Evidence
- Medical Evidence
- Toxicological Evidence
Electronic Evidence
Electronic evidence as plays a huge role in many sexual battery cases. In my experience, text messaging, voicemails, emails, online chats, and recorded phone calls are the most common types of electronic evidence used by prosecutors in sexual battery cases. In fact, when a person goes to the police to report a sexual battery, one of the first things detective will do is attempt a “controlled call.”
A controlled call is one that is made from the police station on a recorded line by the victim to the defendant. Prior to making this call, detectives will coach the victim on how to talk to the defendant to get him/her to make incriminating statements.
For example, a victim may be told to accuse the victim of raping him/her and demand an apology or ask questions like, “How could you do this to me? Why did you keep going after I said no?” Such accusations compounded with emotion and/or crying by the victim will often times get the person on the end to make statements that tie him/her to the crime. For instance, the defendant may become apologetic, beg for forgiveness, promise something like that will never happen again.
In some cases defendants beg the victim not to go to the police or instruct them to lie if ever questioned about what happened. Recordings of such conversations can be catastrophic to a defendant in a sexual battery case.
Even when a controlled call is not performed, detectives often recover incriminating statements made by offenders in text messages, emails, and online chats. In some cases, there police have even recovered lewd photos or videos made by the offender during the sexual battery.
Of course, like any other type of evidence, such statements need to be read in context. Sometimes statements have clear meanings, other times they can have dual meaning, especially when a person wants to say something without exactly saying it. For this reason, a criminal defense attorney must read such evidence with an objective eye so that he/she can make a realistic assessment of their client’s case.
Video surveillance is also a source of evidence detectives and prosecutors turn to when available in a sexual battery case. Ever since video surveillance technology became digital, it has been very affordable and therefore available to the public. In the past, such evidence was rarely used in sexual battery prosecutions because video cameras were typically only used at banks and other such locations.
However, it is not uncommon for sexual assaults to be caught on home surveillance cameras or security cameras placed in residential apartment buildings, municipal recreation areas, businesses, and other locations.