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	<title>CRIMINAL JURISDICTION &#187; sexual assault</title>
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	<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog</link>
	<description>CRIMINAL JURISDICTION: Criminal Law Blog by Defense Lawyer John Floyd and Mr. Billy Sinclair</description>
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		<title>HARDY V. CROSS: CONFRONTATION CLAUSE QUAGMIRED IN LEGAL UNCERTAINTY</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/12/20/hardy-v-cross-confrontation-clause-quagmired-in-legal-uncertainty/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/12/20/hardy-v-cross-confrontation-clause-quagmired-in-legal-uncertainty/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:37:52 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Houston Criminal Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Confrontation Clause]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[witness statements]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=697</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Confusing Logic from SCOTUS and Conflict Among Appellate Courts Leave Trial Courts Guessing The Meaning Of Confrontation

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

The Sixth Amendment is one of the most important amendments of the United States Constitution. It ensures that an “accused shall enjoy the right … to be confronted with witnesses against him.” In 1988 the U.S. Supreme Court, in Coy v. Iowa, observed that “it is always more difficult to tell a lie about a person ‘to his face’ than ‘behind his back.’” Just two years later, in Maryland v. Craig, the Court made this follow up observation: “[F]ace-to-face confrontation enhances the accuracy of fact-finding by reducing the risk that a witness will wrongfully implicate an innocent person.” That observation is critically important because, as pointed out by the New York-based The Innocent Project, roughly 75 percent of the nation’s 282 DNA exonerations involved eyewitness misidentification.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/12/20/hardy-v-cross-confrontation-clause-quagmired-in-legal-uncertainty/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>ROMEO AND JULIET, MEET ADAM WALSH</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/09/13/romeo-and-juliet-meet-adam-walsh/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/09/13/romeo-and-juliet-meet-adam-walsh/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Tue, 13 Sep 2011 21:32:28 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sexual Assault Crime Attorney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sex offense]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex registration]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=652</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Texas law Allows Removal/Avoidance of Sex Registration for Youthful, Non-Violent Consent Based Sex

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Former President George W. Bush in July 2006 signed into law the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act. Title I of this act is called the Sex Offender Registration and Notification Act (“SORNA”) which expanded the National Sex Offender Registry, including sanctions up to a maximum of twenty years for sex offenders who do not comply with the law’s registration requirements. This includes juveniles convicted, or adjudicated as delinquent in juvenile court, who are 14 years of age or older and who have been convicted of an offense either more serious or similar to federal aggravated sexual assault. It is this juvenile registration issue that has caused many states, including Texas, to have serious reservations about complying with SORNA.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/09/13/romeo-and-juliet-meet-adam-walsh/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>3</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>TEXAS RAPE-SHIELD-RIGHT TO PRIVACY VS THE SIXTH AMENDMENTS CONFRONTATION CLAUSE</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/08/04/texas-rape-shield-right-to-privacy-vs-the-sixth-amendments-confrontation-clause/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/08/04/texas-rape-shield-right-to-privacy-vs-the-sixth-amendments-confrontation-clause/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Aug 2011 23:17:25 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sexual Assault Crime Attorney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[confrontation rights]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rape shield]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=633</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[TRE 412 Permits Use of Past Sexual Behavior in Limited Circumstances

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Every state in these United States have what is known as “rape shield statutes”—laws that limit a criminal defendant’s ability to cross examine sexual assault victims about their past sexual behavior. Texas’ rape shield statute lies in Rule 412 of the Texas Rules of Evidence and explicitly applies only in sexual assault cases.  The, however, Rule is qualified to permit the use of “past sexual behavior” in certain situations: when it is necessary to rebut or explain scientific or medical evidence offered by the State, Subsection(b)(2)(A): when it is offered by the defendant upon the issue of whether the victim consented to the sexual behavior which is the basis for the charged offense, Subsection (b)(2)(B); and when it is relevant to show “motive or bias” on the part of the victim, Subsection (b)(2)(C).]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/08/04/texas-rape-shield-right-to-privacy-vs-the-sixth-amendments-confrontation-clause/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>UNTESTED RAPE KIT CASES AN ONGOING PROBLEM</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/06/12/untested-rape-kit-cases-an-ongoing-problem/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/06/12/untested-rape-kit-cases-an-ongoing-problem/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sun, 12 Jun 2011 16:15:48 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sexual Assault Crime Attorney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DNA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DNA exonerations]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=614</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Delay in Testing Delays Justice for Victims and Wrongly Accused

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

In a June 4, 2011 article titled “Justice Delayed in Rape Cases,” Houston Chronicle staff writer Anita Hassan reported that five years ago the Houston Police Department crime lab had more than 4,000 “rape kits” sitting untested in its “property room freezer.” Some of these cases date back to the 1990s, according to Hassan, and more of them are still sitting idle in neglect waiting to be tested. The crime lab has only tested “200 cases” over the last five years, citing “a lack of manpower” in getting the job done. ]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/06/12/untested-rape-kit-cases-an-ongoing-problem/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>1</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>Aggravated Assault NOT Lesser Included of Aggravated Sexual Assault</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/04/30/aggravated-assault-not-lesser-included-of-aggravated-sexual-assault/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/04/30/aggravated-assault-not-lesser-included-of-aggravated-sexual-assault/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 30 Apr 2011 15:53:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Houston Criminal Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[bodily injury]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[jeopardy]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[judgment of acquittal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=586</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Defense Lawyers Sound Objection to Lesser Included Offense Causes Appellate Mental Madness

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Billy Sinclair

The law is rarely ever clearly defined. It is continuously subject to interpretation. 
The law is such a fluid creature that finding its true meaning is sometimes very difficult and can strain the bounds of intellectual honesty. This was illustrated on October 20, 2010 by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in the case of Oscar Rene Benavidez.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/04/30/aggravated-assault-not-lesser-included-of-aggravated-sexual-assault/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>CONSENSUAL SEX WITH A MINOR-RAPE AND MASS HYSTERIA</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/03/19/consensual-sex-with-a-minor-rape-and-mass-hysteria/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/03/19/consensual-sex-with-a-minor-rape-and-mass-hysteria/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Sat, 19 Mar 2011 23:25:31 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Sexual Assault Crime Attorney]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sex crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[consensual sex]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[rape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=561</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Schocking Allegations Of Sexual Assault In Cleveland, Texas

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Allegations of mass rape have literally ripped apart the social fabric of Cleveland, Texas, a Liberty County community of 7000-plus people just 45 miles north of Houston. The town has never been known as a bastion of racial harmony, but the sexual assault of an 11-year-old Hispanic girl there last Thanksgiving by as many as two dozen suspects—most of whom African-American—has splintered the town’s racial coexistence, which according to some was already as tattered as the neglected American flag flying above so many double-wide trailers in small Texas towns like Cleveland.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2011/03/19/consensual-sex-with-a-minor-rape-and-mass-hysteria/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>DEFENDING AGAINST JUROR BIAS IN SEX CRIMES</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/16/defending-against-juror-bias-in-sex-crimes/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/16/defending-against-juror-bias-in-sex-crimes/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 16 Dec 2010 11:03:40 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Child Abuse Crimes Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child indecency]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child molester]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[juror bias]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sex crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[voir dire]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=519</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Voir Dire, Inability to Consider Full Range of Punishment: Proper Objection and Practice to Preserve Error for Appeal

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

Sex offenses involving children are beyond a doubt the most difficult to defend, particularly when the allegations appear compelling and the witnesses are believable (here, here, and here).  These kinds of sexual assault allegations are easy to indict and even easier to prosecute. All the prosecution needs is the victim’s testimony to secure and sustain a conviction. These offenses are difficult to defend because potential jurors enter the trial setting with a predisposed bias against anyone charged with a sex offense against a child. While the defense counsel tries to exclude these biased jurors from the jury, either through peremptory challenges or challenges for cause, too many effectively conceal their bias in order to serve and convict. These jurors want to be part of a process that convicts the insidious “child molester.”]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/16/defending-against-juror-bias-in-sex-crimes/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>WIKILEAKS-JULIAN ASSANGE-AND POSSIBLE CRIMINAL PROSECUTION</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/10/wikileaks-julian-assange-and-possible-criminal-prosecution/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/10/wikileaks-julian-assange-and-possible-criminal-prosecution/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Fri, 10 Dec 2010 07:41:05 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Anti-Terrorism Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Al-Qaeda]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[espionage]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[torture]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[war on terror]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[water-boarding]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WikiLeaks]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=514</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Keeping the government in Check, the Uncomfortable Reality of Freedom of the Press

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

WikiLeaks’ founder Julian Assange surrendered to British authorities on December 7, 2010 in connection with sexual assault allegations leveled against the Australian native by Swedish authorities. News media reports said Assange was engaged in consensual sexual encounters with two women (WikiLeak volunteers) in Sweden this past August when the encounters turned non-consensual because Assange would not use a condom. The controversial Assange has gained international acclaim and criticism for his website’s disclosure of thousands of classified U.S. diplomatic cables and documents. The sexual assault charges became prominent after the disclosures occurred.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/12/10/wikileaks-julian-assange-and-possible-criminal-prosecution/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>2</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>THE CONSTITUTIONAL QUICKSAND OF JESSICAS LAW IN TEXAS</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/18/the-constitutional-quicksand-of-jessicas-law-in-texas/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/18/the-constitutional-quicksand-of-jessicas-law-in-texas/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Nov 2010 10:29:35 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Child Abuse Crimes Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child rape]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sexual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Jessica’s Law]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ngo]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=506</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Texas Penal Code 21.02, Continuing Sexual Abuse of a Child, Thwarts Long Established Requirement of Unanimous Verdicts

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

It’s been called arguably the second “most serious offense” in the State of Texas: Texas Penal Code 21.02, The Continuous Sexual Abuse of a Child. The statute provides that a person commits the continuous sexual abuse of a child if (1) during a period that is 30 or more days in duration, the person commits two or more acts of sexual abuse, regardless of whether the acts of sexual abuse are committed against one or more victims, and (2) at the time of the commission of each of the acts of sexual abuse, the actor is 17 years of age or older and the victim is a child younger than 14 years of age. This law was enacted by the Legislature is 2007 and was part of Texas’ version of Jessica’s Law. These laws have met with serious constitutional challenges across the country.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/18/the-constitutional-quicksand-of-jessicas-law-in-texas/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>5</slash:comments>
		</item>
		<item>
		<title>SEXUAL ASSAULT DEFENSES SEVERELY RESTRICTED</title>
		<link>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/04/sexual-assault-defenses-severely-restricted/</link>
		<comments>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/04/sexual-assault-defenses-severely-restricted/#comments</comments>
		<pubDate>Thu, 04 Nov 2010 21:40:53 +0000</pubDate>
		<dc:creator>johntfloyd</dc:creator>
				<category><![CDATA[Child Abuse Crimes Lawyer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sex crime]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sexual abuse]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[child sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexual assault]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[sexually molested]]></category>

		<guid isPermaLink="false">http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/?p=502</guid>
		<description><![CDATA[Extraneous Offenses: The Impact of Bass on Admissibility of other Crimes, Wrongs and Bad Acts.

By: Houston Criminal Lawyer John Floyd and Paralegal Billy Sinclair

We wrote about the Curtis Bass case last year (here). We will restate the facts of the Bass case here to illustrate the profound effect the case has had on defending sexual assault cases, particularly those involving child victims.]]></description>
		<wfw:commentRss>http://www.johntfloyd.com/blog/2010/11/04/sexual-assault-defenses-severely-restricted/feed/</wfw:commentRss>
		<slash:comments>4</slash:comments>
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