If you’ve been charged with solicitation of prostitution in Minnesota, it can have severe consequences for your personal and professional life. The best thing you can do after you’ve been charged is to hire a criminal defense lawyer to defend yourself against the charges. But how will the lawyer make a case to the judge that you are innocent? Although every case is different, here’s a look at three common defenses that are used in prostitution cases.
Entrapment
One of the first defense angles a criminal defense lawyer will examine is that their client was entrapped. Entrapment occurs when a police officer or law enforcement official entices a person to commit a crime that they otherwise would have not committed. Entrapment isn’t always easy to prove, since you have to basically prove that your actions were forced or coerced. Police are allowed to set up stings and let you walk into it on your own, but they can’t go out of their way to get you to commit the act.
For example, police are allowed to pose as underage girls or prostitutes on the web, because you are still messaging them and seeking out their services, but a cop can’t just walk around a bar offering sex for money and then arrest the first person that says yes. Explain the details of your case to your lawyer to see if the police officer’s actions could be construed as entrapment.
Invalid Arrest or Due Process Violation
One of our favorite phrases in the legal world is that the ends don’t get to justify the means. What we mean by this is that as free citizens, you have certain rights that must be upheld, and how an arrest is made is just as important as why an arrest is made. Cops don’t get to say “We had no reason to search him, but we searched him anyways, and we found drugs on him, so the ends justify the means.”
The same goes in prostitution cases. Police need to follow due process during an arrest or a prostitution sting, otherwise the case may be thrown out. For example, in a prostitution sting, police officers need to identify themselves as police officers once a crime has been committed. An officer cannot complete the sexual act then arrest the suspect. Once money is exchanged before services are provided, it is considered prostitution, and the arrest needs to come at that point, otherwise it is considered abuse of power and a violation of due process. There are a number of other due process aspects that need to be followed throughout the arresting procedure, so explain everything that happened to your lawyer.
Lack of Evidence
Similar to the above point, an officer also needs to ensure they have enough evidence to get a conviction before placing a person under arrest. There needs to be a specific agreement made before an officer can arrest the suspect with probable cause. For example, if a customer drove up to an undercover officer, and the officer said “Let’s go to a motel and have a little fun,” this is too vague to be considered an agreement to exchange sexual favors for goods or services. However if they went to a motel and money was exchanged for services or a specific time limit, this would be enough to warrant an arrest. Your lawyer will likely review the evidence to see if police had enough probable cause to place you under arrest.
There are a number of other ways we challenge the validity of prostitution charges, and we can help you in your time of need. Contact Avery and his team at Appelman Law Firm today to learn more.