Massachusetts Indecent Assault and Battery Charge: What to expect at the 1st Court Date

What happens at your 1st Court date when you are charged with Indecent Assault and Battery in Massachusetts.

When you are charged with a sexual assault like and Indecent Assault and Battery, you can expect the following at your 1st court date.

The arraignment is when you are formal advised of criminal charges against you. At this court date, the prosecutor may request bail given that you face potential jail time. If you appeared voluntarily in court, there is a good chance that the judge will release you on your promise to appear in court or will set a nominal bail of $ 500.00 to $ 1000.00 to ensure your appearance in court.

If you have little or no record, bail is likely to be minimal, either no bail or a cash bail of $ 1000.00 or less. The judge is free to set whatever bail he or she wants, subject to an appeal to superior court, but generally speaking someone without a record is not going to face a substantial bail on an Indecent Assault and Battery; if the charge is Rape, the bail could be substantial even for someone without any record, depending on the strength of the allegations.

Often, in a charge of Rape or Indecent Assault and Battery, there will be conditions of release such as stay away from the victim or any individuals the age of the victim if the victim is a minor. In a charge of Indecent Assault and Battery person under 14, you will be required to stay away from children under 14 or to avoid any supervised contact with a child of that age.

It is very common for either the the complaining witness or his or her family to be present at the 1st court date. It is important to avoid having any contact with the victim or his or her family. You do not want to make any statements at all or do anything to agitate the complaining witness in the case.

At the 1st court date, the media could be present; it is important not to make any statements to the media. The media could try to ask you or make statements to get you to respond. It is important to remain calm and simply walk into and out of the court room as quickly as possible without making any statements.

Sometimes at the arraignment, there will be evidence that a criminal defense lawyer wants preserved by the Commonwealth. These motions can be heard at the arraignment.

After the 1st court date, the case will be scheduled for pretrial conference. At that date, you will get further information otherwise known as discovery about the Commonwealth’s evidence. At the 1st court date, the prosecutor will not provide all of the information about the case. In some cases, the prosecutor will be ready with discovery but in many cases the Commonwealth will need additional time to give you all of the details about the allegations.

Common discovery in a charge of Indecent Assault and Battery includes the following:

1. Police Reports;
2. Witness Statements
3. SAIN Interviews; this is an interview of a child witness about the allegations.
4. Possible DNA evidence
5. Pictures

Indecent Assault and Battery cases often involve a lot of investigation and work to prepare for trial. These charges do take longer as you want to develop a theory about why the victim fabricated the charges. Often it requires hiring a investigator to assist with this process of uncovering the motive the complaining witness has for making up the charge.

To learn more about what you should do when you are charged with Indecent Assault and Battery, free free to call or test Attorney DelSignore at 781-686-5924.