Felony Sexual Assault Reduced to Misdemeanor With Expungement

When our client received a summons to court for charges alleging repeated acts of sexual assault of a child, he went into panic mode. Although the client was in his early twenties, the Dane County District Attorney's Office charged him for several acts that occurred when he was approximately 14 years old. The family hired our firm before making an initial court appearance. Attorney Verhoff contacted the District Attorney and requested a meeting at which he suggested that had the case been filed at the time of the offense, the client would have been treated as a juvenile. Attorney Verhoff proposed a postponement of the case to give the client time to undergo various evaluations and treatment to demonstrate he was not a high risk to re-offend. Assuming that checked out, Attorney Verhoff proposed amending the charge from a felony offense to a misdemeanor that could be expunged from his record. As Attorney Verhoff argued, this would be an outcome that very much mirrored what would have happen in juvenile court if the client had been charged at that time in his life. The District Attorney agreed to the proposal. At the plea hearing, the judge was at first taken aback by the proposed outcome in this case. But once Attorney Verhoff explained it thoroughly, she said she was very comfortable with the outcome and accepted the agreement in full. This case is an excellent example of our firm thinking outside the box to resolve cases favorably for clients.