Outcome: Not guilty of rape, burglary, robbery and firearm charges after a jury trial. S.P. was facing a lengthy state sentence and lifetime reporting on Megan’s Law’s if convicted of rape. Instead, he was released from prison with no penalty due to his acquittal on all charges.
Description: S.P.’s ex-girlfriend claimed that he broke into her apartment, rapped her at point of gun and stole from her apartment. The two had recently broke up and Mr. Fishman was able to establish a clear motive for the alleged victim to fabricate these events. Mr. Fishman established this motive to fabricateby pointing to the fact that there was no crime scene, no weapon recovered, a delay in reporting the crime and a tumultuous break-up. Criminal defense attorney, Mr. Fishman successfully argued reasonable doubt to the jury and S.P. was found “not guilty” of serious felony offenses. He was facing a mandatory minimum of 5-10 years incarceration and would have received much more if the jury convicted of these charges.
