The first thing that you need to do if you are charged with prostitution is get a good Minnesota prostitution lawyer. It helps to find someone who is experienced with this charge. Once you do hire a lawyer, he or she will discuss your potential defenses.
Here are some of the common ones that you might want to consider for your case.
Entrapment. Entrapment is a commonly used defense for many different charges. It basically means that a police officer or another government official made you commit the crime. Otherwise, there is no way that you would have tried prostitution. You felt forced into it.
Entrapment can be hard to prove in a prostitution case. It is much easier (for the other side) to prove that you were indeed trying to make money through prostitution.
Lack of probable cause defense. In order to prove prostitution, it must be proved that you were going to go through with the act itself. Though many officers go undercover and try to arrest someone just for suggesting prostitution, there is no way to tell that they were actually going to go through with it.
In these cases, the judge must decide whether or not the police officer had enough probable cause to arrest you. They will have to prove that you were definitely going to engage in prostitution, which is why they arrested you. To do this, the police officer must arrest you after money has exchanged hands in order to show that you were going to follow through on your end of the deal.
Lack of evidence. A police officer has to tread lightly when arresting someone for prostitution. Lack of evidence is another common defense used against prostitution charges.
If the words exchanged between you and the police officer were quite vague, you may be able to use lack of evidence. Again, money usually needs to be exchanged before an arrest can be made. If you were arrested before you were given money, you might be able to get your case dismissed on lack of evidence.
Due process defense. If the police officer is acting inappropriately, you might be able to get your case dismissed. If the police officer tried to engage in sexual relations with you, he is acting inappropriately and you might be able to fight against him using a due process violation.
Mistaken identity. You might be able to use a mistaken identity defense if you were not the one soliciting prostitution. To do this, you are going to have to undermine the evidence including what the witnesses saw. To win a mistaken identity defense, you are going to have to put enough doubt in the mind of the judge and jury members in order to get your charges dismissed.
Before you do anything else, you need to find a lawyer. He or she will do everything that they can to ensure that your life won’t change too much with this one charge of prostitution. Finding the right defense is key to getting back to your normal life. A good lawyer will be able to go over your options so that you can determine the best course of action.
You should never allow your life in the hands of anyone other than an experienced lawyer! For this reason, don’t hesitate to contact us for all of your legal needs. If you have been charged with prostitution, we can help. We would be happy to discuss your case and your potential defenses so that one little mistake won’t change your whole life.