Gainesville area residents who have been charged with a crime are wise to seek a vigorous defense team as soon as possible. This is especially important in domestic assault and sex crimes cases, as the charges are so serious.

Recently, controversy has erupted over the scientific methods that are used to prosecute child abuse and sexual assault cases. At least 23 people in the U.S. and Canada have been wrongly accused of killing children based on inaccurate medical evidence, according to a recent news report. And, just last week, a criminal appeals court voided the conviction of a man who was serving a 60-year sentence for a conviction on a fatal sexual assault charge.

The Texas conviction was voided after an appeals court ruled that the man was provided with ineffective legal representation during his trial. He had been found guilty in 2003 of sexually assaulting a 6-month-old baby, who then died shortly after the alleged attack. However, a judge said in 2010 that the defendant's attorneys had not even thoroughly investigated the cause of the child's death or whether a sexual assault actually occurred.

In the years after his trial, many physicians reviewed the evidence and some of them concluded that the baby died of natural causes. They also concluded the baby was never sexually assaulted.

The man's conviction has not been overturned and he has not been freed. The ruling calls for him to be sent back to Amarillo, Texas. There, prosecutors can choose to either to try him a second again or let him go.

Source: ProPublica, "Texas Court Voids Conviction in Child Death Case," A.C. Thompson, Jan. 25, 2012