Being accused of criminal sexual conduct (CSC) places your freedom, reputation, and entire future on the line. A single allegation can trigger police investigations, university disciplinary hearings (i.e., Title IV proceedings), and intense media scrutiny. Our Ann Arbor Criminal Sexual Conduct Lawyers devote our complete resources to protecting Washtenaw County residents, University of Michigan students, teachers, visitors, and professionals whose lives have been upended by CSC claims. Every case is handled with urgency, discretion, and a trial-ready mindset, guided by decades of experience from our focused and seasoned team of criminal sexual conduct attorneys.
Founding attorney Nicole Blank Becker led the Sex Crimes and Child Abuse Unit in Macomb County before dedicating her practice exclusively to criminal defense. Her years inside the prosecutor’s office give her an unrivaled grasp of how charging decisions are made, how evidence is evaluated, and where a case is most vulnerable to challenge.
Christopher Coyle is an attorney at Blank Law, PC who spent twenty-eight years at the Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office, ultimately serving as Deputy Chief of the elite Special Victims Unit. His team supervised hundreds of felony sex-offense prosecutions and coordinated multi-agency investigations across Michigan.
Together, our leadership brings a 360-degree perspective, honed in the trenches as chiefs, now deployed to dismantle the very strategies they once taught prosecutors to use.
Washtenaw County prosecutors and campus public safety departments treat sexual-assault allegations with zero tolerance. Investigations often involve:
Early intervention can mean the difference between a quiet dismissal and a public criminal filing. Our Ann Arbor criminal sexual conduct lawyers prefer to meet clients before charges are authorized, gather all the evidence, and present counter-narratives to detectives or assistant prosecutors to stop a warrant in its tracks.
Michigan divides CSC into four degrees under MCL 750.520 b–e. Although each charge is unique, every accusation hinges on two core questions: (1) sexual penetration versus contact, and (2) aggravating factors such as force, age, relationship, injury, or incapacity.
Each degree can trigger sex-offender registration for 15 years, 25 years, or life, depending on statutory tiering. A negotiated reduction from first or third degree to fourth degree can shave decades off potential incarceration and eliminate lifetime listing.
Beyond imprisonment, a CSC conviction can lead to:
Our defense strategy always includes a thorough mitigation plan aimed at minimizing or eliminating these life-altering secondary penalties.
CSC felonies originating in Ann Arbor begin with a sworn complaint in the 15th District Court (Justice Center on East Huron Street) for arraignment and probable-cause conference. Unless resolved, the file is bound over to the 22nd Circuit Court at the Washtenaw County Trial Court complex on Main Street for motion practice, plea negotiations, and, if necessary, jury trial before a circuit-court judge. Our team of criminal sexual conduct attorneys is familiar with local practice preferences, evidentiary tendencies, and judicial scheduling quirks in Ann Arbor, enabling us to capitalize on every procedural advantage.
Many Ann Arbor allegations arise from dorm rooms, fraternity parties, and downtown nightlife. A single complaint can launch:
We coordinate criminal court defense with tailored representation in university hearings to safeguard academic status while protecting Fifth Amendment rights.
Our in-house investigative team—comprising retired SVU detectives, digital forensics examiners, and trauma-informed interviewers—moves quickly to collect surveillance footage, Lyft data, geolocation metadata, and text message threads that often vanish within days. In appropriate cases, we arrange private polygraph examinations and summarize favorable results to prosecutors, a tactic that has persuaded Washtenaw County to shelve weak cases before charges issue.
Every client’s narrative is different, but effective CSC defenses frequently revolve around:
Our Ann Arbor criminal sexual conduct lawyers’ courtroom presentations combine cutting-edge expert testimony with meticulous cross-examination to cast doubt on every element the state must prove.
Blank Law, PC has secured dismissals, not-guilty verdicts, and reduced pleas in cases involving:
Success is never guaranteed, but our record demonstrates how strategic legal craftsmanship can change lives.
Your initial consultation is free, confidential, and conducted directly with a senior attorney, never a junior intake clerk. We are available 24 hours a day, every day of the year, because crises do not follow business hours.
When everything is at stake, trust the team that wrote the prosecution’s playbook and now uses that knowledge to defend the accused. Call Blank Law, PC at (248) 515-6583 or complete our secure online form here to schedule your meeting. The sooner we begin, the better positioned you are to reclaim your future.