BAIL REDUCED FOR MAN ACCUSED OF SEX CRIME

Shammrie Brown, charged with two other men for the assault of a 25-year-old single mother from Joliet at a party last August, had his bail reduced from $300,000 to $25,000 in a case that highlights the importance of keeping accurate records at the crime scene, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. At the party in August, Eric Stallworth, 21, and Corderro Pollard, 22, had sex with the Aurora University graduate student when she was too drunk to consent, according to the Sun-Times, and Brown told police that he had touched the “woman’s thigh in an attempt to arouse himself after Stallworth and Pollard had finished having sex.”

Brown’s attorney argued that while police wrote that down, it might not be entirely true. Brown’s attorney has said that Brown walked in on what he thought was three people having sex, and that his only crime was to not intervene what could be completely innocuous. Brown is also a student at Aurora University, and was the Illinois’ Student Laureate Award recipient in 2010. At the time of his arrest, he was pursuing a master’s degree in social work.

According to a report prepared by the National Violence Against Women Prevention Research Center, “one out of every seven adult women, or over 670,000 adult women in Illinois, has been the victim of forcible rape sometime in her lifetime.” The number does not include women who have experienced “attempted rapes, alcohol or drug facilitated rapes, incapacitation rapes, or statutory rapes.” While many prosecutors wouldn’t go so far as to say that what happened at the party in August was forcible rape, the definable lines are blurry.

If you or someone you know has been accused of a sex crime such as this, don’t go through it alone. Contact a dedicated Illinois criminal defense attorney today.

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