Satawa Law recently has won another Title IX hearing, as the office for title 9 and institutional equity at University in Western Michigan “unanimously determined that the preponderance of evidence does not support a finding that the responded engaged in sexual assault or sexual harassment.”Read More

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Mark A. Satawa Has Been Nominated and Accepted as a 2019 AIOCLA’s 10 Best in Michigan For Client Satisfaction The American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys has recognized the exceptional performance of Michigan’s Criminal Law Attorney Mark A. Satawa as 2019 10 Best Criminal Law Attorneys for Client Satisfaction. The American Institute of Criminal Law Attorneys is a third-party attorney rating organization that publishes an annual list of the Top 10 Criminal Law attorneys in each state. Attorneys who are selected to the “10 Best” list must pass AIOCLA’s rigorous…Read More

Everyone should be clear about what Title IX disciplinary hearings are about. The typical Title IX case is one student accusing a fellow student of a “date rape” type sexual assault, following a date, or a night of drinking at the bar. They are NOT about Larry Nassar. Let’s make this clear – Nassar was a monster. I like Elisa Slotkin, and I am not a big fan of Education Secretary DeVoss. But the reforms DeVoss introduced to bring Title IX hearings back under control are a huge step in the…Read More

Do people confess to crimes they don’t commit? The age old question in criminal law. It seems so difficult to believe. Why would anyone admit to doing something they didn’t do? Particularly something as awful as sexual assault, child abuse, shaken baby, murder, or molesting a child. We all want to think – if I was ever charged with something like that, and I didn’t do it, I would SCREAM “I’m innocent!” I would never confess to it. But there is overwhelming and undeniable evidence to the contrary, in the…Read More

There is good news out of the Michigan Supreme Court, as it ruled last month that it was error to deny a defendant expert assistance for her post-conviction motion arguing ineffective assistance of and for a Ginther hearing. People v Ulp, SCt Case No. 15980 (9/25/19), http://publicdocs.courts.mi.gov/SCT/PUBLIC/ORDERS/159080_116_01.pdf. This was a medically complex SBS/AHT case, with a 14 month old child, with developmental delays and a drug addicted mother. The trial attorney did not get a number of important medical records and had no expert witnesses. Click on the attached to read the opinion and…Read More

Five Things To Do When You Are Falsely Accused Of Sexual Abuse It’s no secret that sexual assault is terrible – one of the worst crimes that anyone can ever commit. Unfortunately, it’s also one of the worst crimes to ever be falsely accused of committing. And being false accused of these offenses can be so easy. Frequently it just takes one person’s word, and then you are charged in a she said/he said situation. What do you do? How do you show that you did not do this? How do you…Read More

At long last, Michigan appears to be on its way to changing the rules of the State’s Sex Offender Registration Act – and with these changes bring some much needed sanity to a law much in need of it. Currently, Michigan’s Sex Offender Registration Act, MCLA 28.721 et. seq., is a “one tier” system. This means that anyone convicted of a “listed” sex offense in Michigan is put on the same registry. The act makes no distinctions between dangerous child predators convicted of molesting young children, and teenagers accused “statutory rape” (MCLA…Read More

Despite significant scientific controversy surrounding the idea that a human can shake an infant hard enough to cause significant damage (without first injuring the baby’s neck), prosecution of shaken baby syndrome continues. A misdiagnosis of shaken baby syndrome, also called abusive head trauma, (SBS/AHT) causes irreparable harm to the child and the adult caregivers who might face allegations of child abuse, yet neither legal professionals in the child welfare system nor prosecutors apply the same level of scrutiny or objectivity to diagnoses of SBS/AHT as they would with other medical…Read More

A hot-off-the presses published opinion of the Court of Appeals has finally determined that registration under Michigan’s Sexual Offenders Registration Act (SORA) is a “direct consequence” of guilt. People v Fonville, No. 294554 (Decided January 25, 2011). As a “direct consequence,” it is ineffective assistance of counsel to not identify this requirement to a defendant who is considering a plea offer for a charge that requires registry. Before now, criminal defendants all too frequently agreed to plead guilty and take their punishments by way of jail or prison time, only to…Read More

As if we needed yet another reminder, the United States Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals has “reminded” everyone once again that it is NEVER safe to possess child pornography – even for a “legal” purpose like an attorney or an attorney’s expert using it as an exhibit in court. On January 19, 2011, the Sixth Circuit reversed a ruling by a Federal District Court Judge in Ohio that an Ohio lawyer was not guilty of “creating” child pornography for use as exhibits in defending child porn charges in court. The lawyer, Dean Boland, was…Read More

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