New York residents who are under investigation for sex crimes need to enlist an experienced and aggressive defense as quickly as possible. These charges are very serious and it is important to have a knowledgeable advocate to speak on your behalf.

Last week, an appeals court voided a 2003 conviction of a man who had been serving a 60-year sentence after being convicted of fatal sexual assault. After ProPublica, NPR and PBS released a news report last year that the man might be innocent, an appeals court concluded that he had been given ineffective legal representation during his trial.

A judge in a lower court said in 2010 that his attorneys had not fully investigated whether a sexual assault even took place, nor the true cause of the child's death.

The Texas case is shining light on the increasing controversy about the science used to prosecute child abuse and sexual assault cases. According to a news report, at least 23 people in the U.S. and Canada have been wrongly accused of killing children based on faulty medical evidence.

The man in this case was found guilty in 2003 of sexually assaulting a 6-month-old baby. The baby died soon after the alleged attack. However, in the years that followed his trial, many physicians have gone over the evidence and some have concluded that the baby died of natural causes--that the baby was never assaulted at all.

The ruling calls for the man to be returned to Amarillo, Texas, where prosecutors can decide whether to try him again or set him free. If he is tried again, hopefully he will be represented professionally and aggressively this time.

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