If you are being accused of a prostitution-related offense, then you need Louisville pimping/pandering lawyers at Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers on your side. Standing up for the rights of the accused and helping you prove your innocence is our passion.
Pimping and pandering cases present unique challenges that require the attention of experienced and aggressive legal counsel. Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers has over a century of combined experience in criminal law and can help you achieve a positive outcome in your case.
Contact us in Louisville, KY, so we can get to work building your defense. We offer free consultations.
Table of Contents
How Can Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers Help Me with Pimping & Pandering Charges in Louisville?
Pimping and pandering charges can result in steep penalties — and ruin your reputation. Prosecutors treat these crimes seriously and will do everything they can to convict. You need a Louisville criminal defense lawyer to protect your rights.
When you hire Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers as your Louisville pimping/pandering attorney, you are not just hiring a defense lawyer. You are actually hiring a team of former prosecutors and police officers who have over 100 years of legal experience. Our attorneys have been recognized with some of the industry’s most prestigious awards.
From day one, we get started building your defense by:
- Demanding every shred of evidence from the State
- Invoking your right to remain silent
- Filing motions to suppress unreliable witness statements
- Dispatching our own investigators
- Fighting your case at trial if the State drop the charges
Do not wait another day to hire your defense lawyer. Waiting will only make things worse. Important evidence of your innocence may disappear, and your lawyer needs time to conduct a thorough defense.
Contact us today in Louisville, Kentucky, for your free consultation. Retaining skilled trial counsel sends a strong message to the State that you aren’t going to take your charges lightly.
Overview of Pimping and Pandering Charges in Kentucky
Perhaps more than any other case, prostitution allegations are often built on:
- Questionable “he-said-she-said” testimony
- Unlawful entrapment by law enforcement soliciting for illegal services
- Coercive, unreliable interrogation practices
Law enforcement often applies undue pressure on vulnerable people in our communities in order to get them to incriminate others. They may say things to a witness like, “if you don’t give us a name, you go to jail for years.” Someone terrified of going to jail is certain to make up a name, any name, at that point.
Police tactics like this are sure to obtain false witness statements and confessions. In fact, The Innocence Project estimates that 25% of suspects that were convicted but later proven innocent had actually confessed to the crime.
Unreliable witness statements are such a problem in pimping and pandering cases that Kentucky was forced to pass a law declaring that nobody can be convicted for a prostitution offense based on uncorrobrated eyewitness testimony alone.
What are Pimping/Pandering Charges in Louisville?
Pimping and pandering in Louisville is typically referred to as prostitution or promoting prostitution. However, if pimping/pandering involves a minor, the crime is formally referred to as human trafficking.
The four main pimping and prostitution crimes in Kentucky are:
- Prostitution (Class B Misdemeanor)
- Promoting Prostitution (Class A Misdemeanor or Class D Felony)
- Human Trafficking (Class C, B, or A Felony depending on age of victim and physical injuries)
- Promoting Human Trafficking (Class D Felony or Class C Felony if minor victim)
The State will notify you of the specific charges against you in the criminal complaint at your initial appearance. The information contained in the complaint will be considered by the judge when setting conditions of bond for pretrial release.
The state of Kentucky takes every allegation of pimping and pandering extremely seriously — especially when a minor is involved. Getting a defense lawyer involved as early as possible is critical to protect your rights.
What are the Penalties for Pimping & Pandering in Louisville?
A conviction for pimping and pandering in Louisville can carry serious penalties, including jail or prison time, lengthy probation or parole, and mandatory registration as a sex offender. Felony convictions also carry a wide range of collateral consequences, including reduced job prospects.
The penalties for prostitution, promoting prostitution, human trafficking, and promoting human trafficking vary greatly depending on a variety of factors, such as whether a minor victim was involved and if any physical injuries occurred.
The crime classifications for pimping and pandering crimes are set out in the previous section with the relevant statute. Here are the penalties that those classifications may carry:
- Class A Misdemeanor: A crime with a maximum jail penalty of between 90 days and 12 months
- Class B Misdemeanor: A crime with a maximum jail penalty of less than 90 days
- Class D Felony: One year prison minimum to five years maximum
- Class C Felony: Five years prison minimum to 10 years maximum
- Class B Felony: 10 years prison minimum to 20 years maximum
- Class A Felony: 20 years prison minimum to life
Sometimes community supervision may be available to reduce time spent in custody. Experienced criminal defense attorneys like those at Sure & Associates, LLC are skilled at negotiating with the prosecution for a resolution involving probation if it aligns with your goals.
In addition to jail time, a conviction for pimping and pandering is likely to require registering on the sex offender registry.
How Does the Sex Offender Registry Apply to Pimping and Pandering?
The sex offender registry applies to individuals convicted of certain felony sex crimes in Kentucky. Convictions for prostitution and promoting prostitution of adults typically don’t require registration. Registration requirements vary, and an attorney should go over the possibility of registration with you.
A conviction for prostitution or promoting prostitution involving a minor would require registration. Likewise, convictions for human trafficking or promoting human trafficking also require sex offender registration, regardless of whether the victims are adults or minors.
Registered sex offenders are required to comply with numerous strict requirements. Failing to fully comply can lead to new felony charges many years after the underlying conviction.
Some restrictions placed on registered sex offenders include:
- Registering with local law enforcement for a period ranging from 20 years to life with regular check-ins to update information
- Restrictions on social media and computer use
- Restrictions on where you can live and travel
- Restrictions on where you can work
Get in touch with our criminal defense team so we can advise you on whether or not you are facing registration if convicted. We will fight as hard as we can to beat your case.
What Defenses Are Available to Pimping and Pandering Charges?
Pimping and pandering charges need to be fought — hard! Do not stand back and let the state trample your important constitutional rights. You are entitled to a presumption of innocence until the state proves you guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.
Some of the defenses we may be able to use in prostitution-related cases include:
- Proving the police unlawfully entrapped you
- Filing motions to suppress evidence
- Challenging the legality of search warrants
- Showing that the state cannot prove each element of the crime
Every case has different facts and circumstances, so our experienced attorneys will need to evaluate your unique situation to develop the right case theory for you. Some additional defenses not listed may also be relevant to your situation.
Your lawyer needs time to send an investigator into the field and pour over all the evidence in your case. For these reasons, it is imperative that you contact us today so we can begin fighting for you.
Contact Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers Today For a Free Consultation
The experienced Louisville pimping/pandering lawyers at Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers have achieved successful outcomes for countless clients. Our criminal defense team wants to fight for you as well.
Whether you are facing charges of prostitution, promoting prostitution, human trafficking, or promoting human trafficking, we have the skills, resources, and experience to push back. Contact us today for your free consultation.
Visit our Law Office in Louisville, Kentucky
Suhre & Associates DUI and Criminal Defense Lawyers
214 S Clay St A
Louisville, KY 40202
(502) 371-7000