My question involves criminal law for the state of: Missouri
My husband is 39. The alleged victim is 17. This girl has been a friend of the family for many years and is one of my 16 y/o daughter's best friend. We have been having a lot of trouble with our 16 y/o - the point that she is now living with her dad. She has told her friends of all her troubles, but she neglected to tell them was it was of her doing - which why in the world would I even begin to believe she would do this? It involved drinking, lying, etc. This 17 y/o friend of hers wanted her to come live with her and we said no. Out of the blue, this 17 y/o has now accused my husband of, well there have been several different versions, one was TRIED to rape her, another was TRIED to kiss her, TRIED to go down her pants, DID go down her pants, DID rub her. There was an order of protection that her parents filed that was denied by the judge. There was an investigation performed by the Division of Family Services that resulted in their findings to be zero.
My husband went before the Judge and both sides presented their case. This was at the hearing for the ex parte order that was found to be invalid. After my husband's testimony wherein he indicated once these proceedings resolved he would be filing a civil lawsuit for defamation of character, etc. It was right after this hearing that the plaintiff and her mother went to the prosecutor's office and apparently raised hell (our understanding) and they filed 2nd degree sexual assault charges without any evidence. A warrant was issued for his arrest and a bond for $2,500.00 was set. He turned himself in immediately and bonded out. Everyone at the jail was joking and couldn't believe he was charged with this. They stated they have never even heard of anyone being charged for this and again laughed and asked him what did you do, "look at her wrong?" Even the bail bondsman said he knows the father of this girl and didn't understand it. In fact, the bondsman said if the father actually believed you did it he would have confronted you about it. The father has NEVER once came to court or attempted any confrontations.
How can they charge him with what they did when they had no evidence other than a she said he said type issue? What recourse does my husband have? We have had to hire an attorney that has cost us a lot of money - not to mention a huge strain on our family.
One final note, this is election year and I don't know if this has anything to do with it but it sure makes you wonder.

