Akil Cousins is in custody facing abduction and sexual battery charges after a 14-year-old girl reported he grabbed her from a bench in front of loanDepot Park and thereafter took her to a nearby building where he proceeded to sexually assault her.
My first approach to this case would be moving to dismiss the kidnapping charge. Under Florida law, the crime of kidnapping cannot pass muster if the alleged abduction is incidental to a felony committed during the same act. A successful motion to dismiss would significantly reduce Cousins’ exposure and allow defense counsel to focus solely on the sexual battery charge(s).
To adequately prepare our defense to the sexual battery charge(s), I would request a hearing to explore and potentially contest the 14-year-old victim’s legal competency to testify at trial. Before a child is allowed to testify as a witness, the law requires a finding of sufficient intelligence to receive a “just impression” of the facts to which the child will testify to, as well as the capacity to convey those facts correctly to a judge or jury. An experienced criminal defense attorney will know which questions to ask during this hearing to ensure that this victim’s testimony is excluded at trial if she does not meet the legal threshold to testify as a witness.
If the minor victim is deemed competent to testify as a witness at trial, I would explore a misidentification defense. Since this incident happened mid-morning at a public place frequented by the public, multiple people could have approached the victim when she was sitting on the bench. The fact that she was arguably already under distress prior to being approached by the assailant as a result of being kicked out of her home coupled by the traumatic incident that ensued thereafter would come into play in her ability to properly identify Cousins at a photo array or at the scene of the crime after interacting with the people who assisted her in calling the police.
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