New Trial Manual Released for Defending Sexual Assault Cases

New NACDL trial manual gives defense lawyers strategies for voir dire, cross-exam, forensic evidence, and narrative-driven prosecutions.

WESTON, FL, UNITED STATES, July 2, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- Criminal Defense Attorneys Michael Waddington and Alexandra González-Waddington Announce Publication of Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual

New NACDL publication provides defense lawyers with strategic trial frameworks, pattern cross-examinations, voir dire tools, and forensic evidence strategies for defending sexual assault allegations.

Criminal defense attorneys Michael Waddington and Alexandra González-Waddington, nationally recognized military and criminal defense lawyers and authors of NACDL’s Pattern Cross-Examination Trial Guides, have announced the release of their new book, Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual, published in partnership with the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers.

The new manual is designed as a practical, strategic resource for criminal defense attorneys defending sexual assault allegations in civilian, federal, and military courts. Rather than offering a checklist-driven approach, the book provides a comprehensive trial operations plan focused on how jurors evaluate sex crime allegations, how prosecutors build narrative-driven cases, and how defense counsel can challenge those narratives with discipline, precision, and credibility.

Defending Sexual Assault Cases addresses every major stage of trial preparation and courtroom advocacy, including case theory, voir dire, opening statements, cross-examination, impeachment, motions practice, expert testimony, forensic evidence, and closing argument. The book also provides structured strategies for confronting trauma-based testimony, belief-first juror bias, #MeToo conditioning, delayed reporting claims, forensic interview issues, and the prosecution’s use of “counterintuitive” expert testimony.

Inside the manual, defense attorneys will find tactical guidance on identifying and challenging what the authors describe as “credibility scaffolding” — the layered use of SANE nurses, trauma experts, victim advocates, CPS workers, Title IX officials, military investigators, and other authority witnesses to create the appearance of corroboration. The book shows lawyers how to collapse that structure through careful cross-examination, targeted motions, forensic challenges, and persuasive trial storytelling.

The manual includes practical resources for defending sexual assault cases, including:

• Trial-theory frameworks for consent, fabrication, mistake of fact, impossible timelines, delayed reporting, and family-based allegations
• Voir dire strategies for uncovering trauma bias, belief-first jurors, and jurors influenced by cultural assumptions about sexual assault
• Pattern cross-examination sequences for alleged victims, SANE nurses, trauma experts, psychologists, digital forensic analysts, civilian witnesses, CPS workers, victim advocates, Title IX officials, military investigators, child forensic interviewers, and child abuse pediatricians
• Impeachment strategies for exposing inconsistencies, coaching, scripting, motive to fabricate, and unsupported assumptions
• Motions and objection strategies targeting trauma-based testimony, credibility bolstering, forensic weaknesses, and prosecutorial overreach
• Closing argument templates that give jurors a morally defensible path to acquittal

“Sexual assault defense requires more than knowing the rules of evidence,” said Michael Waddington. “These cases are often won or lost on narrative momentum, juror psychology, and the defense lawyer’s ability to expose weak assumptions without appearing hostile or insensitive. This book was written to give defense lawyers the structure, language, and strategy they need to try these cases effectively.”

Alexandra González-Waddington added, “The goal of this manual is to help defense lawyers challenge unreliable allegations, junk science, and credibility-stacking tactics while maintaining professionalism and credibility with the jury. It is a courtroom tool built for real trials.”

Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual also builds on the authors’ prior trial advocacy work, including Pattern Cross-Examination for Sexual Assault Cases, developed in partnership with NACDL. Together, these publications provide criminal defense attorneys with practical methods for dismantling narrative-driven prosecutions, challenging forensic evidence, and protecting the constitutional rights of the accused.

The book is available in paperback for $249.00 and is also available in e-book format through NACDL. The e-book is provided as a password-protected, non-printable PDF.

For defense lawyers preparing to try sexual assault cases — whether for the first time or the hundredth — Defending Sexual Assault Cases: A Comprehensive Trial Manual offers a complete arsenal of strategy, structure, pattern questions, motions, objections, and courtroom advocacy tools.

About the Authors

Michael Waddington and Alexandra González-Waddington are criminal defense attorneys and founding partners of Gonzalez & Waddington, LLC, also known as UCMJ Defense Lawyers. The firm represents U.S. service members worldwide in courts-martial, military investigations, sexual assault cases, domestic violence cases, administrative separation boards, and other serious UCMJ matters.

Michael and Alexandra are nationally recognized trial lawyers, authors, and lecturers. They have written multiple trial advocacy books, including Pattern Cross-Examination for Sexual Assault Cases, Pattern Cross-Examination for Digital Forensics, Pattern Cross-Examination for DNA & Biological Evidence, Kick-Ass Closings: A Guide to Giving the Best Closing of Your Life, and The Art of Trial Warfare.

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Website: ucmjdefense.com

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