Can You Be Charged if the Accuser Changes Their Story?

Sep 28, 2026

Can You Be Charged if the Accuser Changes Their Story? Attorneys Christopher Combs and Joshua Boardman from Combs Waterkotte discuss everything you need to know about Illinois sex crime charges, including sexual assault, sexual abuse, rape, and more.

Combs Waterkotte is a leading criminal defense law firm serving Illinois and Missouri. Our Illinois defense attorneys will fight for your freedom and rights. If you are facing charges in Chicago, Cook County, or anywhere across Illinois, we can help. Call us at (312) 500-HELP 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Interview Transcript

Scott Michael Dunn: Can you be charged if the accuser changes their story?

Christopher Combs: Yes, and not necessarily specific to Illinois, but we see this all the time. I think it kind of goes to my example I was just explaining where you have a drunken night, it seems like there was no resistance, everything seemed like it was copacetic, it was a normal sexual encounter, and then, the next day, you’re hearing, “Well, I was too intoxicated to consent. You also can have allegations from minors who again, can recant. But, at that point, as Josh was just saying, there’s ages where you cannot give consent. So, if someone makes some type of statement that this happened and they’re of age where they can’t give consent, then they could still try to recant. But again, they made the statement. It’s hard to crawl back statements. And Josh… if you agree, disagree with me on that.

Joshua Boardman: No, I completely agree.

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