I once convicted a man of the sexual assault (forcible sodomy) of a prostitute. It can be done, but you have to prepare your case extremely well.
This guy's MO was to sexually asssault and forcibly sodomize women, and he focused on transients, the homeless, and young hitchhikers running away from home. He got away with it for years because the vitcims he chose were unlikely to report it, and if they did, they were unlikely to be believed.
He was a good-looking man, successful in his field, intelligent, well-spoken and well-dressed. He thought he was going to get away with it yet again. His defense attorney smirked at me and said I was a fool if I thought anyonw would believe a heroin-addicted prostitute.
I nailed the miscreant in a full-blown jury trial and put him away for 27 years. The victim, a misguided young lady who fallen into a very hard life after leaving home, was murdered a few months later by a heroin dealer. I made it a point to travel 600 miles to her funeral in her hometown. I wanted her grieving widowed mother to know that I though her daughter had done a very couraegous and redeeming thing in coming forward and subjecting herself to the additional pain and humiliation of a public trial. Because she had done this, she helped put a predator away who would have assuredly continued to violently assault other women.
Thanks, for sharing that story, and for the great job you did.. But if Russell Crowe had been the rapist..