I was hoping @Hanna would weigh in here. You may even want to PM her. She really is knowledgeable about these disciplinary issues.
People underestimate how much impact help can have in disciplinary procedures. For such a high level accusation, talking to a lawyer is definitely reasonable. I recommend students always talk to someone for basically any level of violation (even if it is non-academic). One of my friends who is a Resident Advisor had students approach him for advice after being caught with alcohol while underage. He told them how to go about the conduct process and they avoided being cited with a Minor-in-Possession Misdemeanor charge and received very low restorative sanctions (no criminal record and the infraction will not be reported to grad schools or employers). Another one of his residents in a separate incident did not take his advice. He was cited and received rather stiff sanctions from the university on top of that.