Budget breakdown: MN changed sexual assault law to eliminate statute of limitations & more

Editor's note: This story is one in a series featuring parts of the new, two-year state budget that affect Central Minnesotans. 

Long Prairie native William Dinkel celebrated the bill to end the statute of limitations on rape and other sex crimes through group texts with other supporters of the change. 

Dinkel is a survivor of child sexual abuse and has recently become an advocate, telling his story and asking lawmakers to change state law so people who commit sexual assault will be at risk of criminal charges for the rest of their lives.

"This isn't something I did," Dinkel told the St. Cloud Times on Monday. "This is something a bunch of people had been working on for years."

Other sexual assault reforms that have been in the works for years also passed into law June 30, as part of the omnibus judiciary and public safety bill. 

"This is a very rushed and heavy way to end what was an up to two-years-long effort," said Lauren Rimestad, director of development and communications for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault. 

"The criminal sexual conduct reforms that took place were a result of a couple dozen community members meeting and volunteering their time to pore through the statutes to see: How are these statutes actually making an impact on sexual violence in our state," Rimestad said, referring to the Criminal Sexual Conduct Statutory Reform Working Group founded in 2019 by the Legislature.

The group put out a report with recommendations in January, many of which were adopted into law. 

RELATED: Is this the year Minnesota gets rid of the statute of limitations on sexual assault?

Voluntary vs. involuntary intoxication

One such reform entered dinner table conversations and garnered bipartisan support mid-session, Rimestad said.

A March Minnesota Supreme Court ruling declared a victim of sexual assault was not "mentally incapacitated," because she was drunk before she met her attacker.

State law previously read that someone is mentally incapacitated and unable to consent to sexual contact only if they're involuntarily under the influence of alcohol and other substances. 

Starting Sept. 15, that changes. Anyone who is intoxicated and cannot consent, understand or control their conduct is considered mentally incapacitated whether they drank willingly or not, according to the new law. 

There are other reforms as well. 

Task forces for missing and murdered women

Lawmakers designated $150,000 to fund the new Task Force on Missing and Murdered African American Women. 

In 2019 the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Task Force first met. It produced a report in 2020. And this year's public safety budget bill put $1 million over two years to establish the Office of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Relatives, which will advocate for the reforms in the report. 

American Indian women and girls are 1% of the state's population but they made up 8% of all murdered women and girls from 2010 to 2018, according to the report. 

RELATED: Budget breakdown: Sen. Jeff Howe's Hometown Heroes program gets $8M to aid firefighters

Sexual assaults in the National Guard

The unit in the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension that investigates Minnesota's officer-involved deaths and all criminal sexual conduct cases involving peace officers is now tasked with investigating sexual assault allegations in the Minnesota National Guard.

The budget includes $160,000 each year for those investigations.

The Independent Use of Force Investigations Unit will investigate when "a member of the Minnesota National Guard is the victim, the accused is a member of the Minnesota National Guard and the incident occurred in Minnesota," according to the new law. And it will assist investigations of incidents outside the state that involve Minnesota National Guard members.

RELATED: 'One of the most important stories:' Long Prairie native shares his story of child sex abuse

Prohibited relationships

It was already illegal and considered sexual assault for therapists to have sexual contact with a client or clergy to have sexual contact with someone seeking religious or spiritual guidance. 

The new reforms prohibit relationships between students and licensed educators at their schools who are at least four years older than the student. This takes effect Sept. 15. 

And the list of "significant relationships" in the criminal sexual conduct law now includes the romantic or sexual partners of victims' parents. The legal definition already included parents, step-parents, siblings, cousins and other relations. 

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Statute of limitations

There was no time limit for sex abuse cases with DNA evidence in Minnesota law. The new reforms eliminate the statute of limitations on sex abuse cases where there is no DNA evidence.

This change matters to victims of child sexual abuse who tend to wait decades before disclosing their abuse, long after physical evidence of the assault could be collected. 

If this was the law when Dinkel was assaulted, he could have reported his abuser for criminal charges when his abuser was alive, Dinkel said. 

It will take effect Sept. 15 and apply to assaults on and after that date.

"It's tremendous. I think this is a huge step," Dinkel said. The change recognizes the severity of sexual assault. There is no statute of limitations on murder either. 

The change tells victims they can be heard and they can seek justice, he said. And it tells perpetrators: "You don't get a free pass."

What's next?

Dinkel is focused now on drafting a book about his journey of abuse and healing. 

The Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault is helping get the word out about the legal changes, Rimestad said. 

"We have these conversations saying, 'Yay, we've done it,'" she said. "We need to remember that we did that. And we can do more. And it's possible."

That means ongoing work on police reforms and asking hard questions, Rimestad said. 

"Do we have less sexual assault because we've been using the judicial system to treat this," she said. "These are the questions that are going to be tough to ask. And those are going to be some conversations that probably pretty tough. And we're ready for it."

Nora Hertel is the government watchdog reporter for the St. Cloud Times. Reach her at 320-255-8746 or nhertel@stcloudtimes.com. Follow her on Twitter @nghertel.

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