Minnesota prosecutors should soon be able to criminally charge a rapist for assaulting a victim who got drunk before the sexual attack.
Buried deep in the massive public safety bill that lawmakers passed overnight Wednesday is a provision that closes the “intoxication loophole” in Minnesota’s third-degree sexual conduct law. That statute says a person who is sexually assaulted is not considered “mentally impaired” if they voluntarily drank alcohol or consumed drugs to the point where they could not give reasoned consent. To meet that standard for impairment, current law requires the drugs or alcohol must be “administered to that person without the person’s agreement.”
A Minnesota Supreme Court ruling March 24 put a spotlight on the issue. The court overturned the rape conviction of a Maple Grove man because the woman he assaulted had been drinking before the attack and thus was not considered “mentally impaired” under existing law.
In his opinion on the case, Justice Paul Thissen virtually invited the Legislature to change the law. He wrote that while a “commonsense understanding of the term mentally impaired” could include someone who couldn’t give consent to sex because she was drunk, the law said the alcohol had to be given to her without her permission.
Reps. Kelly Moller, DFL-Shoreview, and Marion O’Neill, R-Maple Lake, had drafted legislation to update that law even before high court ruled. It was the product of two years of study by a sex crime statutory reform working group created by the 2019 Legislature.
“Victims who are intoxicated to a degree that they are unable to give consent are entitled to justice,” Moller said last spring when she introduced the bill. Sen. David Senjem, R-Rochester, was the chief Senate sponsor.
The House passed the measure 75-59 late Tuesday. The Senate followed suit early Wednesday morning by a 45-21 vote. The bill now goes to Gov. Tim Walz for his expected signature.
