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Though advocates say the ruling comes as no surprise, it underscored a need to change the current Minnesota law that governs rape charges when alcohol is involved.
Minnesota law criminalizes as “criminal sexual conduct in the third degree” sexual penetration by a person who “knows or has reason to know that the complainant is … mentally incapacitated.” The state statute currently defines “mentally incapacitated” as meaning “that a person under the influence of alcohol, a narcotic, anesthetic, or any other substance, administered to that person without the person’s agreement, lacks the judgment to give a reasoned consent to sexual contact or sexual penetration.”
Interpreting the statute, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled, “The legislative definition of ‘mentally incapacitated,’ as set forth in (the law), does not include a person who is voluntarily intoxicated by alcohol.”
“We hold that a person is mentally incapacitated under the definition adopted by the Legislature … when that person is ‘under the influence of alcohol … administered to that person without the person’s agreement,'” the Supreme Court decision said. “Consequently, we reverse the decision of the court of appeals and remand to the district court for a new trial.”
Lindsay Brice, the Law and Policy Director for the Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault, said she was not surprised by the court’s opinion and said that it was “a known statutory problem” her group has been working on for years.
Brice said “most of us expected” this outcome.
“The opinion itself is not surprising at all — it simply reflects the need for change at the legislature,” she added.
Conviction is effectively overturned
According to the decision, the victim consumed approximately five shots of vodka and a prescription narcotic pill before going to a bar in Minneapolis in May 2017. After being denied access to the bar because of her intoxication, the victim met Francios Momolu Khalil, the ruling says.
The victim traveled to a house with Khalil where she passed out and woke up to Khalil penetrating her, according to the court’s recounting of the victim’s testimony.
Khalil was originally charged with one count of criminal sexual conduct in the third degree involving a mentally impaired or physically helpless complainant, for which he was found guilty, according to court records from the original case. Khalil was also charged with, but acquitted of, three other sexual assault felony charges, according to the same…
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