ST. PAUL, Minn. – Bills have been introduced in the Minnesota Legislature so a rapist cannot be excused because the victim was self-incapacitated. State Representative Kelly Moller, D-Shoreview, had proposed amending the state rape law even before the state Court of Appeals overturned a rape conviction last week because the victim had been drinking all evening — before she met the man the evening of the assault. The case didn’t involve the kind of malevolent seduction that’s covered in the law, the Court said. State Representative Liz Boldon, D- Rochester, told a KIMT television interviewer that she supports the Moller bill. Boldon said she was outraged at the Court decision at first but then realized the Court was only interpreting a flawed law. Companion legislation to the Moller House bill has been introduced also in the Senate.
Verbatim
Boldon: “We know that victims who are intoxicated beyond their ability to give consent deserve justice. This is a failing not necessarily of the court but a gap in the statute and one that the Legislature has in its power to fix, and we need to do so expeditiously. A person who is intoxicated to the point that they are not able to give consent should get justice.”
Moller. Amending rape law her project.
Boldon. Signs on to close rape law loophole.