MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — A person who is sexually assaulted while intoxicated does not fit the designation for a more serious charge if he or she consumed the alcohol or drugs voluntarily, the Minnesota Supreme Court said in a ruling released Wednesday. The opinion stems from the case of Francois Momulu Khalil, a Minneapolis man who was convicted of third-degree criminal sexual misconduct because the victim was drunk and considered by the jury to be mentally incapacitated. The woman met Khalil after she was refused entry to a bar because she was too intoxicated.
(Khalil then invited her and a friend to a party. Court documents say Khalil and two other men then drove them to a house in Minneapolis, where there was no party underway. The woman, identified only by her initials, testified that she blacked out on the couch and later woke up to find Khalil raping her.)
(AP continued...) Last Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court overturned his conviction, ruling that the state’s legal definition of “mentally incapacitated” only applies if a victim was given drugs or alcohol against their will — not if they consumed the substances voluntarily.