State v. Jones
South Dakota Supreme Court
804 N.W.2d 409 (2011)
E.B. fell asleep on a friend's couch after drinking heavily and awoke to find Christopher Jones (defendant) sexually assaulting her. She resisted and he stopped, but after she fell back asleep, she awoke again to find her clothes pulled down and Jones penetrating her; she yelled until he stopped, dressed, and hid in the bathroom. Jones was charged with third-degree rape under a statute criminalizing sex with a victim unable to consent due to intoxication, which contained no explicit mental-state requirement. The trial judge refused Jones's request for an instruction requiring the state to prove he knew the victim couldn't consent, and Jones was convicted and appealed.
Whether the mens rea requirements for sexual assaults arising from a victim's inability to consent vary depending on the reason for that inability and the jurisdiction.