Section 12.1-20-03 - Gross sexual imposition - Penalty1. A person who engages in a sexual act with another, or who causes another to engage in a sexual act, is guilty of an offense if: a. That person compels the victim to submit by force or by threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping, to be inflicted on any human being;b. That person or someone with that person's knowledge has substantially impaired the victim's power to appraise or control the victim's conduct by administering or employing without the victim's knowledge intoxicants, a controlled substance as defined in chapter 19-03.1, or other means with intent to prevent resistance;c. That person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the victim is unaware that a sexual act is being committed upon him or her;d. The victim is less than fifteen years old; ore. That person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the other person suffers from a mental disease or defect which renders him or her incapable of understanding the nature of his or her conduct.2. A person who engages in sexual contact with another, or who causes another to engage in sexual contact, is guilty of an offense if:a. The victim is less than fifteen years old;b. That person compels the victim to submit by force or by threat of imminent death, serious bodily injury, or kidnapping, to be inflicted on any human being; orc. That person knows or has reasonable cause to believe that the victim is unaware that sexual contact is being committed on the victim.3.a. An offense under this section is a class AA felony if in the course of the offense the actor inflicts serious bodily injury upon the victim, if the actor's conduct violates subdivision a of subsection 1, or if the actor's conduct violates subdivision d of subsection 1 and the actor was at least twenty-two years of age at the time of the offense. For any conviction of a class AA felony under subdivision a of subsection 1, the court shall impose a minimum sentence of twenty years' imprisonment, with probation supervision to follow the incarceration. The court may deviate from the mandatory sentence if the court finds that the sentence would impose a manifest injustice and the defendant has accepted responsibility for the crime or cooperated with law enforcement. However, a defendant convicted of a class AA felony under this section may not be sentenced to serve less than five years of incarceration.b. Otherwise the offense is a class A felony.4. If, as a result of injuries sustained during the course of an offense under this section, the victim dies, the offense is a class AA felony, for which the maximum penalty of life imprisonment without parole must be imposed unless the defendant was a juvenile at the time of the offense.Amended by S.L. 2017 , ch. 109( HB 1195 ), § 1, eff. 8/1/2017.Amended by S.L. 2015 , ch. 116( HB 1030 ), § 2, eff. 8/1/2015.