Sex Crime Lawyer in Minneapolis

What can a sex crime lawyer do before charges are filed?

A lawyer can act before a complaint exists, while the state is still gathering interviews, controlled calls and device searches.

• Handle investigator contact. A lawyer can tell the detective you will not be interviewed and learn what the investigation is about.
• Review warrants. Whether a search of a phone, account or home stayed within the warrant can decide what evidence the state may use. Source: Minnesota Constitution, Article I, Section 10
• Prepare for a first appearance. If an arrest follows, release conditions are set quickly.

See questioned by police but not charged.

What should I do if police want to talk about a sex crime allegation?

Decline the interview politely and ask for a lawyer. A statement made to “clear things up” can become the state’s key evidence.

• Do not contact the person making the allegation. Messages can be used as admissions or lead to a protective order.
• Do not delete messages, photos or accounts. Destroying evidence can create new charges and erase material that helps you.
• Write down a timeline and share it only with your lawyer.

See police interviews and your rights in Minnesota.

What happens if police seize my phone?

For search warrants issued on or after August 1, 2026, a warrant that expressly authorizes a search of devices for child sexual abuse material also allows a limited on-scene forensic preview to identify, confirm and document whether that material is present. Further analysis requires a forensic laboratory or other controlled environment and a separate warrant for that device. If the preview shows a device holds no relevant evidence, police must return it as soon as practicable, consistent with the property statute. Source: Laws 2026, chapter 118, article 5, section 5 Source: Minnesota Statutes 626.04 See digital evidence in CSC investigations.

What are the five degrees of criminal sexual conduct?

The degree depends on whether the act was penetration or contact and on the circumstances charged.

Degree	Core conduct	Ordinary statutory maximum
First degree	Penetration, or narrowly defined bare genital or anal contact with a child under 14, plus a listed circumstance such as fear of great bodily harm, a weapon, injury, an accomplice, or age and relationship facts	30 years and $40,000
Second degree	Sexual contact with circumstances like those in first degree	25 years and $35,000
Third degree	Penetration with coercion, force, a complainant the actor knows or has reason to know is mentally impaired, mentally incapacitated or physically helpless, a prohibited occupational relationship, or age and relationship facts	15 years and $30,000; five years in prison under one close-in-age clause
Fourth degree	Sexual contact under similar circumstances, with its own age rules	10 years and $20,000
Fifth degree	Nonconsensual penetration is a felony. Nonconsensual sexual contact, or masturbation or lewd exhibition of the genitals when the actor knows or has reason to know a child under 16 is present, is a gross misdemeanor	2 years and $10,000 for the felony; 364 days and $3,000 for the gross misdemeanor; 7 years and $14,000 after qualifying priors within ten years

Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.342 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.343 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.344 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.345 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.3451

These are ordinary maximums. Specified first and second degree cases with heinous elements, and certain repeat offenders, carry mandatory life sentences. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.3455 For a 14 or 15 year old complainant, third degree requires an actor more than 24 months older, and fourth degree more than 36 months older or in a position of authority. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.345

Read each degree in detail: first degree criminal sexual conduct, second degree, third degree, fourth degree and fifth degree.

Is consent a defense, and what is the age of consent in Minnesota?

Consent is a defense only where the charge turns on it. Consent means words or overt actions showing a freely given present agreement to a particular sexual act. A relationship or a failure to resist is not consent, and a person who is mentally incapacitated or physically helpless cannot consent. Mental incapacity includes being so affected by a substance that the person cannot consent, but intoxication alone does not automatically meet that definition. Except for massage, consent is not a defense to the prohibited occupational relationship clauses. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.341

Minnesota has no single age of consent rule. The degree statutes set separate rules for complainants under 14, 14 or 15, and 16 or 17, based on age gaps, a position of authority or a significant relationship, and consent is not a defense to those clauses. Mistake of age is a limited defense only under the third and fourth degree clauses for a 14 or 15 year old, within the statute’s 60-month age limit. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.344 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.345 See the age of consent in Minnesota and what consent means in CSC cases.

Will I go to prison for a sex crime conviction?

It depends on the degree, the clause and your criminal history. Felony criminal sexual conduct is sentenced on the Sex Offender Grid, and the August 1, 2026 Sentencing Guidelines govern offenses on or after that date. Source: Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines, effective August 1, 2026

• Presumed prison. First degree presumes a 144-month executed sentence, and most second degree clauses 90 months, unless a longer sentence applies. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.342 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.343
• Presumed probation. At low criminal history scores, the grid presumes a stayed sentence for fourth degree, felony fifth degree and some age-based second and third degree clauses.
• Departures. A judge may depart only for identifiable, substantial and compelling circumstances, stated in writing or on the record. The 2026 mitigating factor for having no prior conviction does not apply to Sex Offender Grid offenses. Source: Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines 2.D
• Custody status. For offenses on or after August 1, 2026, being on qualifying custody status, such as probation, adds months to the presumptive duration, doubled for felony sex offense custody status. Source: Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines 2.C
• Aggravated sentences. The state must give notice and prove aggravating factors to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt unless you waive that right. Source: Minnesota Statutes 244.10 For crimes on or after August 1, 2026, one factor is an adult intentionally deceiving a minor victim into believing the adult was also a minor to facilitate the offense. Source: Laws 2026, chapter 97, article 6, sections 1 and 2

A first through fourth degree conviction within 15 years of a previous sex offense conviction requires at least three years in prison, with narrow exceptions. A prison commitment for those degrees carries ten years of conditional release, or lifetime with a previous or prior sex offense conviction; for fourth degree, lifetime applies only when the earlier conviction was first, second or third degree, criminal sexual predatory conduct or penetration-based sexual extortion. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.3455

Will I have to register as a predatory offender?

Registration follows many sex offense convictions, including a conviction for a different offense arising from the same circumstances. It applies if you were charged with felony first through fourth degree criminal sexual conduct, enhanced felony fifth degree or felony indecent exposure, and convicted of that offense or another arising from the same set of circumstances. It also follows a conviction arising from a charge of soliciting a minor under the listed provisions, using a minor in a sexual performance, or possessing or disseminating child sexual abuse material. Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166

• Baseline. Ten years from initial registration or until probation, supervised release or conditional release ends, whichever is later. Civil commitment time does not count.
• Restarts. Incarceration for a new registrable offense, or after a revocation, restarts the ten years from release.
• Five-year extensions. Failing to give notice of a new primary address, generally at least five days before moving, failing to follow the rules for a person without a primary address, failing to provide required information, or failing to return the verification form within ten days.
• Lifetime. With a prior registrable offense, and for listed first through fourth degree clauses.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166 An unenhanced fifth degree conviction does not by itself trigger registration. See how sex offender registration works in Minnesota.

Will I be listed on a public website?

Not automatically. Registration data are generally private and used by law enforcement and corrections. Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166 Public notification is separate: a review committee assigns a risk level before release from prison, and the Department of Corrections posts information online only for risk level III offenders. Source: Minnesota Statutes 244.052

What are solicitation, grooming and online sex crime charges?

An adult who solicits a child, or someone the adult reasonably believes is a child, to engage in sexual conduct with intent to engage in sexual conduct commits a felony, and a separate provision covers sexual communication with a child by electronic means. Here a child is 15 or younger, and neither mistake of age nor an undercover officer’s involvement is a defense. The maximum is five years and $10,000. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.352

For crimes on or after August 1, 2026, three new felonies carry the same maximum: Source: Laws 2026, chapter 108, sections 5 to 9

• Grooming. An adult expresses to a child a desire or intent to engage in sexual conduct and engages in a deliberate pattern, two or more instances, to build a false trusting relationship meant to manipulate the child into future sexual conduct, whether or not any occurs.
• Position of authority. Any of these acts by a person in a current or recent position of authority more than 36 months older than a victim under 18.
• Schools. Any of these acts by a person employed or contracted to serve an elementary, middle or secondary school, against a student enrolled there, regardless of age.

The registration statute names only the solicitation provisions in subdivision 2 and subdivision 2a, clause (1). Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166 Sexual extortion and nonconsensual dissemination of private sexual images are separate crimes. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.3458 Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.261 See defending internet sex crime charges in Minnesota and our sexual exploitation and sex trafficking pages.

What are the penalties for child sexual abuse material?

Minnesota now uses the term “child sexual abuse material” for what was once called child pornography. For crimes on or after August 1, 2025, the definition also covers obscene depictions, made with generative artificial intelligence or other computer technology, of an individual indistinguishable from an actual minor. Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.246 Source: Laws 2025, chapter 35, article 4, section 12

• Possession is a felony with up to five years and $5,000, and dissemination up to seven years and $10,000, when the person knows or has reason to know the material’s content and character.
• Enhanced penalties. Possession rises to ten years and $10,000, and dissemination to 15 years and $20,000, with a prior conviction or delinquency adjudication under 617.247 or 617.246, for a registered predatory offender, or when the material involved a minor under 14.
• Consent is not a defense, whether by the minor or a parent, guardian or custodian.
• Conditional release. A prison commitment carries five years, or 15 years with a listed prior conviction.

Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.247 Dissemination for profit is a separate offense with a ten-year maximum. Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.246 A 2026 law lets these cases be prosecuted where the offense occurred or where the accused or victim lives, or, if neither applies, where the material was produced, found, stored, received, disseminated or possessed. Source: Laws 2026, chapter 118, article 5, sections 3 and 4

The defense examines whether the material meets the definition, whether knowledge can be proven, and who had access to the device. See child pornography charges in Minnesota.

Is indecent exposure a sex crime in Minnesota?

Yes, and it has three levels. Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.23

• Misdemeanor. Willfully and lewdly exposing oneself in a public place or where others are present.
• Gross misdemeanor. The exposure occurs in the presence of a minor under 16, or after a prior conviction for indecent exposure, first through fifth degree criminal sexual conduct, or a similar out-of-state offense.
• Felony, up to five years and $10,000. Exposure in the presence of a minor under 16 after a prior conviction or delinquency adjudication for that same offense or for fifth degree exhibition in a child’s presence, or exposure while intentionally confining a person or restricting that person’s freedom to move.

The felony level requires registration. Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166 Breastfeeding is not a violation. Source: Minnesota Statutes 617.23

What release conditions and protective orders can follow an allegation?

The criminal case and any civil order run separately.

• Release conditions. At the first appearance, the court sets conditions of release, which can include no contact. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 6 For a family or household member, the court may also issue a domestic abuse no contact order. Source: Minnesota Statutes 629.75
• Harassment restraining order. Relief generally lasts up to two years, or up to 50 years after repeated orders or violations. Violating an order you know of is a misdemeanor, a gross misdemeanor within ten years of a qualified domestic violence-related conviction or adjudication, and a felony in listed situations, including against a victim under 18 when you are more than 36 months older. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.748
• Order for protection. Between family or household members, criminal sexual conduct counts as domestic abuse that can support an OFP. Source: Minnesota Statutes 518B.01

Protective order testimony can be used in the criminal case. See what an order for protection is, OFP vs HRO in Minnesota, violating a harassment restraining order and bail and bond in Minnesota.

How does a Minneapolis sex crime case move through Hennepin County court?

Felony sex crime cases follow these steps.

• First appearance. After a warrantless arrest, a person held in custody must see a judge without unnecessary delay and within 36 hours, excluding the day of arrest, Sundays and legal holidays, or as soon as a judge is available. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 4 A warrant arrest follows the warrant’s directions. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 3
• Rule 8 appearance. Ordinarily set within 14 days, unless you waive a separate appearance or the court extends it for good cause. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 5
• Omnibus hearing. Probable cause, suppression, discovery and evidentiary motions are heard. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 11
• Rape shield. Evidence of the complainant’s previous sexual conduct is excluded except by court order in narrow circumstances. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.347 See rape shield rules in Minnesota sex trials.
• Minor complainants. Charging record data that specifically identify a minor victim in listed sex offense cases are not public except by court order, and a 2026 amendment added cases under 617.246. The defendant’s identity is not protected by this rule. Source: Laws 2026, chapter 97, article 1, section 23
• Jury trial. A guilty verdict must be unanimous unless you personally waive that right with court approval. Source: Minnesota Rules of Criminal Procedure, Rule 26

Follow the courtroom and location on your hearing notice. See our Hennepin County criminal defense page and, for other felonies, our Minneapolis felony lawyer page.

Can an old allegation still be charged?

Yes for first through fourth degree, which have no filing deadline under current law; fifth degree generally has three years. Source: Minnesota Statutes 628.26 A 2026 amendment reaches older crimes only if their deadline had not expired before August 1, 2026. Source: Laws 2026, chapter 97, article 3, section 4 See Minnesota’s criminal statute of limitations.

What are the defenses to a sex crime charge?

Defenses depend on the clause charged and the facts.

• Consent and capacity, where the law allows consent as a defense.
• The charged circumstance. Whether the age, relationship, injury, weapon or occupational fact can be proven.
• Identity and contact. Whether the alleged act happened, and who was involved.
• Statements, searches and devices. Whether an interview was voluntary, a search stayed within the warrant, and who had access to a device.

See what to do if you are falsely accused of a sex crime.

Minneapolis sex crime lawyer FAQs

Can I be charged without DNA or physical evidence?

Yes. The complainant’s testimony need not be corroborated. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609.347 The state must still prove every element beyond a reasonable doubt. Source: Minnesota Statutes 611.02 See DNA evidence in Minnesota CSC cases.

Can the complainant drop the charges?

No. The prosecutor decides whether the case goes forward, though a complainant’s reluctance can affect the evidence. See what happens when the victim won’t press charges.

Can I get probation for a first sex offense?

Sometimes. Fourth degree, felony fifth degree and some age-based clauses presume probation at low criminal history scores, while first degree and most second degree clauses presume prison. Source: Minnesota Sentencing Guidelines 4.B

Does pleading to a lesser charge avoid registration?

Not necessarily. If you were charged with a registrable felony, a conviction for any offense arising from the same set of circumstances still requires registration. Source: Minnesota Statutes 243.166

Can a sex crime conviction be expunged?

Not if it requires registration. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609A.02 Fifth degree and indecent exposure are excluded from automatic expungement, but a nonregistrable misdemeanor or gross misdemeanor may qualify for a petition after a waiting period without a new conviction. Source: Minnesota Statutes 609A.015 Source: Minnesota Statutes 609A.02 See our expungement page.

Talk with Martine Law about a Minneapolis sex crime charge

Martine Law PLLC defends sex crime investigations and charges in Minneapolis and Hennepin County. Bring any card, warrant or court notice you received, and we will explain where the case stands and what to do next. Visit our sex crimes defense page for more. Phones are answered 24/7. Call 612-294-0650 to request a free consultation.

This content provides general information and should not be considered legal advice. Contact Martine Law for guidance specific to your situation.

Criminal defense services are provided by Martine Law PLLC.