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Under current New York penal law, people who are voluntarily intoxicated cannot claim they were incapacitated during an assault unless they can show they were physically helpless. [...] According to the current New York rape law involving cases where the victim is intoxicated, a person is only considered "mentally incapacitated" under state law after being spiked without their knowledge and thus unable to control their actions. "The law appears to lack the nuance about being able to continue to consent," says Palamar.
[...] Palamar says that when it comes to issues around sexual assault and consent, the role of ketamine is complex. A person might agree to one sexual act while relatively lightly intoxicated, he says, only for the ketamine to take fuller effect as the encounter continues. "Maybe you'll be OK with one sexual act, but if you're not able to say, 'I don't like that,'" he says, the situation becomes very different.
[...] Ketamine's strongest effects from a single dose last around an hour, but Doe alleged that she was being encouraged to take the drug several times over the course of the night. The district attorney has claimed that "each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped". Yet, according to her account given to Cornell's police officials in 2024, sexual activity subsequently resumed. According to transcripts from the university's Title IX investigation, Doe stated, "I was given more key [sic] than I can remember," she texted one of the men. She reportedly told one of them a week later: "You had penetrative sex with me. I had so much ketamine, my eyes were crossed, and you still had sex with me."
Cornell case raises questions about rise of ketamine in sexual assaults: 'You might not realize you're being touched' | Drugs | The Guardian
[...] Palamar says that when it comes to issues around sexual assault and consent, the role of ketamine is complex. A person might agree to one sexual act while relatively lightly intoxicated, he says, only for the ketamine to take fuller effect as the encounter continues. "Maybe you'll be OK with one sexual act, but if you're not able to say, 'I don't like that,'" he says, the situation becomes very different.
[...] Ketamine's strongest effects from a single dose last around an hour, but Doe alleged that she was being encouraged to take the drug several times over the course of the night. The district attorney has claimed that "each time Jane Doe asked to stop the sexual conduct, the sexual conduct stopped". Yet, according to her account given to Cornell's police officials in 2024, sexual activity subsequently resumed. According to transcripts from the university's Title IX investigation, Doe stated, "I was given more key [sic] than I can remember," she texted one of the men. She reportedly told one of them a week later: "You had penetrative sex with me. I had so much ketamine, my eyes were crossed, and you still had sex with me."
Cornell case raises questions about rise of ketamine in sexual assaults: 'You might not realize you're being touched' | Drugs | The Guardian
Obviously the New York rape law should be changed.
I don't know enough about ketamine to say for certain that "eyes crossed" = too intoxicated to consent but that seems liike the obvious interpretation. Assuming that's correct, hopefully the jury in the civil case will agree. But based on New York law successful criminal prosecution for rape appears unlikely, even with the special prosecutor.
This post has been edited by Azath Vitr (D'ivers: Yesterday, 11:25 PM
