Last edited: January 02, 2005

 

Montana

  • Statute: Ruled Unconstitutional 1997
  • Case Law: Gryczan v State (Mt. 1997)

Statute

45-5-505. Deviate sexual conduct

(1) A person who knowingly engages in deviate sexual relations or who causes another to engage in deviate sexual relations commits the offense of deviate sexual conduct.

(2) A person convicted of the offense of deviate sexual conduct shall be imprisoned in the state prison for any term not to exceed 10 years or be fined an amount not to exceed $50,000, or both.

(3) The fact that a person seeks testing or receives treatment for the HIV-related virus or another sexually transmitted disease may not be used as a basis for a prosecution under this section and is not admissible in evidence in a prosecution under this section.

History: En. 94-5-505 by Sec. 1, Ch. 513, L. 1973; R.C.M. 1947, 94-5-505; amd. Sec. 7, Ch.198, L. 1981; amd. Sec. 2, Ch. 175, L. 1991; amd. Sec. 7, Ch. 687, L. 1991.

History

            1938     The Montana Supreme Court reverses a sodomy conviction that was based apparently only on the close friendship of the two defendants.

            1952     The Montana Supreme Court reverses a sodomy conviction that seemed to be based on a spanking given by one partner to the other, something not contemplated by the state’s sodomy law.

            1959     The Montana Supreme Court reaffirms an earlier decision that fellatio is outlawed by the state’s sodomy law, but the dissent written by Justice W. Hugh Adair is the longest recorded in a sodomy case, some 12,000 words (the length of a good-sized short story).

            1972     The Montana Constitutional Convention defeats the nation’s first explicit attempt to create a sexual privacy amendment in the new constitution, but includes a general privacy provision. Later, the Montana Supreme Court uses the general amendment to strike down the state’s sodomy law.

            1981     Montana amends its sodomy law to include the possibility of a $50,000 fine (as well as prison time), the largest fine ever in U.S. history for sodomy.

            1991     Montana amends its sodomy law to include the nation’s first explicit protection from disclosure of treatment for a sexual transmitted disease to prosecutors.

Case Law

Gryczan v State 07/02/97 repealed Montana's same-sex only law banning "Deviate Sexual Conduct" with threats of 10 years in jail and a $50,000 fine.

Filed briefs are online at: http://www.lawlibrary.state.mt.us/dscgi/ds.py/View/Collection-720

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