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Minn. Stat. § 609.795

LETTER, TELEGRAM, OR PACKAGE; OPENING; HARASSMENT.

Known as the Criminal Code

The act spans §§ 609–609 (377 sections).

Applied in 7 court decisions — leading case Swenson v. Management Recruiters International, Inc. (1988)

Most recently applied in Matter of Welfare of A. J. B. (June 2019)

1963 c 753 art 1 s 609 .795; 1971 c 23 s 81; 1986 c 444; 1987 c 307 s 6; 1989 c 261 s 8; 1993 c 326 art 2 s 24; 2000 c 311 art 4 s 7; 2005 c 136 art 17 s 49; 2020 c 96 s 5

How often courts cite this section

1988199020002010201910
citing decisions per year

Court decisions citing this, by year. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.

Subdivision 1. Misdemeanors.

Whoever does any of the following is guilty of a misdemeanor:

(1) knowing that the actor does not have the consent of either the sender or the addressee, intentionally opens any sealed letter, telegram, or package addressed to another; or

(2) knowing that a sealed letter, telegram, or package has been opened without the consent of either the sender or addressee, intentionally publishes any of the contents thereof; or

(3) with the intent to harass or intimidate another person, repeatedly mails or delivers or causes the delivery by any means, including electronically, of letters, telegrams, or packages and thereby places the other person in reasonable fear of substantial bodily harm; places the person in reasonable fear that the person's family or household members will be subject to substantial bodily harm; or causes or would reasonably be expected to cause substantial emotional distress as defined in section 609.749, subdivision 2, paragraph (a), clause (4), to the other person.

Subd. 2.

[Repealed, 1993 c 326 art 2 s 34 ]

Subd. 3. Venue.

The offense may be prosecuted either at the place where the letter, telegram, or package is sent or received or, alternatively in the case of wireless electronic communication, where the sender or receiver resides.

Official source: Minnesota Office of the Revisor of Statutes. Reproduced from public-domain Minnesota statutes; confirm against the official source for the current text. Not legal advice.