New York's rape law makes it nearly impossible to prosecute cases where victims were voluntarily intoxicated, leaving many assault survivors without justice. A pending bill would expand the definition of incapacity to include people unable to control or understand their behavior due to drugs or alcohol, not just those who were unconscious.

Prosecutors say victims who were drunk but semiconscious face a "very high burden" proving they were "physically helpless." In a Westchester County case, a woman who murmured "I just want to go home" as men assaulted her resulted in a mistrial. Leslie Hunt, who woke up in a Brooklyn hospital in 2015 with a positive rape kit, couldn't prove she was drugged because her behavior appeared anything but helpless.

The legislation has at least 90 sponsors and bipartisan support, but appears doomed with less than two weeks before the session ends June 4. Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie controls floor votes and his office says there's "not yet sufficient support." Defense lawyers argue the bill is "paternalistic" and could criminalize consensual sex.

California and Virginia already have similar laws. The bill's sponsor, Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, called it "a binary issue" — "either you're on the side of survivors or you're on the side of the rapists."