There's no authority to attach a no contact order to a CSC prison sentence

State v. Pugh, 753 N.W.2d 308, Minn.App., July 22, 2008

The district court sentenced Mr. Pugh to an executed prison term of 144 months and ten years of conditional release for first degree criminal sexual conduct. The court also ordered that Mr. Pugh have no contact with the victim of the offense.

There is, however, no authority for this no contact order as part of a commitment to prison. The legislature has determined that a person who is convicted of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree may be imprisoned for not more than thirty years or to a payment of a fine of not more than $40,000.00 or both. That’s it. The court rejects the state’s efforts to find authority for the no contact order elsewhere in the criminal statutes. The court also rejects the state’s suggestion that because Mr. Pugh did not object t the no contact order at the time of sentencing he had waived the issue. The court points out that a defendant cannot waive his right to challenge an illegal sentence.