{"id":4213,"date":"2026-05-18T16:45:56","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T20:45:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/?p=4213"},"modified":"2026-05-18T17:09:04","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T21:09:04","slug":"michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/","title":{"rendered":"Michigan Rape Shield Law: What MCL 750.520j Prohibits and What Masi Changed"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><!-- WORDPRESS \/ YOAST IMPLEMENTATION NOTES Focus Keyphrase: Michigan rape shield law SEO Title: Michigan Rape Shield Law Explained | MCL 750.520j Meta Description: Michigan rape shield law: what MCL 750.520j prohibits, its exceptions, Masi, Butler, and defense strategy. Slug: michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j Category: Sex Crimes Defense Suggested Author: Michael Boyle, Partner Suggested Featured Image: Michigan courthouse exterior. Alt text: Michigan courthouse where Michigan rape shield law MCL 750.520j applies. Suggested Secondary Image: Michigan Supreme Court building. Alt text: Michigan Supreme Court decision in People v Masi and Michigan rape shield law. Internal Links to Add\/Confirm: 1. \/michigan-sex-crimes-defense.html 2. \/blog\/definition-of-criminal-sexual-conduct-in-michigan\/ 3. \/blog\/have-you-been-falsely-accused-of-a-sex-crime-in-michigan\/ External Authority Links Included: 1. Michigan Legislature, MCL 750.520j 2. Michigan Supreme Court, People v Masi 3. Michigan Judicial Institute Benchbook 4. People v Butler --><\/p>\n<article class=\"bdf-blog-post\" style=\"font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; line-height: 1.68; color: #1f2933; max-width: 920px; margin: 0 auto;\">\n<section style=\"background: #f8fafc; border-left: 6px solid #8b1e1e; padding: 20px 24px; margin: 28px 0; box-shadow: 0 2px 10px rgba(0,0,0,.05);\">\n<h2 style=\"font-size: 22px; margin-top: 0; color: #111827;\">Short Answer<\/h2>\n<p style=\"margin-bottom: 0;\"><strong>Michigan rape shield law<\/strong>, MCL 750.520j, generally prevents prosecutors and defendants from introducing evidence of a complainant\u2019s prior sexual conduct, opinion evidence about sexual conduct, or reputation evidence about sexual conduct in criminal sexual conduct cases. The statute recognizes two narrow statutory categories of potentially admissible evidence: prior sexual conduct with the accused and specific sexual activity showing the source or origin of semen, pregnancy, or disease. Other evidence may be admitted only when exclusion would violate the accused person\u2019s constitutional right to confrontation or right to present a defense.<\/p>\n<\/section>\n<p><strong>Michigan rape shield law<\/strong> is one of the most important evidentiary rules in a criminal sexual conduct case. It affects what the jury may hear, what the defense may investigate, how cross-examination is limited, and whether evidence of prior third-party abuse, sexual knowledge, or prior false allegations can be used at trial.<br \/>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"read_more_link\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/\"  title=\"Continue Reading Michigan Rape Shield Law: What MCL 750.520j Prohibits and What Masi Changed\" class=\"more-link\">Continue Reading \u203a<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Michigan\u2019s rape shield law limits evidence of a complainant\u2019s prior sexual conduct in criminal sexual conduct cases. This article explains MCL 750.520j, the statutory exceptions, constitutional limits, and the Michigan Supreme Court\u2019s 2025 decision in People v Masi.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39,228],"tags":[59,231,230,229,233,232],"class_list":["post-4213","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sex-crimes","category-sex-crimes-defense","tag-criminal-sexual-conduct","tag-csc-defense","tag-mcl-750-520j","tag-michigan-rape-shield-law","tag-michigan-sex-crimes-defens","tag-people-v-masi"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Michigan Rape Shield Law &#8212; MCL 750.520j Explained<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Michigan rape shield law explained: what MCL 750.520j excludes, the key exceptions, and how People v Masi changed defense strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:title\" content=\"Michigan Rape Shield Law &#8212; MCL 750.520j Explained\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:description\" content=\"Michigan rape shield law explained: what MCL 750.520j excludes, the key exceptions, and how People v Masi changed defense strategy.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/district-court.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Patrick Barone\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"12 minutes\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Michigan Rape Shield Law &#8212; MCL 750.520j Explained","description":"Michigan rape shield law explained: what MCL 750.520j excludes, the key exceptions, and how People v Masi changed defense strategy.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_title":"Michigan Rape Shield Law &#8212; MCL 750.520j Explained","twitter_description":"Michigan rape shield law explained: what MCL 750.520j excludes, the key exceptions, and how People v Masi changed defense strategy.","twitter_image":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/district-court.jpg","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Patrick Barone","Est. reading time":"12 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/"},"author":{"name":"Patrick Barone","@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/da00f897e195cfccca02fe556b53136f"},"headline":"Michigan Rape Shield Law: What MCL 750.520j Prohibits and What Masi Changed","datePublished":"2026-05-18T20:45:56+00:00","dateModified":"2026-05-18T21:09:04+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/"},"wordCount":2442,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/district-court-300x172.jpg","keywords":["Criminal Sexual Conduct","CSC defense","MCL 750.520j","Michigan rape shield law","Michigan sex crimes defens","People v Masi"],"articleSection":["Sex Crimes","Sex Crimes Defense"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/","url":"https:\/\/www.baronedefensefirm.com\/blog\/michigan-rape-shield-law-mcl-750-520j\/","name":"Michigan Rape Shield Law &#8212; 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