The Benton County Sheriff's Dept. said the case of a Republican candidate for the Minnesota House of Representatives who said he was physically assaulted at a bar and restaurant in St. George Twp. earlier this month has been forwarded to the county attorney's office for the consideration of criminal charges.

 

Shane Mekeland, a candidate in District 15B out of Clear Lake, was blind-sided with a punch by a man who was took offense to Mekeland  at Jack & Jim’s Restaurant in Duelm in mid-October.

 

The incident described by Mekeland constituted, at the least, a misdemeanor assault under Minnesota law, said the sheriff department release. 

 

The injuries Mekeland reported (suffered) as a result of this alleged assault indicated that this incident had the potential to be a felony level assault. For the assault to qualify as a felony, the investigation would need to prove that Mekeland suffered 'substantial bodily harm.' Proving this level of harm in this case required obtaining medical records documenting the extent of Mekeland’s injuries.

 

The report went on to say Minnesota law prohibits peace officers from making custodial arrests in cases of misdemeanor assaults committed outside an officer’s presence. Because Mekeland’s medical records were not immediately available, the only enforcement action available to their office during the course of this investigation would have been to issue the suspect a citation for a misdemeanor assault. Issuing a citation to the suspect could have removed the possibility for the filing of felony charges. 

 

Had a citation been issued, the suspect may have been able to appear in court on the misdemeanor charge and plead guilty before the county attorney had the opportunity to amend the charges, thereby ending the state’s case against the suspect.

 

In order to ensure the county attorney’s office had the information they would need to charge the proper level of crime, deputies interviewed the victim and all identified witnesses, interviewed the suspect, gathered Mekeland’s medical records, and sought any other relevant evidence.

 

Now that this investigation has been completed, the report said, the county attorney’s office will review the information and determine the proper course for this prosecution.