ST. PAUL — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed the bribery conviction of Anthony Steven Kalland, 40, in a Renville County case.
The District Court in Renville County found Kalland guilty of bribery and sentenced him to serve 29 months in prison following a bench trial in May 2019.
According to the court record, Kalland was being held in the Isanti County Jail on warrants for a 2015 theft charge in Mille Lacs County and a 2017 burglary charge in Renville County. Mille Lacs County charged him for allegedly taking a vehicle without permission from a woman who had been his romantic partner. Renville County charged him with burglary for allegedly taking a watch from the same woman.
While in the Isanti County Jail, Kalland made calls to his then-girlfriend and asked her to visit the alleged victim, his former romantic partner. Court records show the jail has a recording of the defendant offering his former partner $5,000 to call the two counties and drop the charges.
In his appeal, Kalland argued that the crime of bribery only pertains to influencing a witness’s testimony, not influencing a person’s statements to police.
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The Court of Appeals stated that the bribery law includes attempts to influence “prospective or contemplated witnesses.” His former partner and the victim of the alleged crimes was a prospective witness. The court said it is reasonable to infer that his goal was to avoid conviction by preventing the woman from testifying against him.
“This, his assertion that his only intent was to influence (her) statements to the police, and not to influence her future testimony as a prospective witness, is unreasonable,” stated the court in its decision.
