Shortly after the teen who allegedly assaulted his son was sentenced, Dale Hurley walked out of the Martin County Courthouse to retrieve some court papers.
Upon re-entering the courthouse, 19-year-old Wyatt Eugene Tungland held the door open as Hurley came in from the drizzling rain.
Tungland is the last of four defendants to be sentenced in the beating of a former Blue Earth Area football teammate during a house party held October 2017 in Winnebago.
“It’s been insane. They were all weak sentences and today’s was the worst,” says Hurley. “He broke the law after the assault and got hardly anything.”
Last April, Tungland pleaded guilty to a felony charge third-degree assault under an Alford plea That means he maintains his innocence but admits there may be sufficient evidence that could likely convince a jury to find him guilty.
According to Tungland’s case file, he was placed on five years supervised probation and given a stay of imposition, which would reduce the felony to a misdemeanor if he successful completes conditions of his probation.
LaMar Piper, assistant Faribault County Attorney, and defense attorney Chris Ritts told Judge Michael Trushenski they were in agreement with a pre-sentence investigation report completed by probation officials.
But, Piper did ask Trushenski to consider imposing a $1,000 fine and having Tungland spend 25 days in jail.
Piper says three co-defendants in the case took responsibility for their actions and cooperated with authorities during the investigation.
“He has done the opposite. Mr. Tungland has had a number of involvements with the law after the assault,” says Piper. “He has not fully admitted his involvement. I don’t see anything that he acknowledged or learned anything from what has happened.”
Trushenski told Tungland the court is concerned that he violated release conditions by getting into trouble while his case was pending.
“I’m ordering that Mr. Tungland serve two additional weekends in jail,” says Trushenski. “I would hope he would reflect on what happened in this matter.
Tungland has already spent nine days in the county jail and was ordered to report the weekends of June 21 and 28. Trushenski also issued a fine totaling $1,085 and gave him two years to pay it.
Other conditions of Tungland’s sentence include:
- no use of alcohol or controlled substance;
- no contact with the victim;
- may not possess firearms, ammunition or explosives;
- may not vote until discharged from probation;
- submit to random drug testing;
- tell probation officer within 72 hours of having contact with law enforcement, being charged with a new crime or change in address, employment or phone number;
- no threatening, harassing or assaultive behavior;
- 40 hours of sentence to serve;
- and, obtain permission from probation officer to leave the state.