A 37-year-old Blue Earth woman will face two felony counts related to the October 2017 assault of a former Blue Earth Area football player.
Judge Troy Timmerman has signed a five-page order denying Allison Ann Mastin’s attorney — Gary Gittus of Rochester — motion to dismiss perjury and aiding an offender by obstructing an investigation charges.
“The defendant intentionally intended to aid (Wyatt) Tungland by providing false or misleading information,” the judge wrote.
Timmerman cites Mastin’s knowledge prior to her testimony along with admissions to law enforcement after her testimony in his ruling.
“(It) would lead a person of ordinary care and prudence to entertain an honest and strong suspicion that she made a false material statement under oath regarding Tungland’s presence at her home during the time of the assaults and that the defendant did not believe it to be true,” he wrote.
Timmerman says Mastin must stand trial and an arraignment hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 8 in Faribault County District Court.
During a contested omnibus hearing in July 2018, Mastin and her daughter took the stand and testified that Wyatt Eugene Tungland of Frost could not have been involved in the assault.
Under oath, Mastin and her daughter — who once dated Tungland — said he was at their house during the time of the assault in the early morning hours of Oct. 19, 2017.
According to the order, Tungland in a nine-page statement to law enforcement on Nov. 17, 2017, admitted being present during the assault and gave specific details of what he observed.
Tungland and three other teens were charged and convicted in the assault of a teammate that occurred during a party at a teammate’s home in Winnebago.
If convicted of perjury, the maximum penalty is five years in prison and a $10,000 fine. The aiding an offender charges carries a maximum sentence of three years in prison and a $5,000 fine.