The Minnesota Court of Appeals has upheld the perjury conviction of a woman accused of giving a false alibi for a teenager involved in the assault of a Blue Earth Area High School Football teammate in 2017.
Thirty eight year old Allison Mastin, of Blue Earth, sought to have her conviction overturned on three grounds, but the appeals court Monday, dismissed her claims.
Court documents says Mastin falsely testified at a 2018 court hearing at Wyatt Tungland was at her home in Blue Earth while a teen was beaten unconscious at a house in Winnebago on October 19th, 2017. Tungland, who was dating Mastin’s daughter, admitted he was at the party. He and three other teens were charged in the assault .
A Faribault County jury found Mastin Guilty of perjury and not guilty of obstructing an investigation in January 2020. She was sentenced to 30 days in jail, plus probation and community service. Mastin’s appeal argued there was not enough evidence to support the jury’s guilty verdict. The appellate judges disagreed. “The circumstances proved are consistent with only one conclusion: Mastin knowingly testified falsely at (Tungland’s) omnibus hearing when se claimed that (Tungland) was at her house on the night of the Winnebago party.” The appeals court ruling states. “Because the evidence at trial established beyond a reasonable doubt that Mastin committed perjury, we affirm her conviction.”
The appeal also claimed errors by Judge Troy Timmerman and prosecutor LaMar Piper. The appeal contended that the judge should have no allowed testimony from the Winnebago Police Chief regarding the significant media attention the assault received after he prohibited media articles from being used as evidence. But the judge did not exclude testimony about media covers, the Appellate Judges determines, and even if he had, that testimony would “not have had a significant impact on the jury’s verdict.”
Mastin also objected that the prosecution did not tell the defense that Tungland said during a pretrial interview his brain was “mush” due to prior concussions. The defense argued they could have used that statement to undermine Tungland’s credibility. But the appeals court ruled there was ample evidence Tungland was at the party and knowledge of his concussions would not have changed the jury’s verdict.
Mastin was one of three parents accused of obstructing the investigation into the assault. The charges filed last fall against Renee Nagel and Shawna Barnett will be dismissed in September if they complete probation.