Probation violations send assailant to prison

Kristine Goodrich, The Free Press, Mankato, Minn.
·2 min read

Oct. 15—MANKATO — One of the men convicted of a highly publicized assault that left a former Minnesota State University football player with a severe brain injury is now in prison.

A Blue Earth County District judge ordered Trevor Stenner Shelley, 28, of Mankato, to prison this week following probation violations including drug use.

Shelley punched Isaac Kolstad during a confrontation that also involved a third man in downtown Mankato as bars closed in May 2014. Kolstad fell, hit his head on the pavement and sustained a permanent brain injury.

Shelley pleaded guilty to felony assault and was sentenced in 2016 to five months in jail, community service and probation.

On Monday Judge Gregory Anderson found Shelley had committed another probation violation and resentenced Shelley to more than seven years in prison.

Shelley violated probation three times and he was on the lam for nearly three years, court documents show.

A drug test showed he used cocaine just a few months after his conviction. He was ordered to complete additional service for that violation.

In 2017 a probation agent reported Shelley had used marijuana, had not provided documentation he had taken a required drug class, and had failed to contact his probation officer when required.

He was ordered to complete a new chemical dependency evaluation. His stay of imposition also was revoked — meaning he could face prison time for any more violations and his charge could no longer be reduced to a misdemeanor once he completed probation.

In 2018 a probation agent reported Shelley had consumed alcohol, was not maintaining contact, and had not completed the community service or evaluation ordered after the prior probation violations.

A warrant was issued but Shelley was never arrested while he did not have contact with probation for nearly three years. He turned himself in this spring and was released pending this week's hearing.

"The Court finds by clear and convincing evidence that the defendant violated probation," Anderson wrote in a ruling following the hearing. The judge also found that the violations "were inexcusable and intentional."

Shelley is now at the St. Cloud prison. He'll likely be eligible for release in April 2026.