Man Sentenced To Nearly 5 Months For Punching Mankato Football Player
MANKATO, Minn. (AP/WCCO) — A man who pleaded guilty in a beating that left a former Minnesota State, Mankato football player with severe brain injuries two years ago has been sentenced to almost five months in jail.
Blue Earth County District Judge Bradley Walker sentenced 22-year-old Trevor Shelley of St. Peter to 150 days in jail, with credit for five days already served. Shelley pleaded guilty in March to felony first-degree assault.
He admitted punching former Mavericks linebacker Isaac Kolstad outside a downtown Mankato nightclub in May 2014. Former University of Minnesota quarterback Philip Nelson kicked Kolstad in the head after he fell. Nelson, 22, was sentenced last year to 100 hours of community service after pleading guilty to misdemeanor fifth-degree assault.
Nelson, who attended Mankato West High School with Shelley, was sentenced to community service for his role in the altercation.
The fight happened after Nelson had already left the Gopher program. He had transferred Rutgers, who dismissed him from the team after he was charged with first and third-degree assault in the fight.
Nelson enrolled at East Carolina as a football walk-on last fall, and ECU sports information director Tom McClennan said he is the team's starting quarterback going into fall practice. McClennan said the other main contender at quarterback for the Pirates, Kurt Benkurt, decided to transfer to "explore other options for graduate school" following completion of the team's spring drills.
Nelson has one year of college eligibility left.
Shelley declined to speak at the sentencing. The Star Tribune reports Kolstad and his mother talked about the difficulties they have faced since the night Kolstad was injured.
Kolstad underwent months of physical therapy, relearning how to walk and talk.
"Isaac will never be the same," his mother, Teresa, said.
Under the terms of the plea agreement, the judge would stay any potential prison time — up to nearly 9 years was possible — and sentence him to up to one year of local incarceration, Blue Earth County Attorney Patrick McDermott said in March.
Shelley, Kolstad and Nelson were standing outside a Mankato bar in May 2014 when an argument arose after Nelson mistook Kolstad for a bouncer who had kissed his girlfriend.
Nelson shoved Kolstad, a former Minnesota State, Mankato, football player, and Kolstad knocked Nelson to the ground. Shelley ran up to Kolstad and punched him once in the head, video surveillance cameras showed. Kolstad appeared to fall unconscious and hit his head on the pavement. Nelson then kicked Kolstad in the head.
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