2001 Minnesota Statutes

     609.27 Coercion. 

    Subdivision 1.    Acts constituting.  Whoever orally or 
 in writing makes any of the following threats and thereby causes 
 another against the other's will to do any act or forbear doing 
 a lawful act is guilty of coercion and may be sentenced as 
 provided in subdivision 2: 

    (1) A threat to unlawfully inflict bodily harm upon, or 
 hold in confinement, the person threatened or another, when 
 robbery or attempt to rob is not committed thereby; or 

    (2) A threat to unlawfully inflict damage to the property 
 of the person threatened or another; or 

    (3) A threat to unlawfully injure a trade, business, 
 profession, or calling; or 

    (4) A threat to expose a secret or deformity, publish a 
 defamatory statement, or otherwise to expose any person to 
 disgrace or ridicule; or 

    (5) A threat to make or cause to be made a criminal charge, 
 whether true or false; provided, that a warning of the 
 consequences of a future violation of law given in good faith by 
 a peace officer or prosecuting attorney to any person shall not 
 be deemed a threat for the purposes of this section. 

    Subd. 2.    Sentence.  Whoever violates subdivision 1 
 may be sentenced as follows: 

    (1) To imprisonment for not more than 90 days or to payment 
 of a fine of not more than $700, or both if neither the 
 pecuniary gain received by the violator nor the loss suffered by 
 the person threatened or another as a result of the threat 
 exceeds $300, or the benefits received or harm sustained are not 
 susceptible of pecuniary measurement; or 

    (2) To imprisonment for not more than five years or to 
 payment of a fine of not more than $10,000, or both, if such 
 pecuniary gain or loss is more than $300 but less than $2,500; 
 or 

    (3) To imprisonment for not more than ten years or to 
 payment of a fine of not more than $20,000, or both, if such 
 pecuniary gain or loss is $2,500, or more. 

    HIST: 1963 c 753 art 1 s 609.27; 1971 c 23 s 40; 1977 c 355 s 
 7; 1983 c 359 s 87; 1984 c 628 art 3 s 11; 1986 c 444