Theft Not Bribery

The Minnesota Supreme Court has temporarily suspended a convicted attorney, subject to vacatur if the conviction is reversed on appeal.

Twin Cities Pioneer Press reported

A Woodbury attorney was sentenced Monday for stealing $15,000 from a man who hired her in 2018 to defend him in a drug case.

Criminal defense attorney Kristi McNeilly was sentenced in Hennepin County District Court to 180 days in the county workhouse. She also was ordered to pay back the amount to her client, Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman announced Tuesday.

She was convicted of theft-by-swindle Oct. 25.

McNeilly was hired in May 2018 to represent a 39-year-old Minnetonka man suspected of keeping illegal drugs in his home, which were discovered during a search by the Southwest Hennepin Drug Taskforce, according to the criminal complaint. Although he was a suspect, McNeilly’s client was not immediately charged with a crime.

In November 2018, McNeilly told her client that she had spoken with the lead investigator and prosecuting attorney in his case, and that it could be resolved if her client made a payment of between $35,000 and $50,000 to a police union.

McNeilly’s client was able to collect only $15,000, which he handed over to McNeilly. Three days later, her client changed his mind and asked McNeilly for his money back, but McNeilly said she already forwarded it to the police union, according to the complaint.

After McNeilly’s client hired a new lawyer, police discovered that McNeilly had never been in contact with the lead investigator or the prosecutor, and that she spent a portion of her client’s money on mortgage and credit card payments, the complaint said.

(Mike Frisch)