Mayor's stalker could get year in jail after jury finds him guilty

A Minnehaha County jury Wednesday afternoon convicted a Sioux Falls man of stalking Mayor Paul TenHaken.

After nearly three hours of deliberation, the 12-person panel who spent a day and a half listening to witness testimony issued a guilty verdict in the case that centered around a series of emails and social media posts made by Christopher Bruce.

During the deliberation, Second Circuit Court Judge Jon Sogn received just one note of question from the jury, which inquired as to whether Bruce had their names and personal information. Sogn ordered that Bruce and the State's Attorney's Office return any documents related to that information that might have been used during jury selection.

Earlier:Mayor TenHaken and his accused stalker take stand during first day of trial

Bruce, 58, declined to comment in the moments after learning of his stalking conviction.

TenHaken, who testified during the first day of the trial that the messages he received from Bruce between November 2018 and June 2019 caused him to fear for he and his family's safety, told the Argus Leader he is satisfied with verdict.

"I'm pleased with the outcome from the jury and hope to put this case behind me," he said. "Thank you to the judge and jury and special thanks to the State's Attorney's Office for their advocacy and work on this matter."

Bruce, who chose to forgo hiring legal counsel and instead argued his own defense in the case, faces up to a year in jail and a $2,000 fine. Sentencing will occur at a later date.

In the lead up to his arrest in June, Bruce sent multiple messages to TenHaken, City Councilors and others that included language deemed threatening and harassing by investigators.

According to court documents, Bruce sent messages to the mayor and City Council between November 2018 and June 2019 that include the following statements: 

• "You guys may want to re-familiarize yourselves with what's been going on in my blog of late. Spend now, or forever Fold Your Peas ... because things are about to get real."
• "You can most certainly fight City Hall; you just need a bigger gun, better bullets, and bulletproof armor."

Bruce also attempted to make contact with TenHaken's wife and wrote that he would make "SPECIAL effort" to reach out to his parents in Worthington, Minnesota, according to court documents. 

Earlier:Christopher 'The Living Man' Bruce has history of clashing with public officials

During his opening and closing arguments, as well as in his testimony as a witness in the case, Bruce, however, said the language he used in his emails to the mayor were hyperbolic, and that he only wanted to contact TenHaken's family in order to inform them of policy decisions being made at City Hall regarding fifth generation internet technology.

Bruce is an opponent of TenHaken's attempt to bring 5G technology to Sioux Falls, regularly characterizing it as a danger to public health. 

The real reason he was arrested, Bruce argued, was retaliation by TenHaken and the Sioux Falls Police Department for filing a federal lawsuit that asserted his First Amendment rights had been violated. That lawsuit was dismissed by a federal court while Bruce sat in jail awaiting bond.

"Retribution, retaliation, whatever you want to call it. That's what happened," Bruce told the jury, made up of 11 women and one man.

The State's Attorney's Office, represented in the case by prosecutor Crystal Johnson, successfully countered by saying the number of emails and the increasingly personal information included in each one amounted to stalking and harassing.

"This isn't a witch hunt against Christopher Bruce. We're not out to get him," she said. "What he did was against the law."