S 135.60 Coercion in the second degree. A person is guilty of coercion in the second degree when he or she compels or induces a person to engage in conduct which the latter has a legal right to abstain from engaging in, or to abstain from engaging in conduct in which he or she has a legal right to engage, or compels or induces a person to join a group, organization or criminal enterprise which such latter person has a right to abstain from joining, by means of instilling in him or her a fear that, if the demand is not complied with, the actor or another will: 1. Cause physical injury to a person; or 2. Cause damage to property; or 3. Engage in other conduct constituting a crime; or 4. Accuse some person of a crime or cause criminal charges to be instituted against him or her; or 5. Expose a secret or publicize an asserted fact, whether true or false, tending to subject some person to hatred, contempt or ridicule; or 6. Cause a strike, boycott or other collective labor group action injurious to some person's business; except that such a threat shall not be deemed coercive when the act or omission compelled is for the benefit of the group in whose interest the actor purports to act; or 7. Testify or provide information or withhold testimony or information with respect to another's legal claim or defense; or 8. Use or abuse his or her position as a public servant by performing some act within or related to his or her official duties, or by failing or refusing to perform an official duty, in such manner as to affect some person adversely; or 9. Perform any other act which would not in itself materially benefit the actor but which is calculated to harm another person materially with respect to his or her health, safety, business, calling, career, financial condition, reputation or personal relationships. Coercion in the second degree is a class A misdemeanor.
S 135.65 Coercion in the first degree. A person is guilty of coercion in the first degree when he or she commits the crime of coercion in the second degree, and when: 1. He or she commits such crime by instilling in the victim a fear that he or she will cause physical injury to a person or cause damage to property; or 2. He or she thereby compels or induces the victim to: (a) Commit or attempt to commit a felony; or (b) Cause or attempt to cause physical injury to a person; or (c) Violate his or her duty as a public servant. Coercion in the first degree is a class D felony. Coercion in the first degree is a class D felony.
S 135.70 Coercion; no defense. The crimes of (a) coercion and attempt to commit coercion, and (b) bribe receiving by a labor official as defined in section 180.20, and bribe receiving as defined in section 200.05, are not mutually exclusive, and it is no defense to a prosecution for coercion or an attempt to commit coercion that, by reason of the same conduct, the defendant also committed one of such specified crimes of bribe receiving.
S 135.75 Coercion; defense. In any prosecution for coercion committed by instilling in the victim a fear that he or another person would be charged with a crime, it is an affirmative defense that the defendant reasonably believed the threatened charge to be true and that his sole purpose was to compel or induce the victim to take reasonable action to make good the wrong which was the subject of such threatened charge. |