Plymouth woman to serve six years for aiding the stabbing of her alleged rapist

An 18-year-old Plymouth woman received a six-year prison sentence for aiding and abetting the nonfatal stabbing of her alleged rapist last summer at the hands of her boyfriend, who wanted “justice.”

Kristy Marie Hanson was initially charged in Hennepin County District Court with aiding attempted first-degree murder. But in exchange for her guilty plea, the charge was dismissed and reduced to aiding first-degree assault.

Hanson entered the plea in December, agreeing to serve a minimum sentence at the Shakopee women’s prison. About two years will be on supervised release and she has credit for already serving more than seven months in jail.

While she didn’t stab the man, Hanson confessed to helping then-boyfriend Chong Vang, 22, of St. Paul, after the stabbing. The couple saw the victim in a grocery store July 26, two weeks after Hanson’s 18th birthday, and Vang followed him to Civic Center Park in New Hope where he repeatedly stabbed him.

Vang, who has pleaded not guilty to first-degree attempted murder, is set to stand trial in April and Hanson is on the witness list. Messages left with Vang’s public defenders were not returned.

Hanson’s defense attorney Jessica Rugani, a former prosecutor, said in an interview Wednesday that had the stabbing taken place weeks earlier, Hanson would not be facing prison time in juvenile court. Rugani said Hanson was easily manipulated and in a physically abusive relationship with Vang, who forced her to read hours of religious doctrine on the superiority of men and subjugation of women.

Hanson told Vang about the rape allegation, Rugani said, and Vang was the mastermind of the attack, “completely done at his desire for vengeance.”

New Hope police supervisor Jeana Allen-Hatcher said that when Hanson talked to the investigator, she mentioned being groped and “something happening over at Hy-Vee.” Allen-Hatcher said that Hanson didn’t provide names “and she never called police” to report a sexual assault.

Rugani said Hanson didn’t report the rape before the attack. But said “So many women in our society don’t.”

According to the criminal complaint, Hanson told Vang that she had been sexually assaulted by at least five men and provided all their names. The Star Tribune requested a police report detailing the investigation into the allegations, but Allen-Hatcher said she can’t provide the report until Vang goes through the court process.

“The victim was asked [about the alleged rape], and he said he didn’t do anything and he had no idea what we were talking about,” Allen-Hatcher said.

Rugani said she doesn’t believe the alleged rape was ever investigated. Instead, it was “used as motivation instead of looking at it as a mitigation.” She added that the victim appeared in court to object to Hanson’s plea deal, saying she was just as guilty as Vang and should receive equal punishment.

“She played a role after the fact because she was scared and totally surprised and told the police that,” Rugani said.

According to the charges, officers stopped after being waved down by bystanders and found the victim covered in blood from stab wounds to his neck and chest. Doctors treated 10 lacerations and puncture wounds, and he also suffered two punctured lungs.

Witnesses told police they ran to the park’s pavilion and saw Vang with a knife on top of the victim. Vang kept saying that the man was a rapist. Bystanders tried to get Vang to stop and drop the knife.

Surveillance video from Hy-Vee shows Vang walking through the store. Hanson is shown taking a photo of the man as he buys a soda, and Vang follows him out the door to a park.

Vang made small talk with the man as he sat in the pavilion. He stood up, shook the victim’s hand, and appeared to hug him before stabbing him in the neck. He continued stabbing after the man fell to the ground.

She took the photo of the victim in the store and sent it to Vang. Hanson went back to their car, knowing she couldn’t be seen with Vang, and drove to the park where she saw Vang running, covered in blood.