Minnesota court vacates neighbor harassment plea

The Minnesota Court of Appeals has ruled that a woman should have been allowed to withdraw her guilty plea to a charge that she harassed a neighboring family in White Bear Lake.

The St. Paul Pioneer Press reports the court vacated the plea Monday for 51-year-old Lori Christensen, who had been sentenced to five years of probation in October 2013. She pleaded guilty in July 2013 to violating a restraining order.

Christensen changed her mind about a month later and requested to withdraw the plea. A Ramsey County district judge rejected her request. The appeals court says the record of the plea hearing doesn't show she had contact with her neighbors.

A spokesman for the Ramsey County attorney's office says officials will now contemplate the next steps in the case.

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