ROCHESTER MAN FOUND GUILTY OF CRIMINAL SEXUAL CONDUCT

REDWOOD FALLS, MN — A Redwood County jury found Jaisden Harold Dru Hanners, 33, guilty
of five counts of Criminal Sexual Conduct in the Second Degree. The jury deliberated for
approximately four hours on August 16, 2024, before delivering the guilty verdicts around 7:30
p.m.
According to evidence gathered during the investigation and testimony over the course of four
days at trial, on May 1, 2016, Victim, who was 10 years old, was alone with Hanners at their
residence located in the City of Redwood Falls. In the middle of the night, Victim woke up to
Hanners, who was her Mother’s boyfriend at the time, intoxicated and in bed with her. While in
bed with Victim, Hanners touched her intimate parts. Victim, scared and confused, left her bed
and called her grandfather to pick her up.
After May 1, 2016, Hanners continued to sexually assault Victim while they resided together in
Victim’s grandparents’ home located on the Lower Sioux Indian Community. The sexual assaults
continued until October of 2016. The sexual assaults would occur while Hanners watched
movies with Victim in his bedroom. While watching movies, Hanners would place Victim on his
lap and touch Victim’s intimate parts under her clothing.
In April 2017, Hanners, while he was alone with Victim, who was age 11, at a residence within
the City of Redwood Falls sexually assaulted her. Hanners had Victim sleep in his bed with him
while her mother was gone. Victim, again, woke up to Hanners hands underneath her clothing
touching her intimate parts. Hanners told Victim, “I thought you were your mom” and “don’t
tell your mom, I will tell her”.

In the years following the sexual assaults, Hanners gave Victim marijuana, gabapentin, and
wine. Hanners read and stole Victim’s journals after he discovered she wrote about the sexual
assaults.
Shannon Ness, Assistant Redwood County Attorney, who prosecuted the case, told the jury in
her closing argument, “Every time Defendant sexually assaulted Victim, her mother was out of
the home. Defendant had full and complete access to Victim with the assurance there was no
one there to protect her from him. By taking her journals, he was keeping her quiet. But he was
not able to keep her silent forever.”
Hanners will be sentenced on October 14, 2024, at the Redwood County Courthouse.
If you or someone you know have been a victim of sexual assault there are multiple local
resources available including: Women’s Rural Advocacy Program, New Horizon’s Crisis Center,
Minnesota Indigenous Women’s Society, and Redwood County Attorney Crime Victim Services.
For more information about these local resources for victims visit our website:
https://redwoodcounty-mn.us/crime-victim-services/ or contact Denise Kerkhoff, Crime Victim
Services Coordinator at 507-637-1399.