Jurors have convicted a southern Minnesota man of stalking his longtime girlfriend to the point that she killed herself. They also concluded that he forced her to leave a mental health treatment facility three days before she died.

Long Vang, 37, of Stewartville, was found guilty in Olmsted County District Court of stalking 28-year-old Jessica Haban, the mother of his two children. She died in December 2015.

After the verdict, the jurors answered questions posed by the court in preparation for Vang's March sentencing. They agreed that Vang discouraged Haban from receiving mental health treatment. The county attorney's office has stated its intention to seek a sentence longer than the 10-year term that state guidelines set for stalking.

Vang's interference with Haban's mental health treatment prompted prosectors to initially charge Vang with third-degree murder and manslaughter, counts rarely if ever pursued in Minnesota in suicides.

However, Judge Debra Jacobson dismissed those charges in November 2016, citing a lack of evidence.

The abuse inflicted on Haban was wide-ranging and persistent, and some came despite a no-contact order from a court, according to prosecutors. She was sometimes knocked unconscious, had her hair pulled and was thrown against a wall. Vang put a knife to her throat once during a gathering at a home in Austin, Minn., according to the charges.

Long Vang

Jealousy prompted one outburst, and financial difficulties were behind another for the couple, who considered themselves culturally married. In one instance, Vang poured vegetable oil "all over" Haban because she "had bad in her," the complaint read.

Vang's final blow — this one emotional — pushed Haban over the brink, according to the complaint. She told a county social worker assigned to her domestic abuse case that Vang was pressuring her to leave inpatient mental health treatment and return home. Otherwise, Vang told her, she would be institutionalized and lose custody of their children.

Haban was discharged from treatment on Dec. 13, 2015, and killed herself three days later.

Paul Walsh • 612-673-4482