The Minnesota Supreme Court has ordered a new trial on Wednesday for a Renville man convicted of killing a man who was attacking his stepbrother.
Julian Valdez, 29, was convicted of unintentional murder in May 2022 and sentenced to 150 months in prison in the death of Pablo Gutierrez, who had come into Valdez’s home and was beating and choking his stepbrother.
However, his conviction was reversed in the Court of Appeals in 2023 because of the argument prosecution used that Valdez had a duty to retreat before using force in defense of his stepbrother. The appellate court argued that the duty to retreat before using force changes when using deadly force to protect someone else.
On Wednesday, the Minnesota Supreme Court agreed with the appellate court’s findings, saying that the district court “abused its discretion” when telling the jury Valdez had a duty to retreat, and that they could not conclude that the district court’s “erroneous instruction” was harmless.
“Imposing a duty to retreat on the defendant in those circumstances would require the defendant to abandon the person in peril, defeating the very purpose of a defense-of-others claim,” the Supreme Court document reads.