Renville, Minnesota, man serving 150-month prison sentence to get new trial

Oct. 16—SAINT PAUL

— A

Renville

man serving a 150-month prison sentence for fatally shooting a man who was assaulting his stepbrother is entitled to a new trial, according to a Minnesota Court of Appeals

ruling

released on Monday.

Julian Daniel Valdez, 28, is serving the sentence for a second-degree murder — without intent — conviction by a

Renville County

jury for the Aug. 5, 2021, shooting death of Pablo Gutierrez, 31, in the city of

Renville

. The jury found Valdez not guilty of second-degree murder with intent following the four-day trial in May 2022.

In a precedent-setting decision, the Court found that the district court erred in the instructions it gave the jury concerning Valdez's defense-of-others defense. The court had instructed the jury that Valdez "had a duty to retreat or avoid the danger if reasonably possible." The Court of Appeals found that the duty to retreat as instructed in this case is "inconsistent with the right to use reasonable force to aid another person."

The district court's error is not harmless, the Court of Appeals ruled. It cannot be known if the jury's guilty verdict "was based on Valdez's non-retreat or on other requirements of proof" for defense-of-others. "Given the evidence and the arguments of counsel, we cannot determine beyond a reasonable doubt that the error did not have a significant impact on the jury's verdict."

The criminal complaint charged that Gutierrez assaulted Chris Munguia during an altercation that began in Valdez's detached garage in Renville. Valdez and Munguia were playing pool in the garage when Gutierrez arrived angry, according to the criminal complaint.

Things calmed down as they played pool, but Gutierrez developed "a mean face" and threatened to kill the two, according to the Court of Appeals file. Valdez showed Gutierrez a pistol he had and told him to leave.

Gutierrez "came at" Munguia, who swung a pool cue and hit him in the left ear.

The much-larger Gutierrez continued after Munguia, choking him and getting on top of him in the alley. Munguia was "pleading for his life" and told Valdez to shoot Gutierrez. Valdez stepped out of the garage and fired a .45 caliber pistol once at Gutierrez, striking him in the back and in the right-side chest cavity.

In the decision, Court of Appeals Justice Michael Kirk filed a separate opinion in which he concurred with the majority but expressed concerns about the prosecution's argument that it had disproved other elements of Valdez's defense-of-others claim. He questioned the prosecution's claim that it had demonstrated that Valdez became the aggressor by displaying his pistol and that the use of the handgun was an unreasonable use of force.

Valdez is currently serving his sentence at the Minnesota Correctional Facility in Faribault with an anticipated release date of Aug. 15, 2030, according to the Department of Corrections.