{"id":8144,"date":"2024-08-06T08:12:24","date_gmt":"2024-08-06T15:12:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=8144"},"modified":"2024-08-06T08:13:18","modified_gmt":"2024-08-06T15:13:18","slug":"minnesota-supreme-court-created-duty-to-retreat-from-threat-of-deadly-force","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2024\/08\/06\/minnesota-supreme-court-created-duty-to-retreat-from-threat-of-deadly-force\/","title":{"rendered":"Minnesota Supreme Court \u201cCreated\u201d Duty to Retreat From Threat of Deadly Force"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

I highlight this article because in the states with some sort of duty to retreat is our neighbor Nebraska. Consequently, in fairness you probably want to retreat if possible just to avoid the civil cases that would follow from family that say “he was good person”, or some such drivel. But a good measure in these politicized times is if you do have to use deadly force, don’t say more than you feared for your life and basic details of why, and wait for an attorney. When I worked for Brinks Armored, they made the point that with adrenaline flowing your concept of time could be off a bit and you don’t want to make statements an attorney could twist later in court. And a big one, never speak with a federal agent without an attorney as you can be imprisoned for making false statements with their testimony being given more weight than yours. And if necessary, you have the right to remain silent and when you invoke it, law enforcement will end questioning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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For the record, 38 states are \u201cstand-your-ground\u201d states<\/a> wherein \u201cthere is no duty to retreat from an attacker in any place in which one is lawfully present.\u201d Eleven states \u2014 Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska<\/strong>, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island \u2014 have adopted some form of \u201cduty to retreat\u201d law. Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin have adopted a form of \u201cmiddle ground.\u201d They take into consideration whether the potential victim believed that force was necessary to fend off an attacker.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/thenewamerican.com\/us\/minnesota-supreme-court-created-duty-to-retreat-from-threat-of-deadly-force\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n

By Bob Adelmann<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Minnesota
Tomasz Krzysztofek\/iStock\/Getty Images Plus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

On appeal, the Minnesota State Supreme Court on Wednesday upheld lower courts\u2019 rulings<\/a> that a man, threatened by an attacker holding a knife and declaring he wants to \u201cslice his throat,\u201d had a \u201cduty to retreat if reasonably possible.\u201d The courts state that Earley Romero Blevins, the potential victim, failed to retreat. Therefore, he has now become the criminal, facing 39 months in jail.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJudicially Created\u201d<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The high court admitted that this \u201cduty to retreat\u201d is \u201ca judicially created element of self-defense.\u201d It says that it therefore applies to anyone who claims he or she was acting in self-defense by pulling out a weapon instead of running from the scene.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Said the majority in the 4-2 ruling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

[A lower court] concluded that Blevin\u2019s actions in threatening others with his machete were not authorized under [state law] because he had reasonable opportunity to retreat and failed to do so.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

It concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Accordingly, we hold that a person claiming self-defense has a duty to retreat when reasonably possible before committing the felony offense of second-degree assault-fear with a dangerous weapon, specifically, a device designed as a weapon and capable of producing death or great bodily harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also conclude that, when viewed in a light most favorable to the verdict, the direct evidence from the security videos presented at trial disproves beyond a reasonable doubt Blevins\u2019s claim that it was not reasonably possible for him to retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We therefore affirm the decision of the court of appeals.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

More than 150 years ago (in 1865), the state\u2019s high court ruled on the duty to retreat. A hundred years later the state\u2019s Legislature codified it into law. The current majority admitted:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Because it is a judicially created element, we [therefore claim we have the power to] determine the circumstances under which the duty to retreat when reasonably possible applies. \u2026 Our judicial construction of a statute \u2026 is as much a part thereof as if it had been written into it originally.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Duty to Retreat<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After reviewing the videos of the incident taking place at a train station in 2021, the majority ruled that \u201cBlevins had room behind him to retreat and could have walked at an angle, keeping on eye [on those threatening him] while he retreated.\u201d Since he had the opportunity to retreat but didn\u2019t, he is guilty under the statute.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is crazy, and Justice Paul Thissen said so in a blistering dissent:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Today, the court takes the law of self-defense into uncharted waters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This new rule is not only unprecedented in this state\u2014as far as I am aware, the rule has never been adopted anywhere in the United States.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until now, the collective wisdom of judges nationwide over hundreds of years has never imposed a duty to retreat before making threats to deter an aggressor\u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State does not claim on appeal that Blevins was the aggressor; the man who instigated the confrontation by threatening him with a knife was the aggressor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The State also does not dispute that the assailant\u2019s conduct\u2014approaching Blevins with a drawn knife and telling him to move out of view of the camera so that he could slice Blevins\u2019s throat\u2014created in Blevins an actual, honest, and reasonable fear of imminent death or great bodily harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And no one claims that Blevins physically harmed his attackers.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Minnesota is an \u201coutlier,\u201d claimed Thissen:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Minnesota has a per se rule that it is always unreasonable to harm an attacker using even non-lethal force when there is a reasonable opportunity to retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In that sense, Minnesota is an outlier.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Indeed, Iowa, Massachusetts, and North Carolina once had laws similar to Minnesota\u2019s. However, common sense prevailed and they now have \u201cstand your ground\u201d laws in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thissen posed a scenario that illustrated the nonsense behind such a judicially created \u201cduty\u201d:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n

Consider a scenario in which a woman is at a train station and a man approaches and threatens to stab her.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Assume that, like Blevins, she has a reasonable opportunity to retreat by walking away. She actually, honestly, and reasonably believes that she is in danger of imminent death or great bodily harm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She has a can of pepper spray in her purse and brandishes it to ward off just such aggression; in response the man is afraid and backs off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She gets on the next train and is later arrested for assaulting the man by causing fear of bodily harm. See Minn. Stat. \u00a7 609.222, subd. 1 (2022) (defining second-degree assault as assault \u201cwith a dangerous weapon\u201d); Minn. Stat. \u00a7 609.02, subd. 10(1) (2022) (defining assault as \u201can act done with intent to cause fear in another of immediate bodily harm or death).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Under the court\u2019s rule, the woman is not entitled to a self-defense instruction because she had a duty to retreat before she could pull out the pepper spray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This result flies in the face of human nature and experience; yet it is the precise outcome demanded by the court\u2019s holding today.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

He concluded:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Notably, the legal issue before us is not about the level of force or threatened force that Blevins used.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the court\u2019s broad holding today would apply equally well to someone who wards off a potential attacker by brandishing a knife, a lawfully possessed firearm, or a can of pepper spray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not all threats in self-defense are equally likely to escalate (or deescalate) a situation, which is why the question is best left to a fact-finder in considering the reasonableness of the threat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the foregoing reasons, I respectfully dissent.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

For the record, 38 states are \u201cstand-your-ground\u201d states<\/a> wherein \u201cthere is no duty to retreat from an attacker in any place in which one is lawfully present.\u201d Eleven states \u2014 Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island \u2014 have adopted some form of \u201cduty to retreat\u201d law. Washington, D.C., and Wisconsin have adopted a form of \u201cmiddle ground.\u201d They take into consideration whether the potential victim believed that force was necessary to fend off an attacker.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I highlight this article because in the states with some sort of duty to retreat is our neighbor Nebraska. Consequently, in fairness you probably want to retreat if possible just to avoid the civil cases that would follow from family that say “he was good person”, or some such drivel. But a good measure in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8144","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8144","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8144"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8144\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8146,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8144\/revisions\/8146"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8144"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8144"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8144"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}