Court Opinion

ID: 9688903
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-24 18:11:49.716709+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:18:42.953472
License: Public Domain

LANSING, Judge
(concurring).
I agree that the district court properly denied the request for a self-defense instruction, but I base my analysis on narrower grounds.
Aeropajito Vazquez testified that Yolanda Pagan shot him first. He then testified that he rushed her, tackled her, took the gun away from her, and, while on top of Pagan, in a position where she was unable to reach the gun, he pointed the gun at her and fired.
Vazquez’s testimony fails to establish the elements of self defense in a criminal case: absence of aggression, actual and honest belief that the defendant was in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that the action was necessary to avert that danger, the existence of reasonable grounds for the belief of imminent danger, the absence of reasonable possibility of retreat, and the use of only that amount of force necessary. State v. Bland, 337 N.W.2d 378, 381 (Minn.1983); State v. Johnson, 277 Minn. 368, 373, 162 N.W.2d 529, 532 (1967). Thus, taking Vazquez’s testimony as true, without considering the contrary evidence, Vazquez failed to establish the elements necessary to justify a self-defense instruction. State v. Johnson, 310 N.W.2d 96, 97 (Minn.1981) (defendant has burden of presenting evidence to support a claim of self defense).