On June 2, 2021, Blevins was on the light rail platform at the US Bank Stadium Plaza station in downtown Minneapolis. A woman wearing a teal shirt, a man wearing a sweatshirt, and a man wearing a tank top were also on the light rail platform. The woman and the two men knew each other and were loitering on different parts of the platform. When Blevins walked past the woman, she said something to him, and Blevins responded angrily. While Blevins and the woman continued to argue, a train arrived, and people stepped off the train. As the train sat at the station, the man in the sweatshirt, who was armed with a knife, walked toward Blevins and the woman. According to Blevins, the man in the sweatshirt told him to come into the platform shelter outside the view of the surveillance camera so that he could slice Blevins’s throat. In response to the threat, Blevins pulled a machete out of his waist band. Blevins then moved toward the woman and the man in the sweatshirt, yelling and holding the machete. The woman and the man in the sweatshirt began backing away from Blevins. As the man in the sweatshirt put his knife away, the man in the tank top aggressively walked up to Blevins.
Although Blevins feared for his safety, he did not try to walk away. Instead, Blevins moved forward toward the woman, pointing the machete at her as he yelled. Blevins also lunged at the man in the tank top, while holding the machete in his hand in an aggressive manner. According to Blevins, he was trying to get the woman and the two men to back off. Blevins yelled and swung the machete at them for approximately 1 minute, causing them to retreat. As they retreated, Blevins took a less aggressive posture, although he continued to yell. Based on the evidence presented at trial, the district court made the following findings of fact and conclusions of law. Blevins’s testimony that the man in the sweatshirt told him to come into the shelter outside the view of the camera so that he could slice Blevins’s throat was credible. After the man in the sweatshirt threatened Blevins, Blevins swung the machete at the woman and the two men for approximately 1 minute with a specific intent to cause them to fear immediate bodily harm. Consistent with Basting, 572 N.W.2d at 285–86, the district court concluded that Blevins’s conduct was not authorized under the self-defense statute, Minnesota Statutes section 609.06, subdivision 1(3), because Blevins “had a duty to retreat from the confrontation when he had a reasonable opportunity to do so, and did not choose to do so.”
Based on its findings of fact and conclusions of law, the district court found Blevins guilty of the two counts of felony second-degree assault-fear with a dangerous weapon. At the sentencing hearing, the court sentenced Blevins to a presumptive 39-month prison sentence.
Minnesota has long had a duty-to-retreat requirement for self defense outside the home. The only difference here is that it's a self defense claim against an assault causing fear, instead of an assault causing harm. In Minnesota, as in most states, assault is intentionally causing injury or intentionally causing fear of injury. I'm not sure I understand why the self defense duty to retreat requirements should be different for one than the other.
Personally, I'm no great fan of duty to retreat requirements, but given that we have them, this decision makes some sense.
