St. Paul, MN (KROC-AM News) - The Minnesota Court of Appeals has overturned the conviction of a 69-year-old Rochester man who was sent to prison for shooting a teenage boy three years ago.

In October 2023, an Olmsted County jury returned a guilty verdict against Steven Hart. He was found guilty of first and second-degree assault stemming from a shooting that took place in March 2022 that followed a confrontation in the backyard of Hart's home in southeast Rochester.

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According to court documents, the initial police reports on the incident indicated the 15-year-old boy was shot in the leg, but the criminal complaint against Hart stated that the bullet struck him in the testicles and that he may lose his reproductive organs entirely." The court document also includes a statement from an Olmsted County Sheriff's Deputy, who happened to be in the area at the time and saw several teenagers running. The deputy reported that he could see the victim had "been shot in the groin" and appeared to be in immense pain.

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The charging document says the confrontation that led to the shooting occurred after the victim and several other teens broke out a window in a nearby bus shelter. The victim indicated that they were running away when the encountered Hart in his backyard.

The criminal complaint also says the teenage boy admitted that he pulled out a knife during a confrontation. During his trial, Hart testified that the teen charged at him with a knife and that he was the person who called 911 and identified himself as the shooter.

Hart, who was sentenced to 7 1/2 years in prison, appealed his conviction by arguing that the judge in the case abused her discretion by excluding the testimony of a defense expert witness who was called to support his claim that the shooting was in self-defense. In its decision to reverse Hart’s conviction, the Court of Appeals ruled that the exclusion of the expert testimony was not a harmless error and sent the case back to Olmsted County Court for a new trial.

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