A Grand Forks man charged with murder will have his charge reduced and change his plea, meaning he will no longer go to trial next week.
The surprise move came during a hearing Wednesday afternoon in Grand Forks District Court.
Nicolas Peralez Jr. faced a maximum sentence of life in prison for murder, a Class AA felony, on accusations he fatally stabbed 31-year-old Joshua Neumann during a fight in the early hours last Oct 23 at a southend apartment building.
The 36-year-old was supposed to to begin his week-and-a-half-long trial June 1, but that’s been cancelled.
“We had some negotiations and discussions with the state over the past few days,” Peralez’s attorney, Theodore Sandberg, said.
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The prosecution is going to reduce his charge to a Class B felony manslaughter charge with a habitual offense attached to it.
The state will recommend a 15-year sentence for the manslaughter charged. But at sentencing, Peralez would ultimately spend 10 years in prison and five years of supervised probation, if the judge accepts the recommendation.
However, if Peralez violates his probation, he could be resentenced up to 20 years in prison because this is a habitual offender case.
He would also have to pay all mandatory fines and fees associated with the Class B felony.
In the past couple of weeks, Peralez had a few hearings to decide what can and cannot be included at trial. There was some debate whether statements Peralez made to police at the apartment building and police station could be used, but Judge Don Hager decided all of Peralez’s comments to police could be used at trial.
His hearing Wednesday was initially scheduled to discuss whether the prosecution could refer to Peralez’s criminal history in rebuttals to any claim of self defense. Sandberg argued the prosecution notified they wanted to use his history after a court deadline, so they shouldn’t be able to refer to do it at trial.
But Judge Hager didn’t have to decide on that Wednesday because of the change in Peralez’s charge and his intent to plead guilty.
Peralez is scheduled to formally change his plea June 6 and be sentenced July 27.
