May 23—ROCHESTER — An Olmsted County District Court judge has ruled that a man charged in a February shooting will stand trial for intentional homicide.
Isaac Gutierrez, 20, faces multiple charges, including intentional homicide in the shooting death of 24-year-old Osbel Ornelas. Ornelas was killed on February 3, 2024, during a fight in the parking lot of Chick-fil-A on South Broadway in Rochester.
During a hearing last week, Gutierrez’s attorney Eric Newmark asked the court to dismiss the intentional murder charge on the grounds that the state cannot prove Gutierrez acted with intent.
Gutierrez is charged with one count of first-degree murder; one count of second-degree murder without intent and one count of second-degree assault with a dangerous weapon. He has pleaded not guilty to the remaining charges and entered a preliminary not guilty plea to second-degree intentional homicide at a hearing last week.
Newmark said video shown in court of the incident, taken by surveillance cameras and bystanders, showed it was possible Gutierrez wielded the firearm to attack Ornelas during a fight in the parking lot and that it went off unintentionally.
In her ruling, Judge Lisa Hayne said the argument could be presented to a jury at trial, but at the hearing the burden of proof for prosecutors is lower and the video indicated Gutierrez pointed the firearm at Ornelas when it went off.
Police suspect that a road rage incident preceded the fatal shooting. Gutierrez and his brother Jose Gutierrez Ojeda, 26, are in custody over the incident. Both remained at the scene of the shooting at 1201 Broadway Ave. S, near Chick-fil-A, when police arrived. Ojeda initially told police he shot Ornelas in self-defense. Hayne notes that the video clearly shows Gutierrez firing the only shot.
A hearing in the case is scheduled for July 12.
