Delvin Shaw, convicted twice of Grand Forks murder, denied appeal

The state Supreme Court said the Grand Forks District Court was right to allow evidence of other crimes and to play recorded testimony from a witness who refused to appear in the February trial of Delvin Lamont Shaw, 33.

After a jury found Shaw guilty of murder, a Class AA felony, and burglary, a Class B felony, then-Grand Forks Judge Jon Jensen sentenced him to life in prison without parole for a second time in two years.

Shaw was convicted in 2015 for the shooting death of Jose "Joe" Luis Lopez, but a new trial was ordered by the Supreme Court in 2016 after justices found the district court erred in jury instruction when it came to presenting evidence from a burglary Shaw allegedly took part in before the shooting. Charges were never brought in that case, but investigators said the break-in happened in the same apartment building as the shooting.

Shaw represented himself in both trials, but his attorney in the Supreme Court appeal, Benjamin Pulkrabek of Mandan, N.D., argued the state should not have played Dametrian Welch's recorded testimony from the first trial. Welch, who is serving an eight-year prison sentence for his part in the burglary, refused to testify in the second trial.

Shaw also tried to argue the court abused its discretion in allowing evidence from the alleged burglary to be presented in the second trial.

The Supreme Court disagreed with both arguments.

"The (district) court found the evidence of the earlier burglary was relevant because it completed the story of Lopez's murder," Chief Justice Gerald VandeWalle wrote in the Supreme Court opinion. "The evidence explained why Shaw intended to return to the apartment building. We conclude the court did not abuse its discretion in admitting the evidence relating to Shaw's involvement in the earlier burglary."

Jensen has a seat on the Supreme Court after being appointed last year, but he was recused from the appeal since he oversaw Shaw's trials in Grand Forks.