Eden Valley Man’s Sex Crime Conviction Upheld, Sentence Sent Back to Stearns County District Court

(KNSI) — The Minnesota Court of Appeals has affirmed the conviction of an Eden Valley man found guilty of first-degree criminal sexual conduct against a young child, but reversed his 30-year prison sentence and sent the case back to Stearns County District Court for resentencing.

The case began in December 2023, when the girl, then living in California, disclosed the sexual abuse at the hands of her stepdad, 37-year-old Aaron Michael Edberg. She spoke with a Child Advocacy Center in California in January 2024 and the information was forwarded to Stearns County. Prosecutors filed charges against Edberg in March 2024. He was already in state custody for charges connected to a felony domestic assault case in Wright County.

The abuse happened multiple times between 2020 and 2021 at a home in Eden Valley, when the child was between four and five years old. A Stearns County jury found him guilty on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He was sentenced in April 2025 to 30 years in prison, with credit for roughly two years already served.

Edberg appealed, arguing the district court made two errors: wrongly blocking him from presenting an alternative perpetrator defense at trial, and using the wrong legal standard when denying his request for a shorter sentence.

The appeals court sided with him on sentencing but not the trial issue.

On the alternative perpetrator question, Edberg had sought to implicate another man as the possible abuser. The appeals court found the district court was within its discretion to exclude that evidence, because the sole supporting witness admitted she had no personal knowledge that the other man had ever been alone with the child.

On sentencing, both sides agreed the district court made an error. The judge applied factors relevant to probation decisions, such as remorse, community support, and willingness to complete probation, rather than the legally required standard, which focuses solely on whether the criminal conduct was less serious than a typical case of that offense.

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