A youth charged in the 2015 death of Johnathon Kasagan was acquitted, after a judge found he acted in self-defense.

The acquittal took place in October. The young man’s lawyer, Peter Abrametz, contacted the Daily Herald to spread the word that his client has been cleared.

“The federal government changed the law of self-defence in 2014 and this played a role in the acquittal,” he wrote in an e-mail.

The young man cannot be named, since he was 17 at the time of the offence. But Abrametz was concerned that initial reports of the charge would follow him.

According to media reports, Kasagan was stabbed three times while drinking in a Prince Albert residence. A judge concluded that he was known to be violent while drunk, and that he attacked a young woman that night.

Abrametz’s client, the reports say, intervened to protect her – and later had to protect himself.