A Brownsdale man charged with second-degree murder in a fatal shooting last summer at Myre-Big Island State Park has returned to Minnesota.

David Michael Easter, 26, is charged in the Aug. 23 shooting death of Spencer Daniel Brown, 23, of rural Freeborn County. Brown was found dead that evening in a locked 2001 Audi station wagon in a parking lot near the Big Island pavilion.

A week ago, Easter was allowed to return to Nebraska  — where he was living before moving to Minnesota — to work on his taxes and see his father in the hospital.

Public defender Michael Ryan said he talked to Easter Tuesday and learned he was back in Minnesota.

A jury trial in the case is scheduled to begin March 28.

Easter is arguing self-defense and claimed Brown approached him with what appeared to be a bat.

Second-degree murder carries a maximum sentence of 40 years in prison and a presumptive sentence of nearly 22 years in prison to more than 30 years in prison, said Freeborn County Attorney David Walker.