The facts in a Bronx murder case did not justify a trial judge’s jury instruction that the defendant could not plead self-defense if he was the “initial aggressor,” a divided panel of the Appellate Division, First Department, said Thursday.

A four-judge majority ruled in People v. Valentin, 823/09, that defendant Carlos Valentin was entitled to a new trial on charges stemming from a 2009 shooting that left one of his neighbors dead and another wounded.