RIGBY, Idaho (AP) - A 23-year-old eastern Idaho man who shot another man three times outside a girl’s 15th birthday party has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
The Post Register reports (https://bit.ly/1fFaQA2) that Emmanuel Jesus Granados of Rigby made the plea Thursday in 7th District Court. In exchange, the original charge of first-degree murder with a deadly weapon enhancement was dropped.
“One reason why we agreed to this plea agreement was the indeterminate part of the sentence,” said Jefferson County Deputy Prosecutor Paul Ziel. “It gives us the flexibility to argue for up to a life sentence if it seems appropriate after the presentence investigation.”
Granados shot 22-year-old Fermin Lemus on July 14 outside the Rigby Indoor Sports Arena, authorities said. After the shooting Granados fled but was arrested a short time later in southwestern Utah.
Ziel said it wasn’t appropriate to pursue the death penalty in the case, another reason for the plea agreement.
“There’s certain criteria for a death penalty case and we didn’t feel that it met the criteria,” Ziel said. “The death penalty is typically meant for more heinous crimes, not to say this wasn’t heinous.”
Sentencing is set for April 22.
Authorities said that Granados, Lemus and two other men got into an argument at the party and went outside.
At a previous hearing, Jenaly Martinez testified that she saw four men fighting as she left the party, and that security guards broke up the argument. She said she saw Granados go to his car, grab something and yell at Lemus. She said she then heard what sounded like gunshots and saw sparks.
She said Lemus fell to his stomach, and when she and another woman turned him over they saw blood.
Two security officers working the party also identified Granados as the man they saw firing a gun.
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Information from: Post Register, https://www.postregister.com
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