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SALT LAKE CITY — A man who pleaded guilty to shooting a rival gang member has asked a judge to allow him to withdraw his plea, saying he felt "rushed and pressured" to take a plea deal.
Vilisoni Tuino Angilau, 21, pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court in July to reduced charges of manslaughter and discharge of a firearm causing bodily injury, second-degree felonies, as part of a plea bargain.
The maximum penalty for each of the two charges is one to 15 years in prison.
Angilau was scheduled to be sentenced Monday, but a motion to withdraw his guilty pleas was filed instead. He cited the emotional difficulty he has faced since his older brother, Siale Maveni Angeliau, was shot and killed by a federal marshal almost three months earlier after he attempted to attack a witness who was testifying against him in federal court.
"I felt lost and gave up on a lot (in) life after my brother was killed," Vilisoni Angilau wrote in a letter to 3rd District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman. "I do not feel comfortable with taking the deal without knowing if the feds are going to try to indict me with more charges if I take this plea. I felt rushed and pressured into taking the deal. I was not in the right state of mind and worried about being falsely convicted of the higher charges."
Angilau, a member of the Tongan Crip Gang, was arrested following the fatal shooting of 19-year-old Sione Fakatoufifita outside a Salt Lake convenience store in April of last year. Court records indicate Angilau shot Fakatoufifita "because he (is a) member of a rival gang."
After the shooting, Angilau fled and discarded the firearm with a hooded sweatshirt into a Jordan River surplus canal nearby. Police later recovered the gun, which matched the caliber of the one used to kill Fakatoufifita.
