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ST. GEORGE — Following treatment at the Utah State Hospital, a Toquerville man has been found competent and he pleaded guilty to killing his neighbor in a haze of drugs and depression when he was 17 years old.
Now 19, Joshua David Canfield pleaded guilty Thursday to murder and aggravated robbery of 58-year-old Geraldine Bommarito, both first-degree felonies carrying mandatory sentences of 15 years to life in prison, according to his attorney.
Sentencing is scheduled for March 31. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend that Canfield's sentences run concurrent.
Canfield waived a preliminary hearing Thursday and expressed his desire to resolve the case rather than fight the charges, said Edward Flint, Canfield's attorney. He also admitted to felony charges of arson, vehicle theft and assault on a police officer stemming from the crime spree.
"Right now Mr. Canfield is completely competent to make his own legal decisions. He understands what he's doing, and he understands the ramifications of what he wants to do, and what he wanted to do was plead guilty," Flint said.
Canfield had attempted to overdose and kill himself on March 18, 2014, just days before his 18th birthday, Flint said. When he awoke from the attempt, he set out on a violent string of events in which he shot and killed Bommarito in her home, stole and then burned her car, and fought officers who attempted to arrest him hours later, the lawyer said.
Neighbors said Canfield lived in a camp trailer outside his parents' home and just down the street from Bommarito.
In his March 2014 booking mugshot, Canfield wore a neck brace and had what appears to be a puncture and slicing wound across his neck, the result of two separate suicide attempts, police said. He was found incompetent to face the charges in May 2015.
However, his demeanor in court was drastically different Thursday as he reported he has continued with prescribed medication following treatment at the state hospital, according to Flint.
"He told the judge that he felt more sober and sane there in front of the judge than he had ever felt in his life," Flint said. "He's getting help. I wonder if he had gotten help like that when he was 12 and had his first suicide attempt, if, you know, maybe he wouldn't have killed someone. That's all speculation."
