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SALT LAKE CITY — A man ordered to stand trial in the shooting death of a popular convenience store clerk has pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter.
Juan Andres Zalazar, 24, pleaded guilty Monday to manslaughter and aggravated robbery, both first-degree felonies. Both charges carry a potential prison sentence of five years to life.
Zalazar will be sentenced April 26.
Zalazar and two other men were originally charged with murder in the death of 62-year-old David Marsh, who was shot and killed in an armed robbery by two masked men at the Lee Mart convenience store where he worked, 5905 S. 700 West.
Surveillance footage shows two men — wearing bandanas over their faces and dressed in jackets and hats — run into the store after Marsh unlocked the door but before it opened for business. They then rushed behind the counter to where Marsh stood by the cash register and took its contents at gunpoint.
As the men were running out of the store, Marsh is seen on the video throwing the empty cash tray at them. One of the gunmen, who prosecutors later identified as Zalazar, responds by turning and firing multiple rounds, striking and killing Marsh.
Related:
3 men suspected in fatal Lee Mart shooting reject plea deals
With three plea deals rejected, the case of a well-known Lee Mart clerk's shooting death moves toward a trial.Alexis Alan Garcia, 20, is accused of being the second gunman in the robbery and is also charged with murder in Marsh's death. A final pretrial conference is scheduled for May 9, with a four-day jury trial set to begin May 10.
At the beginning of a preliminary hearing in December, a third defendant in the case, 20-year-old Martin Castillo, pleaded guilty to aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony, while the murder charge against him was dropped. Castillo, who was outside the store waiting in a getaway car at the time of the robbery, agreed as part of the plea deal to testify against Zalazar and Garcia.
At the time of the preliminary hearing, Salt Lake County deputy district attorney Matthew Janzen said Zalazar and Garcia had turned down plea deals and that prosecutors didn't plan to make additional offers.
