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PROVO, Utah (AP) -- A judge has rejected a plea agreement for a man whose gun was used in the killing of a 39-year-old dairy worker, sentencing the man to up to five years in prison instead of a single year in jail.
Agustin Cruz-Silva, 45, had agreed to testify against Sergio Ramos-Trujillo, 27, who is charged with killing Jorge Corona. As part of that plea agreement, Cruz-Silva pleaded no contest to a misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide and guilty to third-degree felony charges of obstruction of justice and possession of a handgun by a restricted person.
On Monday, 4th District Judge Lynn Davis rejected the negotiated sentence for Cruz-Silva of a year in jail -- with most of the time already served while awaiting trial.
"Whenever and wherever criminal activity results in a death, this court traditionally and as a matter of judicial philosophy has imposed the maximum penalty possible," Davis said.
The move angered Cruz-Silva's defense attorney, Paige Benjamin.
"I trusted in the court system and my client trusted in the courts," Benjamin said. "I don't think justice was done today. I think he was stabbed in the back."
Utah law allows a defense attorney to seek a commitment from the judge that he will follow the sentencing recommendation in a plea agreement before the defendant enters a guilty plea.
Benjamin interrupted Davis during the sentencing to request that Cruz-Silva be permitted to withdraw his guilty pleas. Benjamin told Davis he believed the judge made such a commitment on March 22 when Cruz-Silva entered his pleas.
Davis said Benjamin must file a written motion.
Later Monday, Benjamin reviewed a recording of the hearing where he believed Davis agreed to follow the plea deal.
In the recording, the judge said he in all likelihood would adopt the recommendation as long as the defendant was not on probation or had not been convicted of murder previously, Benjamin said. "He said if he did deviate from the recommendation, that could be a basis to withdraw the guilty plea."
Benjamin said he planned to file a motion to withdraw the pleas.
Utah County Deputy Attorney Randy Kennard made the agreement in part because his office didn't feel they had enough evidence to convict Cruz-Silva on an original felony manslaughter charge, he said.
"We didn't believe we could make a case that he knew the gun would be used in a murder," Kennard said.
Ramos-Trujillo is charged with first-degree murder in Corona's death as well as felony charges obstruction of justice and possession of a handgun by a restricted person. A trial date is pending.
Ramos-Trujillo is accused of shooting fellow dairy employee Corona three times in the neck at the men's housing complex in Elberta after a road rage incident the previous day.
Prosecutors contend Cruz-Silva lent Ramos-Trujillo the gun used in the Sept. 16 killing.
Cruz-Silva was expected to testify that Ramos-Trujillo sought his gun not because Ramos-Trujillo feared Corona but because he was angry with Corona.
In return for Cruz-Silva's testimony and guilty pleas, Kennard reduced a felony charge of manslaughter to a misdemeanor charge of negligent homicide and offered a sentence of 365 days in the Utah County Jail with credit for 217 days already served and immediate deportation after the sentence was served. Cruz-Silva is an undocumented immigrant.
Benjamin said he had not seen a judge throw out a plea arrangement. Kennard was satisfied with the ruling but said if judges routinely denied plea bargains, they would disappear.
(Copyright 2006 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
