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SALT LAKE CITY — A West Jordan man who called police to report he had shot his best friend in March 2024 has admitted in court to the killing.
Charging documents say Anthony Sanchez was watching TV with Dylan Douglas Miller-Mettome when Sanchez did something funny and Miller-Mettome took out his phone. Sanchez said he pulled out a gun to be funny, pointed it at his friend and fired. He said there was no fight or argument. Miller-Mettome later died from his injury at a hospital.
Anthony Sanchez, 30, pleaded guilty to manslaughter, a second-degree felony, on May 12. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed three other charges for purchase, possession or the use of a firearm as a restricted person, a third-degree felony.
In the preliminary hearing for Sanchez, his attorney, Mark Moffat, argued there was no evidence of manslaughter, saying that with guns, there will be accidents. He said his client was cooperative with police, used the victim's phone to call for help because it was the closest, administered medical aid and sat down with police when they arrived to tell them what happened.
Moffat said Sanchez picked up the gun as a joke and made a comment about not liking that he was being recorded. Sanchez told police he did not know the gun was loaded when he pointed it at his friend, according to charges.
Sanchez has not been incarcerated since posting bail on May 3, 2024, but has been on an ankle monitor. He is scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 22. The sentence for second-degree felony manslaughter in Utah code is between one and 15 years in prison.
