Edwin "Robby" Benzon and Thomas G. Majnik were out on a Friday night last September when they met up with Daniel Marion Schroyer Jr. and Jordan Grady Swank.
What started out as four guys riding in a car, listening to loud rap music, turned into a senseless shooting when Schroyer pointed a .380 handgun at the back of Benzon's head and pulled the trigger for no apparent reason.Monday afternoon in 3rd District Court, Schroyer pleaded guilty to capital murder for killing Benzon. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dropped an additional count of attempted capital murder, a first-degree felony.
Instead of facing the death penalty, Schroyer, 18, will likely serve life in prison with the possibility of parole.
"They felt like that was a fair sentence," said prosecutor Ernie Jones, speaking of Benzon's family.
No one from Benzon's family attended Monday's hearing, but they are expected to show up for Schroyer's July 12 sentencing.
Prosecutors said they were happy with the plea deal, considering Schroyer had just turned 18 when he killed Benzon.
"If he'd done this two weeks earlier we could have had a juvenile murder case," Jones said.
Swank, 18, testified at a January preliminary hearing that Schroyer told him he shot Benzon because "Robby laughed and didn't take him seriously" when he placed the gun point-blank at Benzon's head.
After shooting Benzon, Schroyer ordered Majnik to stop the car. Both men struggled for Schroyer's gun after exiting the car, but the struggled ended when Schroyer told Swank to shoot Majnik. Swank fired three shots, hitting Majnik once in the right chest.
In exchange for his testimony against Schroyer, prosecutors will allow Swank to plead to reduced charges of attempted homicide, a second-degree felony. Originally charged with capital murder and attempted capital murder, Swank is expected to accept the state's plea bargain at a May 2 hearing.
His hands and feet shackled, and wearing a tan jail jumpsuit, Schroyer said little as he entered his guilty plea Monday.
Atherton accepted Schroyer's guilty plea, but left room for him to appeal, since defense attorneys have hinted Schroyer did not intend to kill Benzon when he put the gun to his head.
If the appeal is successful, Schroyer has the option of withdrawing his guilty plea.
Schroyer also pleaded guilty to reduced charges of robbery, a second-degree felony, in a separate case for joining Swank and one other person in stealing $251 from a Taylorsville Chevron station August 17, 1999. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors reduced the charges from aggravated robbery, a first-degree felony. Swank is also expected to plead guilty to the same charges in that case at his May 2 hearing.
Prosecutors will recommend Schroyer's one-to-15-year prison sentence run consecutive to his life sentence for the murder. Schroyer's defense attorneys will likely ask for concurrent sentences.
You can reach Derek Jensen by e-mail at djensen@desnews.com