David Wayne Stoedter, who was charged with killing his business partner and burying the man in his back yard last year, pleaded guilty Wednesday to homicide, a first-degree felony.
Stoedter, 36, was found to be suffering from manic depression, and that may have been a factor in the crime, defense attorney David Finlayson said.
"David from the very beginning has accepted responsibility and wanted to plead," Finlayson said. With the state's agreeing to the fact that at least one of the factors in the homicide was mental illness, Stoedter pleaded guilty to homicide, the attorney said.
His sentencing is set for Oct. 26 before 3rd District Judge Roger Livingston.
"We will ask for five years to life in prison," prosecutor Trina Higgins said. "In Utah, you can plead guilty and mentally ill, but he did not do that. He just pled guilty. He will go to prison; he will not be sent back to the state (psychiatric) hospital."
The victim, Tibor Brown, died of gunshots to the head, according to court records. Sandy detectives found Brown's body covered with a blue tarp in a corner of his yard July 9, 2000, court records said.
A neighbor told Sandy police she saw Stoedter burying a large blue tarp in Brown's yard July 5, 2000. Court records state that Stoedter told the woman he was burying a dog.
The two men ran Rocky Mountain Recruiting, an employment placement company for pharmaceutical companies, out of Brown's home office, according to police. Brown had changed the locks on the office door within a week before he was reported missing, police said.
Brown's brother called Sandy police to report him missing July 7, 2000.
Stoedter has been held in jail since then and has been treated and evaluated at the Utah State Hospital in Provo. His trial was scheduled to begin next week.
Finlayson said that prior to the crime, Stoedter had been misdiagnosed as suffering from depression and had been prescribed medication for that illness instead of manic depression.
This isn't necessarily a defense to the crime but could have been a factor at the time of the incident, Finlayson said.
However, the prosecutor does not think that will make much difference for the judge.
"At this point, it is really unclear if that (the wrong medication) had any effect or what effect it had," Higgins said. "I don't expect it to be a big factor in sentencing."
E-mail: lindat@desnews.com