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A Utah teen accused of fatally shooting a man near a West Valley City bus stop after investigators say they argued about their gang ties resolved his criminal case Tuesday by pleading guilty in both juvenile and adult court.
Marqus Paul James, 16, admitted that he shot and killed 22-year-old Marco Cardenas on June 10 after the two had an argument on a Utah Transit Authority bus.
James, who was 15 years old at the time, pleaded guilty in 3rd District Juvenile Court to third-degree felony shooting toward a person on Tuesday. Later that morning, he pleaded guilty in 3rd District Court to first-degree felony manslaughter — normally a second-degree felony that was enhanced because of the gang aspect of the case.
The plea deal calls for sentencing in district court to be delayed until the teen is 21 years old or until Juvenile Justice Services feels they can no longer help him. Until then, James will be held in a juvenile detention center.
A review hearing is set for Oct. 21, 2016.
The teen was apologetic Tuesday, telling 3rd District Juvenile Judge Dane Nolan that he was scared of Cardenas that day.
"The guy, he was trying to pick a fight with me," James said. "And he argued with me. And one thing led to another and I did something I regret. If I could change it, I would. If I could trade places with him, I would."
When Nolan pressed the teen to describe the encounter in more detail, James told him that he and Cardenas argued and then the older man told him to get off the bus.
"He said 'Let's fight,' " James said. "I said, 'All right. All right.' I thought somebody would do something on the bus. And nobody did anything."
James said they got off the bus near 5600 W. 3500 South and Cardenas hit him. The teen said he pulled out a handgun "to scare him" and fired several times.
"I wasn't aiming for him," James said. "I just pulled it out to scare him. I didn't mean for it to happen."
Cardenas was struck once by a bullet and died later at a nearby hospital.
The victim's mother, Malinda Jaramillo, told Nolan she felt it was unfair that James gets the chance to change his life, while her firstborn son did not.
"We hear his side of the story," Jaramillo said of James. "But he didn't give us the chance to hear my son's side of the story. ... It was an argument. It wasn't a gunbattle. All he had was a cigarette lighter and an ID. He didn't have anything. He took my son from us."
Cardenas' older brother, Raymond Jaramillo, said he tried to set an example for his brother. But he said Cardenas was disabled and felt like gang members were his friends who accepted him for who he was.
"[This was] an argument about neighborhoods, about friends?" the brother said between sobs. "This whole gang lifestyle is ridiculous. I grew up around it and I chose better for myself."
Nolan told James that the teen's comments "made it seem like you were a victim of circumstance." But the judge said he didn't see it that way, telling James that he will recommend that he be held in juvenile detention every day until he is 21.
"You made choices all the way along," the judge said. "And it could have been avoided by you. You chose not to do that. You chose to have that gun, you chose to get into the fight. You chose to use the weapon, pull the trigger. And obviously, it was [fired] toward him and killed him."
James was initially charged in juvenile court with first-degree felony murder and three counts of second-degree felony discharge of a firearm.
James told the judge that he found the gun two weeks prior to the shooting in an unattended backpack near a FrontRunner stop.
The Tribune typically does not identify criminal defendants under the age of 18 unless they have had charges filed against them in adult court.