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A Salt Lake City man accused of blocking the police investigation into a 2014 homicide has pleaded guilty to the crime.
Nathan Andrew Johnson entered guilty pleas to two class A misdemeanor counts of obstruction of justice on July 1 in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court.
Johnson was originally charged with a second-degree felony, but Salt Lake County prosecutors reduced the count to misdemeanors in exchange for the plea.
Judge Royal Hansen also sentenced Johnson on July 1, ordering the 37-year-old man to serve one-year in the county jail for each count.
The terms were ordered to run consecutively, although court records show Johnson was also given credit for the 284 days he has already been in jail.
In entering the plea, Johnson admitted to lying to police about the circumstances of the Sept. 18, 2014 shooting death of 18-year-old Gustavo Jarquin. His false statements included telling police he didn't have a cell phone or know Jarquin.
Charging documents say Jarquin was found dead in the 1400 block of Indiana Avenue about 7:30 a.m. An autopsy found that he died after suffering a single gunshot wound to his right lung, the court papers say.
Police have never named a suspect in Jarquin's homicide, but on Tuesday said the case remains open and a priority.
"We need a break," Salt Lake City police Detective Greg Wilking said, adding that investigators current lack sufficient physical evidence to link anyone to the slaying.
Investigators have long believed Johnson had information about the shooting, but he has never been cooperative, Wilking said.
During the investigation, police were tipped that the gun used to kill Jarquin may have been hidden in Johnson's backyard, not far from the site of the shooting.
A witness also told police she was in a car with Johnson and Jarquin the night before the shooting, and a second person reported seeing the same car on Indiana Avenue a few hours before Jarquin's body was found, court papers say.
Police also linked Johnson to the crime through recorded telephone calls he made to his wife after the shooting, while she was incarcerated at the Salt Lake County jail.
In the calls, Johnson said he had "told 'them' he didn't have a phone and that he gave the phone to their daughter," the charging documents state.