This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2015, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
An Ogden man admitted Wednesday that he shot and killed another man inside a storage shed last May.
Court records indicate that Shawn Gerrald Boehme, 47, pleaded guilty but mentally ill to first-degree felony murder in the May 28, 2014 death of Elgie Ray Mills Jr. Two counts of possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person were dismissed as part of a plea deal.
Second District Judge Brent West is expected to sentence Boehme on Nov. 18. The defendant faces a 15-year-to-life prison sentence, but prosecutors agreed to recommend to the parole board that he serve no more than 15 years, according to plea agreement documents.
Defense attorney Jonathan Hanks said Friday that prosecutors settled the case with the plea because they believe Boehme "was operating under drug-induced psychosis."
Hanks said the defense would have argued at trial that Boehme was under "extreme emotional distress" before the shooting, but said prosecutors would have countered that his client was under distress because of his alleged drug use.
But Hanks said the guilty-but-mentally-ill plea won't change the minimum mandatory sentence of 15-years-to-life in prison.
"What it does allow, with the Board of Pardons, is to say, 'While, yes, this is murder, you might want to consider the fact that he was not in his right mind at the time,'" Hanks said.
At a preliminary hearing last August, Ogden police Detective Arthur Mackley testified that Boehme admitted to police that he shot 43-year-old Mills three times.
He gave three different stories about why he shot the man, Mackley said: That Mills had raped his wife; that the victim had threatened to overtake the storage shed business that Boehme was running; and that he had felt threatened by Mills.
Police went to the storage unit near 2900 Pennsylvania Avenue on May 29, 2014, after a woman called and said she had found a body in the one of the units.
Inside unit #79, Mills' body was covered by a blanket. He had been shot twice in the chest, and once in the head.
Utah Medical Examiner Joseph White testified Tuesday that the two chest wounds were very close to one another, and that gunpowder stippling showed the shooter was likely just feet away when Mills was shot in the head.
Also inside the storage unit, police found the revolver used to shoot Mills and a sawed-off shotgun inside a backpack.
Twitter: @jm_miller