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A man accused of shooting and killing another man in Ogden has pleaded guilty to reduced charges.
Isaac Daniel Duran, 24, was originally charged with first-degree felony murder for shooting and killing Steven Carroll Ferguson on Feb. 23, 2015.
Last week, he pleaded guilty in 2nd District Court to a reduced charge of second-degree felony manslaughter, along with charges of second-degree felony possession or use of a firearm by a restricted person and two counts of third-degree felony discharge of a firearm.
Weber County Attorney Chris Allred said Tuesday that the manslaughter plea deal was offered because Duran likely would have claimed self defense or "imperfect self defense" at trial.
Ferguson was shot twice — once in the lower back and once in the arm — near the 3500 block of Jefferson Avenue. But Allred said Duran had a "significant stab wound" to his abdomen, and a knife found in the area had Duran's blood and Ferguson's fingerprints on it.
"It was evident that [Ferguson] stabbed Duran," Allred said. "What wasn't entirely evident is, who attacked who."
Duran's attorney, Ryan Bushell, said Tuesday that his client was stabbed first, before shots were fired. But because Duran was not allowed to carry a gun at that time due to a previous felony conviction, Bushell said his client could only claim "imperfect self defense" at trial, which meant he likely would have only seen a reduction in the level of conviction if the case went to a jury.
Sentencing is set for April 21. Duran faces penalties of 1-to-15 years in prison for the manslaughter charge, another 1-to-15 term for the use of a firearm charge and zero-to-five year terms for each discharge of a firearm charge.
Plea agreement documents indicate that prosecutors will ask the judge to sentence Duran to serve the prison sentences concurrent to one another and concurrent to a separate case where he pleaded guilty to failure to stop at the command of police. Prosecutors also agreed to dismiss aggravated robbery and aggravated assault charges stemming from an unrelated incident in 2013.
Home surveillance video taken the evening of the shooting shows Ferguson arriving alone at a home on that block, according to charging documents. Within minutes, he is seen "running back to his vehicle as another male is observed chasing him to the corner of the house and firing a gun at him," the charges say.
Prosecutors say Duran, who had been seen earlier that night with a handgun, was dropped off near the scene not long before the shooting. Afterward, investigators said they found a trail of blood — later identified as Duran's — in an alley behind Jefferson Avenue and leading to Duran's nearby home.
When Duran was taken to a local hospital for treatment of his stab wound, he refused to tell police how he was injured, telling officers that "it was a dead issue and he did not want to discuss it." He was charged eight months later with murder.
Bushell said the two men were both tied to the Ogden Trece gang.
Twitter: @jm_miller