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The second of four men charged in connection with a 2009 "wrong-house" homicide has entered a guilty plea to felony charges related to the death.
Pailate K. Lomu, 26, entered pleas to one count of each manslaughter and burglary, both second-degree felonies, on Tuesday in Salt Lake City's 3rd District Court before Judge Randall Skanchy.
Both charges carry a gun enhancement because Lomu was a convicted felon on probation at the time of the July 19, 2009 episode.
Lomu faces punishments of two to 20 years in prison on each count when sentenced by Skanchy on July 20.
Lomu and others — Nitokalisi Niki Fonua, Alexander Bloomfield and George Blake Angilau — were all charged with murder and other counts in connection with the death of Krystal Flores, after the four broke into the wrong house looking to carry out a revenge plot.
Police have said Lomu and the others were members the Baby Regulators gang and that they were looking for members of the rival Tongan Crips gang after Lomu had been targeted in another shooting.
Flores, 21, was asleep on the couch when the men broke in and she was shot in the head with a .22-caliber rifle.
Lomu did not shoot Flores, but admitted in his statement to the court on Tuesday that he helped kick in the door of the Salt Lake City home in the 1300 block of Stewart Street (about 1500 West) and that he was carrying a handgun when he entered the dwelling.
No one saw the shooting, but other witnesses inside the residence have identified Lomu and Bloomfield as the two who broke down the door.
Last month, Fonua, 33, pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of second-degree felony manslaughter for Flores' death and was sentenced to a prison term of one to 15 years.
In exchange for the plea, Salt Lake County prosecutors dismissed an aggravated burglary count and a firearms possession charge.
Bloomfield, 35, is scheduled for a five-day trial in August. Court papers initially suggested he was the likely shooter because witnesses said they saw him armed with a rifle. Fonua later admitted to carrying a similar gun.
Court papers say Angilau has admitted to firing a handgun at a rival gang member while acting as a lookout outside the home. A 2012 trial for Angilau, 25, was canceled and court records show his case will not proceed until each of his four co-defendants have resolved their cases.