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A man has been ordered to stand trial for allegedly fatally shooting another man inside the victim's Park City home during a fight last February.
James Enoch Henfling, 28, of Midvale, is charged in 3rd District Court with first-degree felony aggravated murder and second-degree felony discharge of a firearm with serious bodily injury in the February 2016 death of 37-year-old Jose Fernandez.
Judge Paige Petersen said in a decision filed Friday that, based on testimony from a December preliminary hearing, she found probable case to order Henfling to stand trial on the charges.
Events leading up to the shooting began when Henfling's sister, Elise Henfling, called and invited him to Fernandez's apartment, the decision states.
James Henfling later told an investigator he brought a gun and a Taser with him because he believed his sister, Elise Henfling, was in danger, but after arriving at Fernandez's home, he realized she was safe, the decision states.
They all drank together and Fernandez invited the defendant to stay the night, the decision states.
But in the early hours of Feb. 22, the two men engaged in a "heated" conversation, and Fernandez punched James Henfling in the face and began choking him, the sister testified.
The men then began choking each other and fell to the floor, where Fernandez began kicking James Henfling in the face with both of his feet, the decision states.
Elise Henfling testified she tried to stop the kicking by getting between the two men.
At one point, she punched Fernandez in the face, after which James Henfling pulled a gun and shot Fernandez in the forehead, the decision states. Fernandez died several days later at a hospital.
James and Elise Henfling's ran from the home and drove to a convenience store, where the sister told the clerk that her brother had shot someone.
James Henfling later told a Park City police officer that he fired in self-defense.
He said he was "losing the fight," and was almost knocked unconscious," according to the judge's decision.
"I didn't mean to," James Henfling added. "He was beating the hell out of me."
James Henfling told a Summit County Attorney's Office investigator: "I guess I should have shot him in the foot or hand or just in the air but natural reaction being a hunter, you shoot to kill."
Prosecutors charged James Henfling with aggravated murder based on two potential aggravating factors: that the slaying occurred as part of an aggravated burglary, and that the shooting created a great risk of death to someone other than the victim — Elise Henfling.
The judge found that the defendant had endangered his sister, who was between the two men as she tried to stop the fight. Prosecutors had argued that "it was only by virtue of luck that she leaned back" and avoided being hit by the bullet fired at Fernandez.
The judge, however, rejected the aggravated burglary factor, finding that James Henfling had been invited to the home and was never asked to leave.
A scheduling hearing is set for Monday.