A Utah man has been bound over for trial on murder and other charges stemming from a deadly January shooting during an alleged drug-buy rip-off in Sugar House.
Third District Judge Katie Bernards-Goodman issued the ruling Wednesday after a preliminary hearing in which Jeremiah Ray Hart's co-defendant testified against him.
Hart — who is accused of killing Christian Lance McDonald — is charged with first-degree aggravated murder and two second-degree felonies, obstructing justice and possession of a firearm by a restricted person. A scheduling hearing has been set for Nov. 20 before Judge Keith Kelly.
McDonald was found Jan. 24 lying in the park strip alongside the street at 1224 E. Parkway Ave. (about 2400 South) with a gunshot wound in the chest and a .45-caliber gun and an extended 9mm firearm magazine nearby. The 24-year-old West Valley City resident was transported to a hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Hart, 43, also went to a hospital that night, for treatment of a gunshot wound to his face and neck, and claimed he had been shot by a man who approached him in a park, police say.
But Erick Eugene Burwell, 37, who also is charged in the case, and Richard McDonald, the victim's brother, both testified Wednesday that Hart was injured while trying to steal drugs from the McDonalds.
Burwell said he and Hart had decided to set up a drug buy and rob the sellers, a scheme they had pulled in the past. He asked a friend if she knew someone who had 5 pounds of marijuana to sell and the friend asked her friends for help locating a source, according to Burwell.
The deal came together two weeks later, and on Jan. 24, Burwell said, he and Hart met the sellers — the McDonald brothers — in a mall parking lot at 1300 East and 2100 South.
The brothers got into his car, and he drove south a short distance to Parkway Avenue, a residential street, because "nobody wanted to do no drug deal in the parking lot," Burwell testified. He said Christian McDonald was in the front passenger seat, Hart was in the right rear seat behind him and Richard McDonald was next to Hart behind Burwell.
Burwell said he parked on the side of the street and Hart pulled out a gun, pointing it at Christian McDonald's head. He said he didn't remember Hart's exact words but that McDonald pulled out his own gun, swung around and fired.
"It was a quick motion," Burwell said, adding that Hart was hit and fired back.
Hart and Christian McDonald immediately jumped out of the car and Burwell drove off, he said. When he reached the corner, he realized Richard McDonald was still in the car.
"We were both kind of in shock," Burwell said.
He dropped Richard McDonald off at his apartment and then cleaned off a small amount of blood on the back seat where Hart had been sitting, Burwell said.
Richard McDonald testified that Hart said, "This is a robbery" as he pulled out his gun and reached around the front seat with both arms, putting the left one around Christian McDonald's throat. He saw his brother reach for his own pistol and heard one to two shots, McDonald said.
McDonald, who admitted that he at first denied to police that he was present at the botched drug deal, said he took the marijuana and sold it back to the person he bought it from. He also testified he was carrying a gun that night but said he did not fire or display it. A few months after the shooting, he took the gun apart and discarded the pieces in the desert, McDonald said.
Prosecutors filed charges in May against Hart and Burwell. Hart, whose aliases are Bullet and Bullfrog, has an extensive drug-releated criminal history. Burwell, known on the streets as "Little Devil" and "Diablo," has a criminal record stretching back to 1997 that includes domestic-violence-related assault, drug distribution, theft and attempted possession of a dangerous weapon by a restricted person.
Burwell was charged with aggravated murder, obstructing justice and aggravated robbery. He testified that under a deal with prosecutors, he is to receive two concurrent sentences of 1 to 15 years for manslaughter and robbery.
Prosecutor Vincent Meister told Bernards-Goodman that Hart was offered a plea deal that would have given him a sentence of 15 years to life in prison, which he rejected.
pmanson@sltrib.com
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC