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A Utah teen who murdered his two younger brothers has pleaded guilty in an unrelated case to assaulting a fellow prisoner at a juvenile detention facility.
Aza Ray Vidinhar, 16, entered his guilty plea to third-degree felony assault by a prisoner on Tuesday in Ogden's 2nd District Court after mental health evaluators deemed him competent to stand trial.
Vidinhar — who was prosecuted as an adult in the assault case — faces a prison term of zero to 5 years in prison when he is sentenced March 23 by Judge Noel Hyde.
Under a plea deal, his assault sentence will run concurrent with the time he is serving for the slayings of his brothers, according to his defense attorney, James Retallick.
A probable cause statement filed with the court says Vidinhar assaulted another boy with a broom on Nov. 1 at the Mill Creek Youth Center in Ogden. The victim did not fight back and had minor bruises and scratches after the altercation, according to the statement.
Vidinhar was charged with the murders in juvenile court, but prosecutors sought to have him certified as an adult.
Vidinhar settled the issue by pleading guilty in June in juvenile court to one count of first-degree felony murder for 10-year-old Alex Vidinhar's death and entering a similar plea in adult court for 4-year-old Benjie Vidinhar's death.
The pleas were part of an agreement that allows the teen to be held in a juvenile facility until he is 21 or until the juvenile system can no longer help him. At that time, Vidinhar will be sentenced in adult court to 15 years to life behind bars, defense attorneys have said.
Whether the assault conviction will affect the timing of the transfer to adult prison was not immediately clear.
Vidinhar, then 15, was arrested on May 22, 2013, after his mother called 911 to report finding Benjie dead on the floor of her West Point home. Alex was later found dead in another part of the house; both boys had been stabbed to death.
A motive for the killings has never been publicly revealed.
Twitter: @PamelaMansonSLC