OGDEN — A jury on Thursday convicted an Ogden man on a first-degree felony charge of object rape and he now awaits trial on an unrelated murder count.

Keshaun Mykel Puente entered a 17-year-old girl’s bedroom at 5:30 a.m. after a Halloween party on Oct. 29, 2017, and she was awakened by someone touching her genitals, Weber County prosecutors said. The girl said Puente told her he was looking for his keys and she said, “Your keys are not in my pants.” She said he returned a while later and choked her and tried to remove her pants, but she kicked him in the groin and he left.

Jurors deliberated for about two hours Thursday evening before returning a guilty verdict.

Puente, now 24, next faces trial, currently scheduled to begin Oct. 12, on charges of murder and three counts of felony discharge of a firearm, all first-degree felonies, in the June 13, 2018, death of Denero Lamar Snider, 23. Prosecutors said Puente shot Snider four times, and construction workers testified at the preliminary hearing that they saw Puente shoot Snider.

Puente and his attorneys have argued it was a case of mistaken identity and that the workers were too far away to confirm it was Puente. Further, they could not pick him out of a police lineup, his attorneys argued.

Since his arrest, Puente’s attorneys have been seeking his release on bail. But 2nd District Judge Jennifer Valencia agreed with prosecutors to keep him behind bars pending his trials, noting that Puente fled Utah after Snider’s shooting and gave a false identity when Nevada police picked him up later.

Valencia set Puente’s sentencing on the rape charge for Nov. 9.

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