Teenage Ogden shooting defendant loses bid to be sentenced in juvenile court
Image supplied, 2nd District Court
In this image taken from video, Brandon Parker, 17, participates in a virtual court hearing Friday, April 24, 2020, from the Weber Valley Youth Center. Parker is charged with murder in the March 14 shooting death of Caden Ferguson, 16.OGDEN — A judge on Thursday rejected a defense attorney’s argument that Brandon Parker, who pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of manslaughter in the shooting death of a friend, should be sentenced in juvenile court.
Second District Judge Cristina Ortega ruled in favor of arguments made by the Weber County Attorney’s Office that Parker should be sentenced in district court, where he made the plea. The sentencing venue is significant: In juvenile court, Parker could be sentenced to several years behind bars in a secure juvenile jail; the district court sentence could mean one to 15 years in the state prison.
Parker’s sentencing was called off in November after defense attorney Randall Marshall filed a motion contending that recent changes to state sentencing laws required a case to be transferred to juvenile court if a juvenile defendant charged in district court was not convicted of the original charge — in this case, first-degree murder.
Ortega agreed with the prosecution’s assertion that such a jurisdictional transfer is possible only if the defendant was acquitted or the charge was dismissed. She said Parker’s plea to a lesser charge did not constitute a dismissal of the murder charge, as Marshall argued.
The law allows prosecutors the discretion to “direct file” charges against a juvenile in district court, rather than first go through a certification process in juvenile court, in first-degree felony cases.
Parker now is back on the district court docket, to be sentenced Tuesday. The Ogden resident, now 18, is free on bail pending sentencing.
Black Lives Matter of Utah posted $25,000 cash bail to free him earlier this year. The group contended the shooting was accidental and Parker, who is Black, was being racially discriminated against with a first-degree murder charge. Prosecutors denied any racial component in the charges.
Parker was 17 on the morning of March 14, 2020, when he and two friends were at the kitchen table in his parents’ home. Charging documents said Parker pointed a handgun at Caden Ferguson, 16, who then was killed by a shot to his forehead.
In the plea bargain, prosecutors dropped three other charges against Parker: possession of a stolen gun and obstructing justice, both second-degree felonies; and use of a firearm by a restricted person, a third-degree felony.