Dewayne E. Burton shot the victim over a racial epithet
By Michael Van Cassell
CHEYENNE -- A 24-year-old man pleaded guilty recently to shooting another man last year in a downtown parking garage over an alleged racial epithet.
Dewayne E. Burton of Cheyenne pleaded guilty May 14 to attempted voluntary manslaughter for shooting then-32-year-old Gabriel Apodaca.
Burton entered a plea agreement with prosecutors that lowered an original charge of attempted homicide to the crime he admitted committing last week.
Prosecutors will ask Burton be sentenced to 10 to 14 years in prison. Before the agreement, Burton faced 20 years to life in prison.
His attorney, Dion Custis, said the plea agreement "sufficiently addresses the facts of the case".
"I think it's a good plea agreement," Custis said.
In court, Burton did not specifically admit he shot Apodaca, instead agreeing to what authorities found in their initial investigation.
Investigators interviewed witnesses who said Apodaca called Burton and his friend the N-word in the early morning hours of Sept. 12, and that they began to fight, according to court documents. Link
