Pena

accepts

plea

deal

Teen involved in

Saffert killing pleads guilty to aiding and abetting second

degree murder

By KURT NESBITT

Journal Staff Writer

NEW ULM -- Brown County's case against the accused killers of Edwin "Speedy" Saffert came one step closer to completion Monday afternoon when the remaining suspect took a plea bargain from prosecutors.

Daniel Ramon Pena, 17, of Springfield, took the witness stand and briefly explained his part in the Sept. 15 killing of the 79-year old Saffert. He accepted a plea agreement that was offered a few weeks after the incident, Brown County Attorney James Olson said.

Pena entered a plea of guilty to one count of aiding and abetting second-degree intentional murder in Brown County District Court. The plea agreement effectively dismisses two first-degree murder charges and three second-degree murder charges that were the result of the grand jury's decision.

Because Pena has no prior criminal history, he will likely see a shorter prison term than co-defendant James Robert Ketcher, 28, also of Springfield.

Ketcher was sentenced to 346 months in prison earlier this month after striking an identical deal with Olson.

Saffert was found beaten to death in the bedroom of his Springfield home by a city utilities worker who had stopped to read the meter, court complaints said.

Both suspects admitted they had gone to Saffert's house with the intention of robbing him, but each blamed the other for his killing, insisting they acted as the lookout while the other struck and killed Saffert.

In October, Pena and Ketcher were indicted by a Brown County grand jury on first-degree murder charges.

Olson stated earlier that Pena had until Monday to either accept the plea offer or go to trial. The plea offer would have been off the table after Monday, Olson said.

While on the witness stand, Pena, who recently turned 17, said he was in Springfield the night before Saffert's killing at a party at Ketcher's house. He testified that he heard Ketcher and another person talk about robbing the man's house a few weeks before the party. Pena said Ketcher woke him up and the two went walking around Springfield looking for police officers before breaking into Saffert's house. Pena said Ketcher had a stick with him just before the break-in. Pena said Ketcher told him to keep his eyes on the alleys by Saffert's house for any police cars.

"He went in the house and I just heard whacking," Pena told the court during questioning from his attorney, Darci Bentz. "I knew it was him hitting something."

Under further questioning from Brown County District Judge John Rodenberg, Pena agreed he didn't expect Saffert's death to happen but intended it should happen.

"In my mind, it was supposed to happen," Pena said.

Pena will receive his prison sentence later next month, Rodenberg said. Olson and Bentz both said Pena will likely see a shorter sentence than Ketcher because Pena had no prior criminal record before he was charged with Saffert's killing. State sentencing guidelines establish the sentence at 306 months.

"This agreement puts him in jail for as long as he's been alive," said defense attorney Troy Timmerman outside the courtroom.

Said Olson, "This was just a robbery that got all screwed up and tragic."