SALT LAKE CITY – A man accused of shooting his wife's father during a Father's Day Mass in Ogden, Utah, has taken a plea deal.
Charles Richard Jennings Jr. pleaded guilty and mentally ill last week to charges of attempted murder and aggravated burglary. Defendants who enter such a plea can be rehabilitated at the state psychiatric center and returned to prison to serve out their sentences.
The 36-year-old Jennings faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced on Jan. 23.
Doctors have said the point-blank shot could have killed his 66-year-old father-in-law, but that James Evans turned his head at the last minute.
The bullet went through an ear and out a cheek, missing his brain.
His public defender says Jennings was having a psychotic episode and could end up at the Utah State Hospital for rehabilitation.
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