Man involved in fatal brawl pleads guilty

By: North County Times wire services | Wednesday, January 21, 2004 10:59 PM PST ∞

SAN DIEGO - A man accused in the July 2002 murder of a San Diego State student during a brawl near Mission Bay over some missing bicycles pleaded guilty today to a lesser included offense of involuntary manslaughter.

Darius Days, 19, was convicted at trial of assault with means likely to produce great bodily injury for kicking a partygoer during a fight in which Paul Mefford, 22, was shot to death.

But jurors deadlocked 8-4 for acquittal on a second-degree murder charge, and 8-4 to convict on two attempted robbery charges. Under today's plea bargain, those counts were dismissed.

Days faces anywhere from probation to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Feb. 20 by Superior Court Judge Michael Wellington. Both penalties would run at the same time.

The judge complimented both sides for getting the case against Days resolved.

"There's victims on both sides here," the judge said. "An innocent young man was killed. The defendant played a role in that."

At trial, defense attorney Roseline Feral said Days kicked someone only after he got hit in the back.

She said the altercation involved two to three minutes of "trash talking" by "pi----ed off people" whose bicycles were missing.

But Deputy District Attorney Dana Greisen argued that Days was part of a group of blacks who took the bicycles from a group of whites partying at El Carmel Point about 2 a.m. on July 14, 2002.

Greisen said the fight started when members of the white group -- which included Mefford -- tried to get their bicycles back, which were stacked in the back of a pickup truck pointed toward the exit.

The prosecutor conceded that Days wasn't the shooter, but knew someone in his group had a gun. He was charged, then, under the theory that he aided and abetted Mefford's killer.

Co-defendant Calvin Pearce pleaded guilty to assault and testified at Days' trial. Andie Shoate and Lamar Long pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and will be sentenced Feb. 5.

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