Three defendants suspected in what Anchorage police described as a brutal attack on a 50-year-old man sleeping outside in September 2013 pleaded guilty Monday to murder and manslaughter charges.
David Walent, 26, and Jerrick Blankenship, 20, each pleaded guilty to a single count of second-degree murder.
Lewis Martin, 35, pleaded guilty to manslaughter.
All of the men told Anchorage Superior Court Judge Michael Wolverton they'd had enough time to consider their plea deals.
Assistant district attorney Christina Sherman said it was important to the state that the remaining defendants' cases were resolved at the same time.
The parties agreed to ranges of possible sentences, but the amount of jail time imposed will ultimately be up to the judge, Sherman said.
Walent was a fugitive wanted in California for a parole violation stemming from a 2011 robbery conviction when he was arrested on state murder charges. He faces 25 to 99 years imprisonment, according to Wolverton.
The fourth man involved in the assault, 24-year-old Matt Martin, pleaded guilty in January to first-degree robbery. He was later sentenced to four years in prison, Sherman said. He had agreed to testify against his co-defendants, she said.
Police said Anchorage Community Mental Health Services surveillance video showed the four men punching, kicking and using a road sign to pummel Ferdinand Marquez, a seasonal fisherman. One of the men smashed a road sign into the victim's head repeatedly, police said.
Walent told police he believed Marquez and another person had jumped Walent a few days earlier, and that's why the four attacked Marquez that night.
Marquez was not a client of the mental health facility but sometimes stayed at the Anchorage Gospel Rescue Mission, not far from where he was killed along Tudor Road.
All the suspects except Blankenship lived together in an apartment in the 4200 block of Laurel Street near where Marquez was found, police said. According to the charges, the men went through his backpack after the attack; Marquez's personal belongings were found in the apartment.