Utahn convicted of murder, but charge reduced due to “imperfect self-defense.”

SALT LAKE CITY — A jury convicted a man of murder after he pulled out a gun and fired it during a fight. But jurors said the man believed he was acting in self-defense, even if he was mistaken.

Because the Salt Lake County jury decided that 25-year-old Oliver Spencer Avila believed he was justified when he fired his weapon – known in Utah law as “imperfect self-defense” – he will be convicted of second-degree manslaughter, the felony, instead Murder, a felony of the first degree.

Salt Lake County District Attorney Sim Gill said this conviction helps “provide accountability and justice for the family of the victim, Guthrie Serawop, 35.”

“The jury’s finding that the defendant did not present a perfect defense is inconsistent with what our office sought to prove, but we accept their conclusion,” Gill said in a statement.

In addition to his murder conviction, Avila was also convicted by the jury on November 15 of discharging a firearm causing serious injury, a first-degree felony; criminal discharge of a firearm causing injury and obstruction of justice, second-degree felonies; and discharging a firearm, a third-degree felony.

On February 1, 2023, Avila had gone to a home at the Riverview Townhomes, 1665 S. Riverside Drive (1140 West), where his brother Julio Steven Cardona had been spending time. He demanded that the brother return a gun he owned and said he believed people were looking for him. Prosecutors say Serawop arrived at the house and said he wanted to talk to Avila and the two went outside and a heated conversation turned into an argument.

“The video shows how, during the struggle, the defendant took out his weapon and shot Mr. Serawop several times, almost hitting Cardona and another witness. The defendant shot Mr. Serawop three times and grazed him with a fourth bullet. Medical personnel took Mr. Serawop to the hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries that night,” the prosecutor’s statement said.

His sentencing is scheduled for February 12, 2025.

In August 2023, Cardona pleaded guilty to possessing a dangerous weapon as a restricted person, a second-degree felony, due to his role in the fight. He was sentenced to one to 15 years in prison.