DURANGO, Colo.-
A firefighter from Wisconsin faces several years in prison after pleading guilty this week to punching a man who later died after falling backward and hitting his head on the asphalt.
Matthew Marcus Kispert, 24, of De Pere, Wisc., pleaded guilty to criminally negligent homicide in the Oct. 28 incident in which Jonathan Parker Sheppard, also 24, later died. Kispert faces between six months and three years in prison, maybe more depending on if District Judge Jeffrey Wilson finds mitigating or aggravating circumstances. Sentencing is scheduled for June 18.
Kispert declined comment after his court hearing Monday.
Sheppard, a mathematics major at Fort Lewis College died Nov. 15. Sheppard injured his head in a fast food restaurant parking lot after witnesses said an intoxicated Sheppard taunted a group of firefighters who were vacationing in Durango.
After being injured, firefighters moved Sheppard from the parking lot and into their hotel room less than a block away. They later called police to say they found an unconscious man who was unresponsive and bleeding from the head.
Police said the firefighters were caring for Sheppard when officers arrived and Kispert later came forward to say he had punched Sheppard.
