Feb. 17--Nearly four years after ambushing and killing a Tucson police officer and trying to kill several others, David "Nick" Delich, 29, pleaded guilty to first degree murder on Friday.
Delich, who was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia years before Officer Erik Hite, 43, was killed, will spend the next 91.5 years in the Arizona State Hospital. If, during that time, the doctors find he is no longer seriously mentally ill he will be transferred to the state prison to start serving a life term, with possibility of parole in 25 years, according to the plea agreement.
Delich also pleaded guilty to aggravated assault for shooting Pima County Sheriff's Deputy Tory Schwartz. He will be sentenced to between 10.5 and 21 years on that charge, which will be served concurrently.
He pleaded guilty except insane to two counts of discharging a firearm at a residential structure and seven counts of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon.
Pima County Superior Court Judge Deborah Bernini accepted the plea and will sentence Delich April 30.
Had Delich gone to trial next month and been convicted, Deputy Pima County Attorneys Rick Unklesbay and Kellie Johnson planned to seek the death penalty.
Delich is accused of opening fire on the homes of two neighbors on June 1, 2008, and then leading authorities on a 20-mile chase through the city and up Catalina Highway.
Hite was shot in the head during the chase and died the next day. Delich gave himself up an hour after the shooting spree began.
Delich looked significantly heavier Friday than he had in previous court appearances. He answered questions in a clear loud voice, but mostly nodded his head while pleading guilty to individual charges.
Tucson Police Chief Roberto Villasenor sat with Hite's widow, Nohemy, in court Friday. About a dozen other officers sat in the courtroom to watch Delich plead guilty.
Read more in tomorrow's Star
Copyright 2012 - The Arizona Daily Star, Tucson
