First of three defendants pleads guilty to manslaughter in July shooting death Michael L. Sherman, the defendant, called Roberto Flores, the victim, a friend Monday at his plea hearing in Ramsey County District Court. He also said he doesn't believe the shots he fired killed the 38-year-old St. Paul man.

Still, Sherman, also of St. Paul, pleaded guilty to an amended charge of aiding and abetting first-degree manslaughter in Flores' July 26 death. He had been charged with second-degree murder, as are co-defendants Robert J. Sherman, Michael Sherman's cousin, and Larry J. Thompson Jr., a friend.

Sherman, 32, also pleaded guilty to first-degree witness tampering. The charges in that case were filed last week and allege that Sherman called various friends from the county jail and asked them to frighten a witness to the shooting enough so that the witness would not testify in court.

The plea agreement calls for Sherman to be sentenced at the "low end" of state guidelines for the manslaughter plea if he testifies truthfully in any related trial and for the witness tampering sentence to be served at the same time. He also must pay $1,200 for a check forgery incident last February. That charge and another forgery charge from January 2009 will be dismissed at his April 16 sentencing.

Under questioning from prosecutor Susan Hudson, Sherman said he'd gone to a friend's house on St. Paul's East Side the evening of July 26 to get high on meth. He heard a commotion and ran out the front door. There, he was shot in the arm and heard another bullet whiz past his head. He pulled a .32 revolver and fired five or six shots.

PAT PHEIFER