Jorge Martin Benvenuto, 28, pleaded guilty in 1998 to capital murder for shooting Zachary Snarr to death and trying to kill Yvette Rodier (now Yvette Rodier Evans).

As part of the plea bargain, prosecutors agreed not to seek the death penalty and Benvenuto got a sentence of life in prison without parole.

Prosecutors called Benvenuto a “thrill-killer” who shot the pair at Little Dell Reservoir just to see what it felt like.

In court documents filed in 3rd District Court Friday, they also said Benvenuto’s claim that he should have been told he could contact the consulate for help has no merit.

Such a move would not have changed the state’s case, Assistant Utah Attorney General Thomas Brunker said.

“The consulate could not insulate him from prosecution,” said Brunker. “They couldn’t whisk him away.”

Benvenuto, 28, has argued that there is a provision in the 1963 Vienna Convention signed by the United States and other countries, including Uruguay, that a citizen charged with a crime in another country must be informed he has the right to contact his own country’s consulate.

Brunker says the state doesn’t conceded Benvenuto is a foreign national, but notes that Benvenuto never told anyone, including his legal team, he was anything but a U.S. citizen.

Brunker is asking the court to dismiss Benvenuto’s petition to withdraw the plea.

Snarr, 18 and Evans, now 27 married and the mother of a toddler, were taking photographs of the moon the night the they were shot.

Snarr was shot three times and died instantly. Evans was shot in leg, torso an

d head, but was able to crawl up an embankment to get help.

Evans said she is willing to testify against Benvenuto if he is allowed to withdraw his plea and the case goes to trial.

This story appeared in The Daily Herald on page B7.