El-Dweek made his ruling during a change of plea hearing in North Central District Court on Thursday, Sept. 4, rejecting a deal reached by Ward County special prosecutor Amanda Engelstad and Daniel Breijo, 41.

Breijo faces one count of Class AA felony murder, which would have been reduced to Class B felony manslaughter if the plea deal had been accepted. He would have served a concurrent sentence of 20 years with the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation for the manslaughter count and Class B felony aggravated assault counts, to be followed by three years of supervised probation.

Engelstad, who was appointed as a special prosecutor after the Ward County State’s Attorney’s office recused itself from the case, presented the justification for the plea deal to the court. Engelstad stated the deal had been reached after thorough and extensive conversations with Van Pelt’s family and the detectives investigating the case.

Engelstad said the victim’s family would like to see a conclusion in the case, which has been the subject of speculation by a news outlet.

Northwest District Court Judge Daniel El-Dweek rejected the plea agreement reached by the parties, which would have amended the Class AA felony murder charge against Daniel Breijo to Class B felony manslaughter.

“They have seen, unfortunately, what I can best describe as an attempt to link this horrific event to another event by some news media. The children have seen their faces splashed all over the news without their permission. They have seen video of the funeral all over this news production without their permission,” Engelstad said. “They would like finality to this. They know in the plea agreement there is finality. They know there is no certainty in front of a jury. They are in full agreement in moving forward in this capacity.”

Breijo’s case and his involvement in an investigation into allegations surrounding a former defense and aerospace parts factory in Dunseith have been the focus of a television documentary series that has been released intermittently since March.

Breijo’s attorney Jesse Walstad acknowledged the case had been pending for some time, involving extensive discovery and robust investigation by both parties. Walstad requested the court accept the plea agreement and cited the parties’ filed stipulated factual basis in support of it.

“The amended charges as proposed under this plea agreement are a more accurate and just reflection of the reality of what happened on Dec. 24, 2023. They account for the absence of specific intent. They recognize the absence of conscious volitional actions on my client’s behalf and the substantial expert evaluation, consultation and opinion. Both parties have had access to that information and taken into consideration what is of fundamental import to the sentencing recommendation here,” Walstad said.

According to the stipulated factual basis Walstad referenced, Breijo allegedly left his residence on Dec. 24, 2023 with his firearm and went to a local establishment that served alcohol to watch a football game. It didn’t specify how long Breijo was there or how much alcohol he consumed, but that eventually he was invited by Van Pelt to spend Christmas Eve with him and the surviving victim.

According to the document the parties had no dispute or quarrel at any point in the evening, but Breijo continued to allegedly consume alcohol to the point of extreme inebriation before leaving the victim’s company and walking down a hallway into a spare bedroom.

The shooting is estimated to have occurred at about 8:42 p.m. after the victims followed to check on Breijo out of concern he was ill from alcohol consumption. According to the document, Van Pelt opened the door of the spare bedroom, and Brejio allegedly began to fire his weapon at both victims. After the shooting, Breijo entered the adjacent bathroom and waited in a seated position until law enforcement arrived and arrested him.

According to a toxicology analytical report filed in the case, a blood sample was taken from Breijo at 1:21 a.m. on Dec. 25, 2023, to test for alcohol, unknown medications or other substances. The analysis of Breijo’s blood sample found he had a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of 0.279 almost five hours after the shooting had occurred.

According to court documents, two different experts approximated Breijo’s BAC at the time of the shooting to be between .325 and .465. According to an article published by the Cleveland Clinic, an individual with a BAC between .3 and .4 would likely have alcohol poisoning and experience a loss of consciousness. A BAC over .4 is considered potentially fatal, putting individuals at risk of coma and death from respiratory arrest.

Walstad also identified a number of sentencing factors which favored his client due to his background in the Air Force and law enforcement and his likelihood to respond positively to treatment.

“Similar to what Ms. Engelstad indicated as to the victim’s family’s desire to reach a just and final resolution in this case without the embarrassing and intrusive nature of what would otherwise be an exceptionally public trial, my client feels the same way,” Walstad said.

Walstad acknowledged the unidentified female victim in the case had filed a victim impact statement in opposition to the plea agreement but argued her statement was only pertinent to the other counts in the case for which the plea deal recommended the maximum sentence.

“I can honestly say, in this case, substantially more analysis, effort and attention to detail has gone into these plea negotiations and this plea agreement than any case that I’ve ever participated in, state or federal,” Walstad said.

Engelstad informed the court the female victim had retained a Marsy’s Law attorney, Erich Grant, who declined to comment himself as the victim was appearing at the hearing virtually over Zoom.

El-Dweek didn’t ask the female victim to give a statement but instead announced he would not be accepting the plea agreement “at this time.”

El-Dweek asked the parties if they were prepared to move forward with the scheduled trial date of Monday, Oct. 6, but Walstad indicated in light of the court’s ruling there are a variety of pre-trial motions to be introduced. El-Dweek said a scheduling conference will be held to determine if the date would need to be moved.