Luna enters plea on amended charge

Monday afternoon in Hot Springs District Court, Hugo A. Luna Aguero, also known as Hugo Luna, entered a guilty plea to an amended felony charge of second-degree attempted murder. Proceedings were aided by interpreters, as Luna’s primary language is Spanish.

The charge is amended from a felony of first-degree attempted murder, and a second felony charge of kidnapping has been dismissed.

As part of the plea agreement, a jail sentence of 20-30 years in a Wyoming Department of Corrections facility was proposed. However, Judge Bobbi Overfield noted during the proceedings that the maximum penalty is 20 years to life and Luna could be looking at more time.

When establishing a factual basis on the attempted murder charge, Luna admitted that on April 13, 2018, he was in Hot Springs County driving an 18-wheeler with a female passenger and he had pulled over to the side of the road to allow her to relieve herself. He further admitted they had a disagreement, during which he got upset and, as a result, pushed her down to the ground and used a box cutter to cut a deep gash in the side of her neck which could’ve proved fatal. He left her on the side of the road and left the scene.

Also during questioning, Luna said he had never done anything like this in his life, and that he did it without premeditation or the intent to kill her, though he knew cutting her neck could be fatal.

It was certainly a different story from the reports taken during the incident a year ago. At that time the initial report came from the woman, who was found along the side of the road by another driver. During questioning, she said she became suspicious of Luna when he didn’t stop in populated areas or allow her to use a phone. She also said she saw a mattress with blood on it in the sleeping area of Luna’s truck.

Luna was later arrested in Powell when a truck matching the description given was stopped.

A purse with the woman’s license was found inside, and prints where she was found matched Luna’s shoes and the tires on his truck.

Luna remains in custody on a $500,000 warrant, and will be scheduled for sentencing after a pre-sentence investigation is complete.