Jerry Paul, 40, of Shiprock, pleaded no contest on Monday to false imprisonment and misdemeanor aggravated battery in the September 2007 attack on a gay man in a Farmington motel, the Farmington Daily Times reported.

Paul was one of three men accused of accosting the victim, Matthew Shetima, in an alley outside the Journey Inn, where they began to hit him, calling him "faggot," the Daily Times said.

Shetima later told police that when he fell down, the men kicked him and one said, "You want to die faggot?" and the men pulled him into their motel room, where they continued to punch and kick him before he could escape, the paper reported.

As part of a plea agreement, prosecutors dropped a one-year hate crime enhancement on Paul, who still faces more than two years in prison on the reduced charges, according to the Daily Times.

Another defendant, 37-year-old Craig Yazzie, entered into a similar plea in March, the paper said.

Scott Thompson, 22, who police believe was the ringleader in the attack, is scheduled to go to trial on kidnapping and aggravated battery charges on May 2, and if convicted, could face up to 14 years in prison, the Daily Times reported.

Yazzie had been scheduled for sentencing on Monday, but he and Paul will be sentenced until after Thompson's trial in May, the paper said.

"My guy's the least culpable in all this," Paul's attorney Jack Fortner said Monday. "He basically battered him once and prevented him from leaving the room."

Proseuctor Brent Capshaw said he thought Paul's plea was "fair given his role as I understood it," the Daily Times said.

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