A man facing the possibility of life in prison in connection with the 2002 fatal shooting of a San Diego State University student in Mission Bay Park was allowed to plead guilty yesterday to involuntary manslaughter.

In a plea bargain in which prosecutors dropped a murder charge, Darius Days, 19, of Lincoln Park will be sentenced to no more than seven years in prison for that crime and an assault conviction by a San Diego Superior Court jury in October.

It's also possible that Days could be released from custody when he is sentenced Feb. 20 by Judge Michael Wellington because he has been held in jail since his arrest shortly after the shooting.

"I'll do my very best to do the right thing," Wellington told Days and his lawyer, Roseline Feral.

Days and three other youths originally faced murder charges in the slaying of Paul Mefford, 22, who was shot early the morning of July 14, 2002, during a confrontation between two groups partying at separate bonfires at El Carmel Point in Mission Bay Park.

Prosecutor Dana Greisen argued during the trial that Days, who Greisen portrayed as a black gang member, was one of several young men who stole the bicycles of a group of mostly white partygoers.

When the second group tried to get their bikes back by taking them out of the bed of a pickup, several fights that Days' lawyer said were ignited by racial slurs against Days and his friends broke out.

Days was the first of the youths tried, and the jury split 8-4, with the majority voting to acquit on the murder charge while convicting Days of assault because he kicked someone in the face during the fight.

Moments after that kick, someone fired a shot from a different part of the parking lot and Mefford fell to the pavement mortally wounded. Prosecutors have never been able to identify the shooter.

Days has been in jail for 16 months – time that will be used to reduce whatever sentence he receives next month.

Also arrested on murder charges were Andie Shoate, 16, and Lamar Long, 18, who pleaded guilty in December to voluntary manslaughter and assault with intent to cause great bodily injury. Both could be sentenced to a maximum of 12 years in a juvenile facility or state prison at a hearing scheduled for Feb. 5.

A fourth defendant, Calvin Pearce, 19, testified for the prosecution at trial and has also pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He could be sentenced to up to four years in prison, but probation is a distinct possibility, Greisen said.

Days has had strong support from his family and members of the black community, many of whom say he is a good person who got mixed up with a bad crowd that night. During the trial, many witnesses praised Days' character and denied he was a gang member.

Wellington praised both Greisen and Feral for their work in resolving the case and said Greisen was "relentlessly reasonable and human" in his dealings with Days.

Greisen said members of Mefford's family will speak at the sentencings of Shoate, Long and Days.

"They have lost a son," the prosecutor said. "There is no resolution that's going to make them happy."