In a courtroom nearly filled Tuesday with the family and friends of 15-year-old Megan Churchill, the man charged with her death pleaded no contest to manslaughter.

As part of a plea deal, Ricky Turco, 18, also pleaded guilty to felony burglary and criminal mischief charges that stemmed from the May 29 break-in and vandalism at Lincoln High, his former school.

Prosecutors dismissed a second burglary charge pending against Turco for the same incident in exchange for his pleas.

Lancaster County District Judge Steven Burns, after questioning Turco about the consequences of his pleas, accepted them and scheduled Turco for sentencing Oct. 18.

Turco could receive up to 20 years in prison and $25,000 in fines each on the manslaughter and burglary charges. He could receive up to five years in prison and a $10,000 fine on the criminal mischief charge.

Churchill died from injuries she sustained when a car driven by Turco slammed into a tree near 19th and Stockwell streets the afternoon of March 26.

Churchill, a back-seat passenger in the car, died April 1.

The three others in the car, including Turco, also sustained serious injuries.

Witnesses later said they saw Turco’s 2000 Chrysler Concorde speeding with its tires squealing before the crash. Turco said in an interview about a week after Churchill’s death he had picked up her and two other Lincoln High School students the day of the accident and decided to go “jump the hill” on Stockwell near 18th Street.

Deputy Lancaster County Attorney Krista Ideus told the judge Turco — who has a lengthy history of traffic violations, including two other accidents — was traveling about 60 mph when his car ran upon the hill.

Turco, in public comments after the accident, appeared to shrug off any responsibility for Churchill’s death, at one point saying the young woman chose to get in his car that day.

“I just wish he could say he was sorry,” Churchill’s mother, Alisa Heath, said outside the courthouse Tuesday.

“It saddens me. He’s hurt me. He’s hurt my family.”

In a letter to Heath a few weeks ago, Turco apologized for the accident, but said he was not responsible for Churchill’s death.

As Heath’s mother and a cousin and aunt of Churchill looked on, Heath described how her life came to a stop when her daughter died.

“I used to write poetry…” she said, her voice trailing off.

“I think about her every single day,” she said. “You’re supposed to be the first one to die, not your child.”

Franklin Miner, Turco’s attorney, said after the hearing he was pleased with the plea deal.

In addition to dismissing one of the burglary counts, the county attorney’s office will, among other things, move to dismiss a traffic case against Turco in Lancaster County Court. The office has also agreed to not file additional charges related to the Stockwell accident and the May 29 Lincoln High vandalism, which school officials say caused an estimated $15,000 in damage.

Miner called Churchill’s death tragic. Referring to news coverage of the accident, he criticized the “sensationalism” he said suffused the case and his client.

“It was like there was more (media) attention paid to him rather than Churchill,” Miner said.

Miner said some of Turco’s public comments — comments that made him a lightning rod to the public — were unfortunate, but also the product of an immature young man with a troubled past.

“You have to remember, he was just a juvenile at the time of the accident,” Miner said.

The attorney also said Turco has had a difficult life “from birth.” Miner would not elaborate, but Turco’s personal history could play some role — as mitigating circumstances — in the sentences Burns imposes in October.

Churchill’s family has retained a private attorney, and Miner said Tuesday his client pleaded no contest, rather than guilty, to the manslaughter charge because he could become the defendant in a wrongful death civil lawsuit.

A plea of no contest means a defendant, while not admitting to an allegation, has chosen to not challenge it in court.

More than a dozen family and friends of Churchill’s attended the hearing, many of them apparently finding the experience emotionally wrenching.

Many sobbed as Ideus recounted the accident to Judge Burns.

After Churchill’s death, several of her friends got tattoos with her name.

On the sidewalk outside the court house, Jessica Dillehay, 17, showed hers, a flower at the end of a rainbow-colored wing.

“It’s something that’s happy,” she said. “(I’m going to miss) how crazy she was.”

“She loved everybody, boy and girl.”

Reach Clarence Mabin at cmabin@journalstar.com or 473-7234.