RIVERTON (WNE) — The state will not seek the death penalty against Mario M. Mills, the Riverton man accused of killing his best friend with a gunshot to the head on March 26.

Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun announced during Mills’s arraignment Thursday afternoon that he would not pursue the fatal sentence.

The possibility of life in prison still lingers, as Mills, 37, is charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of Trevor Bartlett who also was 37.

“I appreciate Mr. LeBrun removing the possibility of death today, so we don’t have to think about that anymore,” said Mills’s defense attorney, Rob Oldham, of Casper.

Mills pleaded “not guilty” at that same hearing.

Fremont County Coroner Mark Stratmoen determined Bartlett’s manner of death was homicide, and that the cause of death was gunshot wound to the head.

Time of death was marked as, roughly, 1 a.m. March 26.

Bartlett’s blood-alcohol content was .314 percent.

Mario Mills at first told the Riverton Police Department he had left his friend drinking alone in the garage the night before, and that Bartlett was in a “dark place” and had been talking about suicide.

In a later interview, Mills said it was he who had shot his friend, after a drunken argument about whether Bartlett should shoot himself. The two were playing cribbage and drinking, along with Courtnie Mills, the night of March 25.