A 54-year-old man accused of killing another man when he slapped him down a flight of stairs at his Evergreen apartment has pleaded guilty to felony negligent homicide.

David Eugene Day entered his plea Thursday in Flathead District Court as part of an agreement that will result in prosecutors recommending a sentence of five years with the Montana Department of Corrections to be followed by 10 years of probation.

The agreement preserves the right of Day and his attorney to argue for a sentence of five years to the corrections department followed by five years of probation when he is sentenced by District Judge Ted Lympus on Jan. 23. Day also faces a fine of up to $50,000.

According to Day’s testimony, he and 55-year-old Gerald Payne — with whom Day had been acquainted for about a year — started drinking early in the day. When asked whether they were both drunk, Day responded “very much so.”

In fact, it was later determined that Day’s blood-alcohol level reached 0.337 percent while Payne’s had reached 0.317 percent.

At some point, the pair got into an argument, and Day decided he no longer wanted Payne in his Montana Village apartment.

“He became kind of abusive and didn’t want to leave, so I helped him leave,” Day said.

The two men ended up on a small landing outside Day’s second-floor apartment and Payne started walking down a steep flight of carpeted, wooden stairs. Payne then reportedly said he was going to come back, at which point Day slapped him in the back, sending him tumbling down the stairs.

On his way down, Payne suffered injuries from which he eventually died.

Day testified Thursday that he walked down the stairs and saw Payne was still alive and breathing, but then went back upstairs and into his neighbor’s apartment. The neighbor had stepped outside to see what had happened. By the time Day came back out, EMTs were already on scene.

He also testified that he initially did not tell police the truth about what happened, claiming instead that after he got Payne to leave his apartment, he turned around and Payne fell on his own.

Due to the amount of alcohol he imbibed, however, Day said his memory of the incident was not entirely clear.

“Certain parts I blacked out and don’t remember,” he said.

If Lympus does not accept the plea agreement between Day and the County Attorney’s Office, he could sentence Day to a maximum of 20 years in prison.

Reporter Jesse Davis may be reached at 758-4441 or at jdavis@dailyinterlake.com.