The teenaged son of a Canadian diplomat pleaded no contest Friday to reduced charges of third-degree felony murder related to a double killing in Miami — even though he had no part in the gunplay that left his older brother dead. In exchange for his plea, Marc Wabafiyebazu, 15, of Ottawa, will have to serve six months in a boot camp starting next week, followed by 10 months of modified house arrest and a maximum eight years' probation.

Marc Wabafiyebazu is seen in court during his bail hearing in Miami on May 29, 2015. The case of a Canadian diplomat's son charged in a double killing in Miami has been put over for an expected plea deal. (Photo: Colin Perkel/Canadian Press) If he completes the sentence without incident, the teen will have no criminal conviction registered against him. "Marc has his future," his mother Roxanne Dube, Canada's former consul general in Miami, told The Canadian Press. "He's going to be saved." Wabafiyebazu, Dube's younger son, has been in custody since last March 30, when he was arrested outside a Miami apartment in which his 18-year-old brother Jean Wabafiyebazu and another teen were shot dead. Prosecutors did not allege the younger sibling had any direct role in the bloodshed, apparently the result of his brother's attempt to rob a drug dealer of 800 grams of marijuana. However, they maintained Wabafiyebazu had known of the scheme when they drove in their mom's car to what police called the "drug den." As a result, under Florida's felony law, they charged the teen as an adult with multiple offences, including felony first-degree murder, which carries a minimum 40 years in prison. "Essentially, he is paying the price for Jean.'' Under the plea deal approved by the state attorney, however, the prosecution made a rare concession to reduce the two main charges he faced to third-degree murder. Wabafiyebazu also pleaded no contest to a reduced charge of aggravated battery and attempted armed robbery. "Essentially, he is paying the price for Jean," Dube said. "He is also pleading to the murder of his own brother." While a "no contest" plea has the same basic effect as a guilty plea, the accused doesn't actually admit guilt.

Canadian diplomat Roxanne Dube speaks during an interview in Miami on Feb. 4, 2016. Dube's son, Marc Wabafiyebazu, 15, is charged with murder and other crimes in the March 30, 2015, drug-related South Florida shootout that killed his older brother and another youth. (Photo: Wilfredo Lee/AP via Canadian Press) Wabafiyebazu's two co-accused, including the drug dealer who fled the scene with his drugs and a handgun, were granted bail soon after also being charged with lesser felony-murder crimes. Prosecutors agree to drop those charges in exchange for their commitment to testify against Wabafiyebazu and a guilty plea. Last fall, both co-accused pleaded guilty to minor drug charges and were sentenced to boot camp, house arrest and probation which, if successfully completed, would also mean no conviction. Much of the prosecution's case against Wabafiyebazu rested on a spontaneous confession a rookie police officer said the youth had made from the back seat of a cruiser as he was taken to a detention facility. Police had denied his requests to call his mother and did not warn him that anything he said could be used against him.