KITTANNING — The third of four men charged in last year’s beating death of a Butler County man outside a Kittanning bar has pleaded guilty to a lesser charge.

By pleading, Anthony M. Bove, 20, of Kittanning has avoided a trial in Armstrong County Court. Jury selection had been set to begin this morning.

Prosecutors, in exchange for the guilty plea, withdrew felony charges of homicide and aggravated assault.

Under state law, the maximum penalty for involuntary manslaughter is 5 years in prison. The standard-range sentence, however, is 3 to 12 months. A sentencing date was not immediately scheduled.

State police said Bove was one of three men who kicked or jumped on James Sullivan, 39, of Donegal Township after Sullivan was knocked out by a sucker punch delivered by a fourth man, during a 2013 St. Patrick’s Day brawl outside the Wick City Saloon.

Two other men — Dennis Andrew Rosenberger, 29, and Otilio Cosme, 45, both of Ford City — previously pleaded guilty in the case and have already been sentenced to jail time.

Keith A. Brison, 34, of Kittanning, who also is charged in Sullivan’s death, is still awaiting trial.