Teen girl takes plea deal in motel killing

Erica D. Johnson

Wednesday, April 23, 2003 | 8:31 a.m.

The 16-year-old girl prosecutors say assisted in killing a Las Vegas man in a downtown motel pleaded guilty Tuesday to a murder charge as the result of a plea agreement.

Alisha Burns pleaded guilty to one count of second-degree murder in the September 2002 slaying of 58-year-old Pedro "Pete" Villareal, a casino kitchen worker.

In exchange for her guilty plea, prosecutors dropped a first-degree murder charge against Burns, along with robbery and kidnapping charges.

She will receive a stipulated term of 10 years to life in prison when she is sentenced June 3 by District Judge John McGroarty, said Deputy Special Public Defender Phil Kohn.

Prosecutors alleged Burns, then 15, and her boyfriend, Steven Kaczmarek, also of Ohio, killed Villareal in his room at the Uptown Motel, 813 Ogden Ave., where Villareal expected to pay Burns for sex.

Jurors in March determined that Kaczmarek, 33, should be sentenced to death after they found him guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and first-degree kidnapping, all with the assistance of a child.

Kaczmarek had testified that it was Burns' idea to rob Villareal and prosecutors believed Burns played an integral role in the slaying.

"The evidence shows she was an active participant in the planning, carrying out and concealing of the murder of Mr. Villareal," Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon said.

Burns was charged as an adult under a Nevada law that automatically treats juveniles over 8 years old as adults in murder cases, but she did not face the death penalty.

But Kohn said it was Kaczmarek who orchestrated the killing. In 1988 Kaczmarek was convicted of raping an Illinois woman in an attack that had several similarities to Villareal's slaying, he said.

"Do I believe it was my client's idea to tie the victim up and kill him? Of course not," he said. Burns was a ward of the court in Ohio and in foster care when she moved to Las Vegas with Kaczmarek, Kohn said.

"I find it incredibly troubling that she was 15 at the time, was brought here by a 33-year-old man, and now she's facing a life sentence," he said.