Criminal history may have clinched death for killer

Erica D. Johnson

Friday, March 21, 2003 | 9:47 a.m.

Jurors on Thursday decided an Ohio transient convicted of killing a hotel employee should be put to death for his crime.

After deliberating for about five hours, jurors sentenced Steven Kaczmarek to death for the September 2002 murder of Pedro "Pete" Villareal, 58, a Caesars Palace kitchen worker.

The same jurors last week had found him guilty of first-degree murder, robbery and first-degree kidnapping, all with the assistance of a teenager.

Kaczmarek's 15-year-old girlfriend, Alisha Burns, will face murder charges separately. She does not face the death penalty.

Kaczmarek, 33, held his head in his hands as the verdict was read. He had maintained the killing was accidental.

Defense attorney Paul Wommer, who had called the murder charge "overcharging" by the state, said he intends to file an automatic appeal with the Nevada Supreme Court.

"We're disappointed with the jury's decision," he said. "We intend a vigorous pursuit of an appeal and we're confident that we will prevail."

Kaczmarek is scheduled to be sentenced May 7 before District Judge John McGroarty.

During the trial prosecutors claimed Kaczmarek and Burns persuaded Villareal to take them back to his room at the Uptown Motel, 813 Ogden Ave. Villareal was expecting to pay Burns $200 for sex, but the homeless couple attacked him instead, prosecutors said.

Villareal's body was found in a bathtub with the water running. His arms and legs had been bound with electrical cords and a sock was stuffed into his mouth. Prosecutors claimed he'd been tortured.

Jurors declined to comment on what led them to choose death as Kaczmarek's punishment. But prosecutors suspect Kaczmarek's long history of violent crime could have been what pushed jurors toward the death penalty.

During the penalty phase, jurors learned Kaczmarek was also convicted rapist. The victim in that case testified that Kaczmarek had broken into her Illinois home in 1998 and raped her at knifepoint before stealing her car and other valuables.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Gary Guymon said he suspects the woman's tearful testimony might have been the key to the jury's decision.

"Without question, that was clearly the most powerful piece of evidence we had in this case," he said.

Kaczmarek was sentenced to prison for the rape and was paroled in 1995. Seven months later he was convicted in another residential burglary.

He was paroled in that case in 2001, a year before Villareal's murder.

Jurors listed Kaczmarek's prior felony convictions for violent crimes, the fact that the murder occurred during a robbery and the fact that the murder was committed for financial gain as aggravating circumstances on their verdict form.

Kaczmarek's "less than ideal family life" was listed as a single mitigating factor.

Jurors could have also sentenced Kaczmarek to 40 to 100 years in prison, life in prison with parole possible after 40 years or life in prison without parole.

Villareal's 15-year-old daughter, Amanda Villareal, who testified during the trial, was not present in the courtroom when the verdict was read.