A 20-year-old mother from Minnesota has pleaded guilty to a second-degree manslaughter charge in the death of her boyfriend, whom she shot to death as part of a botched YouTube stunt earlier this year.
Monalisa Perez took the plea deal last week and is expected to be sentenced to 180 days in jail, followed by 10 years of probation.
Perez, who was pregnant at the time with her second child, was arrested in June after shooting her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, in the chest for a YouTube video.
Mom’s plea: Monalisa Perez (left), of Minnesota, has pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter in June 2017 shooting death of Pedro Ruiz III (right), 22
Online stars: The couple’s YouTube channel had 218 subscribers at the time and included various pranks. They are pictured above filming one of the pranks
The woman told police on a 911 call that Ruiz had asked her to fire a bullet from a .50-caliber Desert Eagle pistol into an encyclopedia as he held it against his body, but the projectile penetrated the volume and fatally wounded the young father.
The fatal shooting was captured on two cameras that had been set up to record the stunt. Police said they do not plan to release the footage.
Their three-year-old daughter, Aaliyah, was present when the shooting occurred.
‘We were doing a YouTube video and it went wrong. Please hurry up,’ Perez told the 911 dispatcher.
Prior to the shooting, Perez had tweeted: ‘Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE’.
As part of her plea deal, Perez cannot profit from the video of the failed YouTube stunt that resulted in Ruiz’s death, reported Minneapolis Star-Tribune.
She is also banned from ever possessing firearms.
Perez told a 911 dispatcher their YouTube prank had failed and her boyfriend had been shot in the chest
Prior to the shooting, Perez had tweeted: ‘Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE’
The agreement with the prosecution will allow the young mother-of-two to serve out half of her jail term in increments of 30 days per year for the next three years.
The remainder of the sentence could be waived and replaced with electronic home monitoring, provided that Perez does not violate the terms of her probation.
Perez is due back in court in February 2018 for her sentencing.
If the 20-year-old went to trial and was found guilty, she could have been looking at up to 10 years behind bars.
The prosecutor handling Perez’s case said Ruiz’s family members have signed off on the plea deal.
The couple’s YouTube channel had 218 subscribers at the time and included pranks like Perez feeding Ruiz donuts covered in baby powder.
In their last video together, the family go to a fairground and Perez says: ‘Imagine when we have 300,000 subscribers.’
Ruiz is survived by the two children he fathered with Perez. His eldest, a daughte, had witnessed his shooting