A 20-year-old mother from Minnesota is expected to be given six months in jail on Wednesday for fatally shooting her boyfriend during a botched YouTube stunt last year.
Monalisa Perez, who was pregnant at the time with her second child, was arrested in June 2017 after shooting her boyfriend, 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, in the chest for a YouTube video.
The mother-of-two took a plea deal in December that will allow her to serve out half of her jail term in increments of 30 days per year for the next three years.
Authorities said the remainder of the sentence could be waived and replaced with electronic home monitoring, provided that Perez does not violate the terms of her 10-year supervised probation.
Monalisa Perez (left), 20, of Minnesota, is expected to be given six months in jail on Wednesday for fatally shooting her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III (right), 22, during a botched YouTube stunt last year
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
Perez cannot ‘make any financial compensation’ from the recording of Ruiz’s death, according to the Star Tribune.
She is also banned from ever possessing firearms.
After the shooting, Perez 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.
The mother-of-two took a plea deal in December that will allow her to serve out half of her jail term in increments of 30 days per year for the next three years
Ruiz is survived by the two children he fathered with Perez. His eldest, a daughter, witnessed his shooting
Perez told a 911 dispatcher their YouTube prank had failed and her boyfriend had been shot in the chest
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 in June 2017.
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’.
If the 20-year-old had gone 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 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.’
The couple’s YouTube channel had 218 subscribers at the time and included pranks like Perez feeding Ruiz donuts covered in baby powder
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’