Pregnant Mom Who Fatally Shot Boyfriend in Botched YouTube Stunt Gets Six Months in Jail
A Minnesota mom who pleaded guilty last December to killing her boyfriend as part of a video stunt gone wrong was sentenced this week to six months in jail, PEOPLE confirms.
Monalisa Perez, 20, pleaded guilty to second-degree manslaughter and learned at her sentencing Wednesday she will spend 180 days in jail for her role in the June 26 death of 22-year-old Pedro Ruiz III, the father of her children, court officials tell PEOPLE.
The 20-year-old was pregnant at the time of the killing and her 3-year-old was nearby when she shot him. She has since given birth to their second child.
The jail term was agreed to months ago in a plea deal that takes the welfare of her two children into consideration.
The deal allows Perez to serve out her sentence in her home state of South Dakota.
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It further permits her to serve her time over the next three years, in 10-day increments, court officials confirm to PEOPLE.
The deal also bars Perez from ever owning a gun.
In three years, she will be placed on probation for the next ten years and is prohibited from profiting from the video she made during the accidental killing.
Authorities previously said that Perez and Ruiz wanted to become YouTube stars and used two cameras to capture the deadly incident.
The couple started posting videos to YouTube a month before the killing, which was filmed outside Perez’s home.
Their channel remains live.
Standing just a foot away from Ruiz, Perez fired a gun directly at an encyclopedia that Ruiz was holding in front of his chest, according to the criminal complaint previously obtained by PEOPLE. The book did not stop the bullet.
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According to the Star Tribune, Norman County Attorney James Brue said the punishment in this case was just.
“The reality that this foolish stunt was dreamed up, planned, and executed by Pedro Ruiz, and the defendant wrongfully and tragically relied on his assurances that the stunt was safe,” the paper quotes Brue as saying.
