Teen Sentenced for Helping Kill Wayne Pearce

A 15-year-old boy who admitted he helped kill the estranged husband of a teacher’s aide at his Escondido high school was sentenced Wednesday to a California Youth Authority prison until age 25.

Isaac Hill, one of two teen-agers who pleaded guilty to killing Robert (Wayne) Pearce at his wife’s behest, sat calmly with hands folded as Judge Gil Smith passed down the sentence in San Diego Juvenile Court.

Although the high school freshman was officially given a sentence of 25 years to life, he will be eligible for parole in seven years and, at worst, would probably be incarcerated only until his 25th birthday because he committed the slaying while he was a juvenile, authorities said.

Hill and Anthony Pilato, also 15, acknowledged in court last month that they used a hatchet and a knife to slay Wayne Pearce on Jan. 31 as he left his Cardiff apartment for work. Both said they plotted the scheme with Roberta Pearce, a popular teacher’s aide for students with learning disabilities at Orange Glen High School.

The teen-agers contend that Pearce, who still awaits trial on murder charges and could be sentenced to death if convicted, offered them $100,000 and two cars to carry out the crime.

Along with several other teen-agers, the two maintain that Pearce solicited the slaying of her husband of more than 14 years to collect $200,000 in life insurance money and to hold on to her Valley Center home, which she faced losing because of the couple’s imminent divorce.

Judge Smith rejected a plea by Hill’s attorney, Jeffrey Reilly, for authorities to perform a diagnostic test that might prove the youth should be placed in an appropriate rehabilitation center instead of a crowded and understaffed facility for juvenile offenders.

Deputy Dist. Atty. Carlos Armour, although pleased that Hill received the maximum sentence, said he still feels the punishment is insufficient for the crime. He suggested that juveniles down to age 14 be treated as adults when they kill. State law allows only juveniles 16 or older to be tried as adults when accused of murder.