2nd Youth Sentenced in Slaying
A second Escondido teen-ager was sentenced to the maximum term in the California Youth Authority for his admitted role in the stabbing and hacking murder of a Cardiff man.
The 15-year-old boy on Wednesday was given a term of 25 years to life but will spend no more than 10 years in the CYA, which loses jurisdiction after inmates turn 25.
Earlier, a 15-year-old friend of the boy also drew a 25-year-to-life sentence in the CYA.
The two boys, in their guilty pleas, admitted that they used a knife and hatchet to kill Robert Wayne Pearce, 41, in an attack outside the man’s apartment Jan. 31.
The boys said they were hired to commit the crime by Pearce’s estranged wife, Roberta Pearce, who has pleaded innocent to capital murder charges.
Prosecutors allege that Mrs. Pearce promised the boys money and cars in exchange for the killing, and that she planned to finance the crime by collecting on her estranged husband’s $200,000 insurance policy.
Mrs. Pearce, who faces a Sept. 11 Superior Court arraignment, met the youths while working as a teacher’s aide at Escondido’s Orange Glen High School.
A third student, a 16-year-old boy, also has been charged with murder and conspiracy and is awaiting trial.
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