Judge’s Ruling Prompts Teen to Admit Killing of Two Migrants

In a surprise move shortly before he was to stand trial, a San Diego teen-ager Wednesday pleaded guilty to two counts of first-degree murder after a Superior Court judge ruled that a tape-recorded confession in which the young man admitted shooting two unarmed Mexican migrant workers could be used against him.

Kenneth Alexander Kovzelove, who allegedly laughed and shouted, “Die!” when he shot the two in a barrage of gunfire last fall, pleaded guilty within an hour of Judge William Mudd’s ruling that his taped confession to police was admissible in court.

The 18-year-old now faces from 50 years to life in prison. He will be sentenced Nov. 9, exactly one year after the slaying.

The trial was to begin Wednesday, and the court clerk had called for jurors to report to the courtroom by 3 p.m.

But the unexpected turn of events began at 1:30 p.m., when the judge opened a hearing into a defense motion that the court suppress a tape-recorded confession given by Kovzelove to San Diego police detectives.

Kovzelove’s attorney, Leif Tessem, argued that the confession was taken involuntarily, and therefore should not be used against his client during the trial.

“The confession was devastating,” Tessem said.

But A. David Stutz, a deputy district attorney prosecuting the case, told the judge that Kovzelove freely gave the confession after being arrested and returned to San Diego from Ft. Benning, Ga.

The prosecution contended that Kovzelove killed the two men with a semiautomatic rifle, fired 18 or 19 times from the back of a pickup truck driven by his friend, Dennis Bencivenga. Testimony during a preliminary hearing in June alleged that Kovzelove was dressed in military fatigues and partly concealed his face during the killings, and that he hated Mexicans and thrilled at shooting them.

Slain were Hilario Castaneda, 22, a native of the Mexican state of Guerrero, and Matilde Macedo de la Sancha, 19, a native of the state of Mexico. Both were shot Nov. 9 as they were walking near Black Mountain Road.

After the killings, Kovzelove joined the Army, and was sent to Ft. Benning to train as an Army paratrooper. Stutz contended that Kovzelove had hoped to join the Green Berets or Special Forces and had aspired to become a soldier with the opportunity to kill legally.

Bencivenga, 19, a one-time San Diego security guard, later discussed the killings with an Army recruiter in San Diego. Kovzelove was then located, and both men were arrested.

Both defendants eventually gave statements to police, detectives testified, and Kovzelove’s 90-minute confession was tape recorded. It was that recording--in which detectives said Kovzelove expressed a longtime dislike of Mexican people and said he resented how they came to this country to work illegally--that was ruled admissible by the judge.

Shortly after the judge issued his ruling, Kovzelove pleaded guilty. Prospective jurors were turned away as they arrived.

“He (Kovzelove) felt there was no chance with the confession coming in,” Tessem said. “He didn’t want to drag his parents and sister through the trial, having it reported every day in the newspapers.”

As part of the guilty plea, a second charge of murder with the use of a firearm was dismissed. It carried a maximum penalty of two to four years in prison.

Bencivenga is scheduled for a preliminary hearing Dec. 5. He remains free on $150,000 bail, posted after his father pledged his Rancho Bernardo home as security.