Judge Sets Term of Girl for Murder : Courts: 15-year-old who helped kill her father must be released at age 25 under state law. She expresses remorse for her actions and says she hopes to get her life back on track.

A teen-age girl who killed her father after detailing her plans in a diary told a Los Angeles Juvenile Court judge Tuesday that she was sorry for the crime, but said, “It was just a joke. It wasn’t supposed to go as far as it did.”

The girl, who turned 15 this month, was convicted in January of the fatal shooting of Daniel Allen, 46, of Highland Park in June, 1992. The crime allegedly was committed with the help of two friends, who are older and facing trial as adults.

Judge Robert D. Mackey on Tuesday ordered the girl sent to the California Youth Authority for a maximum 30-year term. But because she is a minor, state law requires that she be released by age 25.

During her trial at the Eastlake Juvenile Courthouse, the girl’s voice had only been heard on a taped police confession entered into evidence. On the recording, she told how she, her boyfriend and another friend planned to stick sleeping pills in Allen’s soft drink, shoot him and bury the body by a railroad track. The plan started as a joke, she told police, but turned real.

Allen was found several days after the killing by hikers who noticed a hand protruding from the soil.

In her appearance before Mackey on Tuesday, the tawny-haired teen-ager said she hoped to get counseling and an education while in custody. “I wish I could change what has happened,” she said. “Hopefully, by the time I’m released to go out in society, I can put this whole thing behind me.”

Her voice nearly cracking, she added, “I’m just sorry this has happened.”

Speaking for several minutes in a fatherly tone, Mackey told the girl her future is in her own hands. “This is a time you can use to your advantage, time you can use to improve yourself and attempt to obtain some psychological and emotional balance for yourself. It’s not going to be easy, but it can be done.”

As the girl nodded her head silently, the judge advised her to stay away from gang members confined in CYA institutions and “set a goal for yourself. . . . The final choice on your actions is yours. It’s time to start.”

The girl had lived with her father less than a year before the murder. Her parents separated when she was a toddler and she was raised by her mother in Texas. After moving in with her father, the girl complained that he was too strict and kept her from living with her 18-year-old boyfriend, Guido Anthony Cuza.

Cuza and Evelyn Solorzano, 17, face a March 23 preliminary hearing in Los Angeles Municipal Court. If convicted, they could receive sentences of up to life in prison without the possibility of parole.