Deadly YouTube Stunt Gets Minnesota Woman 180 Days In Jail

HALSTAD, MN — A Minnesota woman who shot and killed her boyfriend in a deadly YouTube stunt last June that they thought would catapult him to fame will spend 180 days in jail under a plea agreement reached last week. Monalisa Perez, 20, shot her boyfriend, Pedro Ruiz III, 22, as he held an encyclopedia in front of his chest.

They believed the thick book would stop the .50 caliber bullet, fired from about a foot away at their Halstad home on June 26. It didn’t, and a frantic Perez called 911, saying: “We were doing a YouTube video, and it all went wrong. It’s all on recording.”

As part of the plea entered in Norman County District Court, Perez cannot receive “any financial compensation” from the video and cannot possess firearms for the rest of her life, according to a court filing from the prosecutor.

The plea agreement, which is expected to be formalized in sentencing in February, calls for Perez to spend 30 days in jail for each of the next three years, then become eligible to serve the remainder in her home, with electronic monitoring, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. She will be placed on supervised probation for 10 years, but could return to jail if she doesn’t abide by the terms of her release, the report said.

Perez has two small children with Ruiz, including one she was carrying when the video was recorded.

Originally charged with second-degree murder, she could have gone to prison for 10 years.

Norman County Prosecutor James Brue told the Star Tribune he met with members of Ruiz’s family, who supported the plea agreement.

Perez and Ruiz starred in their own YouTube reality show in which they pulled various stunts and pranks. In a Twitter message posted shortly before the fatal shooting, Perez wrote: "Me and Pedro are probably going to shoot one of the most dangerous videos ever. HIS idea not MINE.”

Ruiz had said in a previous challenge video that he was “OK with dying” in some future stunt. Their channel remains active and has garnered millions of views, though the fatal stunt was not posted.

Photo: Northwest Regional Corrections Center via AP