EASTON, Pa. (AP) - A man charged in the murder of another teenager in what authorities called a case of mistaken identity has pleaded guilty for the second time in a decade, but this time his sentence may allow his release from prison.
Twenty-eight-year-old Paul Serrano III pleaded guilty Tuesday in Northampton County in exchange for a 35-year-to-life sentence in the slaying of 15-year-old Kevin Muzila of Bethlehem a week before Christmas in 2006.
Prosecutors said another man had ordered the death of a rival drug dealer, but Serrano went to the wrong apartment and opened fire, killing Muzila.
Serrano originally pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and was sentenced to life without parole. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys realized that he was only 17 at the time of and therefore ineligible for capital punishment.
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