Overview
- Judge Laura Gramling Perez accepted Erik Mendoza’s guilty pleas to first-degree intentional homicide, physical abuse of a child causing death, and hiding a corpse.
- Mendoza, now 18 but 15 at the time of the crime, also pleaded to three counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety while armed.
- By pleading to first-degree intentional homicide, Mendoza faces a mandatory life sentence under Wisconsin law.
- The co-defendant, David Pietura, pleaded guilty in 2024 and is serving life without parole for his role in Prince McCree’s death.
- The case helped drive passage of Wisconsin’s Prince Act, and the state reports 17 missing child alerts were issued in the law’s first year.