Little Rock teen pleads guilty, gets 25 years in killing

LITTLE ROCK — A Little Rock teenager has accepted a 25-year prison sentence for killing a man in December 2014.

Keion Maxwell, 19, pleaded guilty Thursday to first-degree murder, reduced from capital murder, for the fatal shooting of Karel Perez in the 41-year-old’s northwest Pulaski County home.

The prison term will be followed by a 15-year suspended sentence. Maxwell, represented by attorneys Bill James and Rob Berry, will be 35 when he first qualifies for parole.

In exchange for Maxwell’s guilty plea, deputy prosecutor John Hout dropped an aggravated robbery charge and an unrelated first-degree battery count over accusations that Maxwell had wounded another man four days before killing Perez in a shooting in the 2000 block of Security Street in Little Rock.

Hout told Pulaski County Circuit Judge Barry Sims that 21-year-old Stacey Keiona Jones of Little Rock, a co-defendant, let Maxwell into Perez’s San Luis Boulevard home on Dec. 1, 2014, while Perez was “involved” with the third co-defendant, 18-year-old Ashley Champale Moesha Williams of Little Rock.

Maxwell shot Perez during a confrontation, the prosecutor said. According to court records, Perez was shot multiple times, and his wife found him dead in their living room.

Sheriff’s deputies determined that Perez had contacted Jones, who had an advertisement for escort services on the Backpage website, and hired her and Williams for two hours of “personal services,” court filings show. Maxwell had driven the women to the home, according to police reports.

After Maxwell shot Perez, the three took a cellphone, iPad, laptop computer and jewelry from the residence, police said. Jones had Perez’s phone on her when she was arrested the day after the killing, according to an arrest report.

Williams and Jones also have been charged with capital murder and aggravated robbery. Jones is scheduled for trial in February; Williams’ next court appearance is in March.