Restaurant owner pleads guilty to second-degree murder in wife’s death
The co-owner of an Eastpointe restaurant pleaded guilty to second-degree murder Tuesday and will spend 14 years in prison, under a proposed deal between the judge and defendant. Joseph Palleschi, 55, of
Clinton Township, admitted to shooting his wife, Karen Barr Palleschi, with a gun and causing her death Jan. 16 in the couple’s home, in a virtual hearing in Macomb County Circuit Court.
“I am guilty,” Palleschi told Judge James Maceroni.
No motive was provided at the hearing.
Palleschi, the co-owner of the Villa Restaurant, also pleaded to possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony, which carries a mandatory penalty of two years in prison.
Second-degree murder carries a penalty of up to life, but, under the tentative deal, Palleschi will be sentenced to the bottom of the sentencing-guideline range, which is 12 to 24 years.
Maceroni at the May 18 sentencing will announce whether he is accepting the agreement. If he rejects it and indicates he would like to sentence Palleschi to a longer term, Palleschi would have the option of withdrawing his plea and forcing a trial. Assistant Macomb Prosecutor Jurij Fedorak said the Palleschis’ three adult children agree with the resolution, and Palleschi’s three siblings have been informed of the case status.
The apparent resolution of the case is relatively early in the court process. Tuesday’s hearing was Palleschi’s initial appearance in circuit court. In most Macomb County murder cases in recent decades, they have been resolved later in the process.
Mrs. Palleschi was found dead of a single gunshot wound to her head about 2:40 a.m. Jan. 16 in an area between the couple’s kitchen and garage in their two-story home on Vincenzia Drive at Monticello, in the Terra Bella subdivision near 18 Mile and Garfield roads, according to authorities. Prosecutors allege her husband shot her with a handgun.