A Milwaukee teenager will spend the rest of his life behind bars for his role in the gruesome beating death of 5-year-old Prince McCree.
Erik Mendoza was 15 when prosecutors say he and David Pietura bludgeoned Prince with a barbell, a golf club and a 70-pound concrete birdfeeder and dumped his body in a trash bin on Oct. 25, 2023.
Circuit Court Judge Michelle A. Havas handed down the life sentence for Mendoza on June 5. She said Mendoza will be eligible to petition for extended supervision after he has served 50 years, mirroring a sentencing recommendation by Assistant District Attorney Matthew Torbenson.
“It doesn’t get more heinous, egregious than this,” Torbenson said.
Darron McCree told the judge he wanted Mendoza, now 18, to “die and burn” with “no mercy” for what Mendoza did to his son. The emotional Milwaukee father went on to say he wished he could mete out the punishment “by my hand.”
“When he killed my baby, he killed me. I’m a different person now,” McCree said. “I believe there’s a God, but I don’t feel like he did nothing for my baby.”
Mendoza pleaded guilty in February to charges of first-degree intentional homicide, abusing a corpse, recklessly endangering safety and two counts of second-degree recklessly endangering safety.
A sixth charge accusing Mendoza of physical abuse of a child, repeated acts causing death, was dismissed, but read into the court record for the purposes of sentencing.
Mendoza declined to give a statement in court.
Here’s what happened to Prince McCree
Prince was reported missing from his home in the 2400 block of North 54th Street in Milwaukee on Oct. 25, 2023. His body was found the next morning about a mile south, on the 5500 block of West Vliet Street.
Pietura, 29, pleaded guilty in June 2024 to first-degree intentional homicide as a party to a crime in the case. He is serving a life sentence.
Mendoza’s attorney Scott Anderson, of Milwaukee, said his client was responsible for his role in the crime, but is also “very seriously troubled” and mentally ill. He pleaded with the judge to allow him to have a shot at eligibility for extended supervision after 30 years.
Prosecutors say Pietura and Mendoza were living with Prince and his family at the time of the attack.
Members of Prince’s family, many wearing T-shirts with images of the child and Spider-Man, his favorite comic book character, hugged outside the courtroom.
Prince’s mother, Jordan Barger, said she was relieved by the conclusion for Mendoza, whom she and Darron McCree had known and once trusted before the killing.
“My baby had a whole life ahead of him. He had plenty of things to do,” Barger said. “He [Mendoza] deserves what he got. My baby got justice and that’s all that matters.”
The PRINCE Act
The tragedy became a driving force behind a new law.
In April 2024, Gov. Tony Evers signed the PRINCE Act into law, which expands the state’s missing person alerts for children. He did so after the killings of Prince and 10-year-old Lily Peters of Chippewa Falls exposed holes in the system.
The new “Purple Alert” includes missing children under the age of 10, and children under the age of 18 who are believed to be incapable of returning home without help because of a disability.
“My son will always be Spider-Man to me and rest of our family,” Barger said.
Chris Ramirez covers courts for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel. He can be reached at caramirez@gannett.com.
This story was updated to add new information and photos.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Milwaukee teen gets life sentence in 2023 beating death of Prince McCree
Reporting by Chris Ramirez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
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By Chris Ramirez, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | USA TODAY Network
