A Las Vegas woman has been sentenced to prison for the fatal shooting of a carpet cleaner. As reported by FOX5 Vegas, 27-year-old Kayla Alery received a sentence of 120 months to life in the Nevada Department of Corrections. The court found her guilty but mentally ill of second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon.
On March 27 last year, Alery shot and killed 41-year-old Raul Cardoza at an apartment complex near Spring Mountain and Fort Apache while on parole for an arson conviction. A Clark County District Court judge sentenced her to prison with an additional 72 to 180 months for a weapons charge and ordered her to pay more than $16,000 in restitution. During the sentencing, Alery asked for leniency and expressed remorse, while Deputy District Attorney Kassandra Acosta said, “Raul was in his car, minding his own business. He did not put himself in harm’s way. He did not provoke this attack,” according to 8 News Now.
During the hearing, Alery’s difficult past, including being raped at 13 and later trafficked, was presented by her attorney, though it did not lessen the grief of the victim’s family. Ingri Cardoza, the daughter of Raul Cardoza, expressed her loss in court, saying, "Since losing him, every single day feels heavy. I will never hear his laugh again. Never feel his hugs. Never call him when I hear his advice." Alery pleaded with the court, saying, "I don’t want to be locked away for life, for 18 years," and expressed a desire to attend AA meetings and change her life, as mentioned by 8 News Now. Despite this, Judge Jones emphasized the need for mental health treatment but upheld the sentence of 120 months to life for second-degree murder, reflecting the seriousness of the crime and its impact on the victim’s family.
