An Alpine man pleaded guilty Friday to second-degree murder in the death of his girlfriend, Melanie Benitez, who was shot to death in an Alpine driveway in 2019.
Deputy District Attorney Jessica Lees said Paul Alan Paraschak, 44, faces a prison term of 40 years to life in state prison.
El Cajon Superior Court Judge John Thompson accepted the guilty plea of Paraschak who was on video from a room at the George Bailey Detention Facility.
Both Lees and Paraschak’s attorney appeared on video also because the courts have been mostly closed due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.
Paraschak will get a term of 15 years to life for the homicide plus 25 years consecutively because he also admitted the enhancement of discharging a firearm causing a death.
Lees said that Paraschak has agreed to receiving “the stipulated sentence” of 40 years to life.
Thompson set sentencing for July 30, but it will be conducted by Judge Herbert Exarhos.
The courts should be fully operational by then to allow the family of the victim to attend and speak at the sentencing.
Many members of her family attended the Nov. 20 preliminary hearing, wearing colorful T-shirts with the words “in loving memory” of Benitez, 27, who was pictured with her nickname “Ling Ling.”
The couple lived together in Alpine.
Benitez worked as a certified nursing assistant at Victoria Post Acute Care in El Cajon. Benitez called a co-worker to say she was on her way to work on Feb. 23, 2019.
She never arrived after she was shot seven times outside Paraschak’s white Lincoln that was parked in a driveway at 2800 block of North Victoria Drive. Neither one knew who lived there.
Witnesses said they heard a loud argument before the gunfire, with the man whose voice sounded like he was “very angry.”
“What about me? What about me? No one cares about me!” said Paraschak, according to a neighbor.
Hilda Martinez testified she heard the screaming and saw Paraschak holding a gun.
“Call the police. I don’t care if I’m arrested,” said Paraschak, recalled Martinez.
A sheriff’s deputy testified Paraschak was yelling incoherently and cried during his arrest, he said.
Deputies found a pistol and a revolver, the murder weapon, in his possession.
The cause of death was multiple gunshots to the head and torso.
