'I pray for him,' York victim's family says of murderer sentenced to life in prison

Though a Spanish-language interpreter, Betzaida Muniz told a York County judge on Tuesday that Willie “Homer” Peterson III destroyed her family.

On May 28, 2017, Peterson shot her son, Edwin “Joey” Pacheco-Ruiz, 29, of York, whose SUV then crashed into a home on East Princess and Lexington streets in York. He died two days later at York Hospital.

Muniz said the pain that she’s experiencing cannot be healed. Nothing will bring her son back, she said. But at the same time, she said, she holds no ill feelings toward Peterson.

“I pray for him, so God can help him,” Muniz said. “I don’t have my son with me, but I do forgive him.”

Common Pleas Judge Maria Musti Cook later sentenced Peterson, 29, of York, to the mandatory punishment for first-degree murder: life in prison without the possibility of parole. He was ordered to pay almost $8,550 in restitution.

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Muniz was one of three family members who made statements.

Krista Downin, who has a son and daughter with Pacheco-Ruiz, described him as an amazing father who’d do anything for his children.

Pacheco-Ruiz’s sister, Claudia Ortiz, said she greatly misses her brother and must go to the cemetery to speak with him.

“Homer took something that I love most in my heart, and that was my brother. For what reason? Don’t know. Only God knows,” Ortiz said. “But guess what? I pray for him. I pray for him, so God could help him.”

Peterson’s family, she said, is also experiencing a lot of pain.

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During the trial, Senior Deputy Prosecutor Dave Maisch did not offer a motive for the deadly shooting.

Tom Kelley, Peterson’s attorney, acknowledged that the judge was constrained to hand down the mandatory sentence.

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Peterson did not make a statement. But he briefly spoke after the judge imposed the penalty in the case.

“Your honor, I’d like to speak,” he said. “I’d like new counsel.”

Contact Dylan Segelbaum at 717-771-2102.