Posted on: September 10, 2024, 10:56h.
Last updated on: September 10, 2024, 10:56h.
A teenager was sentenced recently to between 11 and 27 years behind bars for last year’s killing of a man at Las Vegas’ Luxor Hotel & Casino.
Clark County Judge Jacqueline Bluth handed down the sentence to Emma Kusak, now 19, in July, Las Vegas TV station KLAS reported on Monday. Kusak must also pay more than $15K to the victim’s family.
Kusak can apply for parole in nine years. She will receive credit for time she spent in jail.
This summer, Kusak pleaded guilty to second-degree murder with the use of a deadly weapon under a plea agreement.
Originally, Kusak was charged with open murder, robbery, and grand larceny of a motor vehicle.
She allegedly fired a gun and wounded Charlie Satrustegui, 36, of Glendale, Calif. twice in the head while the two were in the Luxor 12th floor hotel room on June 29, 2023.
She stole his wallet, cell phones, and keys, and then stole his car, police said.
Hours after the shooting, she called the police to report the deadly incident. The victim, Charlie Satrustegui, later was found dead in the hotel room.
Kusak was booked at the Clark County Detention Center on July 26, 2023, the very day she turned 18.
Victim Lunged at Her
When speaking to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) officers, she claimed the shooting wasn’t intentional, but he appeared to be planning to attack her during an argument. So, she picked up his handgun from a table and shot him, according to an arrest report.
I didn’t mean to do it,” Kusak told cops.
The two had been drinking the prior night. They drank a total of eight shots of vodka in the hotel room.
They went to sleep at about 1 a.m. Two hours later, he woke up and told her she was coughing excessively.
She went into a bathroom and began to cry. He let her back into the bedroom, but later that night the two began to argue.
Satrustegui wanted her to leave the hotel room, according to Las Vegas TV station KVVU.
Emma said she didn’t mean to shoot him and didn’t want to shoot him, but she had nowhere to go and didn’t want to go back to jail. Emma said she impulsively shot Charlie,” the LVMPD arrest report stated.
Met on Bumble App
Satrustegui and Kusak first met on a dating app, Bumble, two months before the homicide.
The two texted each other until they met at the Luxor where Satrustegui had booked a room. He was more than twice her age.