Inset: Pedro Simental (Pennington County Jail). Background: The motel where Simental allegedly killed a woman with a can of beans (KOTA).
A man in South Dakota, aged 44, has been sentenced to more than ten years in prison for murdering a 40-year-old woman by beating her to death with a can of beans. This tragic incident occurred because the woman had torn the football jersey he was wearing. Pedro Simental was ordered by Seventh Circuit Judge Joshua Hendrickson on Monday to spend 15 years in a state correctional facility for the killing of Edleigha Little. The decision was made public by authorities.
Simental had previously admitted guilt to a charge of first-degree manslaughter in connection to the fatal event that took place in November 2023. Both Simental’s defense lawyer and the prosecutors involved in the case recommended the same 15-year imprisonment term, as stated in a press release from the Pennington County State’s Attorney’s Office.
The sentencing hearing
During the sentencing hearing on Monday, Simental’s lawyer highlighted that Little was in a fragile state of health during the altercation and had been heavily intoxicated, factors that likely led to her death from a single forceful blow to the head.
Prosecutors told the court they were concerned about Simental’s “lack of accountability,” pointing out that his presentence investigation revealed he “takes little to no responsibility for his role in her death.”
Little’s niece addressed the court with a victim impact statement during the proceedings.
“She said her aunt was a caring, thoughtful person, and accused the defendant of regularly abusing the victim,” according to the release. “She asked the judge to impose a lengthy sentence so that he could not ‘do this to another woman and her family.””
Prior to handing down the sentence, Hendrickson “highlighted the difficulty of the case” before ultimately imposing the agreed-upon 15-year sentence. Simental had been facing a possible sentence of life in prison
Little’s death
As Law&Crime previously reported, officers with the Rapid City Police Department at about 3 a.m. on Nov. 9, 2023, responded to the emergency room of Monument Hospital in the 300 block of Fairmont Boulevard after hospital personnel reported that an adult female had been admitted with suspicious injuries.
Emergency medical personnel had recently picked up the woman — later identified as Little — from the Stardust Motel in the 500 block of East North Street in Rapid City late on the night of Nov. 8, after an unknown male placed a 911 call requesting medical assistance.
Upon arriving at the scene, police reportedly observed that Little was alive but unconscious and had sustained multiple bruises to her head, neck, and face. Little succumbed to her injuries and was pronounced dead a few hours later.
A subsequent autopsy performed by the medical examiner on Nov. 13, determined that Little’s death was a homicide caused by “significant blunt force trauma” to the left side of her head, the Rapid City Journal reported.
Police said that Simental was at the motel when first responders arrived. In his initial interview with authorities, police said Simental “did not implicate himself in any way,” according to the Journal.
Simental explained to police that the reason he struck Little was because she had grabbed his Denver Broncos jersey and he heard the clothing tear, the Journal reported.
KOTA reported that the can allegedly used to bludgeon Little was a can of beans.
