Posted at 11:06 a.m., Friday, October 26, 2001

Man gets life in Las Vegas shooting

Associated Press

LAS VEGAS — The man who fatally shot a Maui woman in a Las Vegas casino on Sept. 10, 2000, was sentenced to life in prison.

Heather Vitarelli, 29, was in the Harrah's Casino and struck in the back by a stray bullet from Stephen Mullen's gun as he struggled with security guards trying to detain him for investigation of thefts.

Vitarelli was attending college in California.

Her mother, Maria Mersai, was in the court for the sentencing and said she wanted her daughter's killer to see the pain in her eyes.

"I wanted to haunt him for the rest of his life, just like the image of my daughter's lifeless body lying on the gurney in the mortuary will haunt me for the rest of my life," she said after the sentencing yesterday.

Mullen, 33, won't be eligible for parole for about 55 years.

"Mr. Mullen, what I've really done is sentenced you to life without the possibility of parole," said District Judge Michael Cherry.

Mullen pleaded guilty in August to first-degree murder with a deadly weapon and attempted murder with a deadly weapon for a shot that struck and wounded a security guard.

During sentencing, Mullen apologized for his actions, saying the situation got out of hand and he panicked.

Vitarelli, a 1988 Baldwin High School graduate, was born on Saipan and moved to Maui at the age of 3. She was raised by her paternal grandparents.

Vitarelli moved to California in 1999 to attend California State University-Hayward.

Family members said she planned to attend graduate school at the University of Hawai'i at Manoa and then settle on Maui to work in counseling.