A technicality will give murderer Paul Serrano III a chance at freedom by the time he's 53 years old.

The 28-year-old Slatington man admitted Tuesday he killed Kevin Muzila, an eighth-grader at Northeast Middle School in Bethlehem.

His attorney Tyree Blair said Serrano was sent to kill a man over a gang dispute but Serrano knocked on the 15-year-old's door by mistake on Dec. 18, 2006.

"All he did was answer the door a week before Christmas and got shot and killed," said Northampton County District Attorney John Morganelli. "He died in his mother's arms."

Serrano pleaded guilty 10 years ago and accepted life without the possibility of parole in order to avoid a death sentence. Neither prosecutors nor defense attorneys realized at that time he was only 17 when he committed the crime, making him ineligible for capital punishment.

He took a deal Tuesday to accept a sentence of 35 years to life. Morganelli said the deal will spare the family the ordeal of reliving the loss of Muzila through a trial.

Blair said Serrano lost his mother when he was 7. He wound up in the intensive care unit when he was 11 due to abuse from his foster father, Blair said.

"Essentially Mr. Serrano has not had the best set of cards dealt to him," Blair said.

Serrano made it to ninth grade at Reading High School before dropping out. He was manipulated by older members of a gang into agreeing to the crime, Blair said.

While Morganelli acknowledged Serrano's age and remorse, he did not excuse him from committing the crime.

"We can't lose sight of fact that a 15-year-old innocent boy was killed," Morganelli said. 

Northampton County Judge Emil Giordano said he hasn't lost sight of that fact. In his 14 years on the bench, this case is one of those that sticks with him. He presided over both of Serrano's guilty pleas.

Sniffing back tears, the judge said he often thinks about Kevin Muzila's mother, who was in the courtroom Tuesday.

"I can't shake it," he said. "I can't shake your loss. I'm very sorry for you and your whole family."

He's haunted by the memory of the young boy baking Christmas cookies before that fateful knock on the door.

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"I still remember that, too," the judge said.

Had the case gone to trial, Morganelli would have produced a gun found at Serrano's apartment linked to shell casings found at the crime scene. He would have called friends of Serrano who said he admitted to the murder.

And Serrano confessed to police twice, Morganelli said.

Morganelli was grateful to close the book Tuesday on Serrano's case.

"At some point he will be able to have a life some place and perhaps do some good. Kevin Muzila will never have that opportunity," Morganelli said, later adding, "A good kid from a good family was taken for completely no reason whatsoever except for some gang nonsense."

Rudy Miller may be reached at rmiller@lehighvalleylive.com. Follow him on Twitter @RudyMillerLV. Find Easton area news on Facebook.

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