The Associated Press
LAS VEGAS — A fledgling boxer pleaded guilty Wednesday to arson and attempted animal cruelty charges, and told a judge he didn’t want to be remembered as the man who set fire to a Las Vegas pet store where 27 puppies and adult dogs were rescued earlier this year.
Kirk Bills, 28, stood in shackles, nodded toward his wife in the courtroom gallery, and apologized to Clark County District Court Judge David Barker as he entered his pleas to avoid trial next week on a total of 31 felonies in the Jan. 27 fire at the Prince and Princess pet shop.
“This is not who I am, and not what I want to be remembered by,” he said.
Bills became the second person to plead guilty in what prosecutors said was an attempt to burn the business for insurance money.
Store owner Gloria Eun Hye Lee, 35, pleaded guilty last week to arson, attempted animal cruelty and insurance-fraud charges that could get her up to 24 years in state prison.
Bills acknowledged for the first time that he was the man seen on security video wearing a hooded sweatshirt and entering the shop with Lee.
Images show Lee collecting files from an office while Bills pours flammable liquid on the floor around locked kennel cages and ignites it.
Ceiling fire sprinklers quickly doused the flames, and none of the 27 animals was fatally injured beforefirefighters arrived.
But the incident sparked intense passions among animal rights advocates who picketed the courthouse during initial appearances following Lee’s arrest in Las Vegas and Bills’ arrest Feb. 7 in Crown Point, Indiana.
It also touched off a weeks-long ownership battle that ended in March, when 25 rescued puppies were raffled for $250 apiece to benefit a foundation that runs the local Lied Animal Shelter. Two adult dogs were placed by a rescue group called A Home 4 Spot.
Bills could face up to 19 years in prison. But his lawyer, Roger Bailey, said he hopes for leniency and a two-to-five year sentence that could get Bills out of prison as early as 2016.
Barker agreed Wednesday to delay Bills’ sentencing until March 2, several days after Lee is sentenced Feb. 25.
Bills set the fire in Las Vegas just three days after losing his professional boxing debut Jan. 24 in Indio, Calif.
Gina Griesen, an animal safety advocate who attended almost every court appearance including Bills’ plea, said she hopes he is sentenced to many years in prison.
“When you try to burn 27 dogs alive ... we want to see the maximum,” Griesen said.