Diana Nicole Pena is 'not as culpable' in the March death of Dr. Thomas Burchard as former Playboy Italia and Maxim model Kelsey Nichole Turner and Jon Logan Kennison, Pena's attorney, Jess Matsuda, said

The roommate of a Playboy model accused of murdering a 71-year-old California psychiatrist - who was paying for their rent at the time - is to plead guilty to a murder accessory charge.

Diana Nicole Pena was living with Kelsey Nichole Turner, and the former Playboy Italia and Maxim model's boyfriend Jon Logan Kennison, in Las Vegas, when Turner's lover Dr. Thomas Burchard was killed.

Police say Burchard, who lived in Salinas, California, had an intimate relationship with Turner and paid rent on a Las Vegas home where Turner, Kennison and Pena lived. 

Burchard paid Turner's rent for months but stopped after the 'lease was up'. 

Turner and Kennison are accused of bludgeoning Burchard and leaving his corpse in the trunk of Turner's Mercedes Benz on a desert road between Las Vegas and Lake Mead in March.

But Pena's attorney, Jess Matsuda, said her client is 'not as culpable' as the other two suspects. 

She will take a plea deal and admit an accessory to murder charge. 

Turner and Kennison are accused of bludgeoning Burchard and leaving his corpse in the trunk of Turner's Mercedes Benz on a desert road between Las Vegas and Lake Mead

Police say Burchard, who lived in Salinas, California, had an intimate relationship with Turner and paid rent on a Las Vegas home where Turner, Kennison and Pena lived

Police found blood, footprints, cleaning supplies and items bearing Kennison's name in the house and garage, and blue and white bath towels in the home that matched a towel found with Burchard's body March 7.

Authorities believe that Turner, Kennison, and Pena abandoned the Las Vegas home they were sharing after Burchard was murdered. 

Pena, 30, a former Las Vegas Strip bartender, remains in custody on murder and conspiracy charges. But Matsuda said she 'had nothing to do with the murder' and had spoken with police and prosecutors since surrendering for arrest April 13.

Matsuda and prosecutor Pamela Weckerly declined to say or whether Pena will testify at trial against Turner and Kennison.

Pena, 30, a former Las Vegas Strip bartender, remains in custody on murder and conspiracy charges. But Matsuda said she 'had nothing to do with the murder' and had spoken with police and prosecutors since surrendering for arrest April 13

Turner, 26, was arrested March 21 in Stockton, California (pictured with William Lacy)

Neither Matsuda nor Weckerly would say if Pena testified before a grand jury that handed up murder and conspiracy charges last week against Turner and Kennison, who was released from prison in January 2018 after a felony cocaine distribution sentence.

However, both the defense attorney and the prosecutor noted that Pena was not indicted. Matsuda said Pena could get up to five years in prison on Friday.

A grand jury transcript is not yet part of the court record.

Defense attorneys Brian Smith for Turner and Joseph Abood for Kennison said they'll plead not guilty.

Turner, 26, was arrested March 21 in Stockton, California.

Kennison, 27, was arrested April 17 in Las Vegas.

They remain jailed without bail pending their arraignment June 11 in state court in Las Vegas.

Judy Earp, Burchard's longtime girlfriend, said the psychiatrist had given Turner roughly $300,000 during the time they knew each other. 

Earp said that Burchard had signed a lease for a home in Salinas, California where Turner had lived for 'about a year' with her mother and children. 

Turner was eventually evicted from the home in Salinas and moved to Las Vegas. 

Judy Earp, Burchard's longtime girlfriend, said the psychiatrist had given Turner (pictured) roughly $300,000 during the time they knew each other 

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