Jurors hear tape of Maestas asking for death penalty

Monday, June 6, 2005 | 9:56 a.m.

"I feel like I deserve the death penalty," Beau Maestas told detectives in a taped interview about the fatal stabbing of a 3-year-old girl and the paralyzing of her 10-year-old half-sister.

Jurors heard the recording in court Friday afternoon during the third day of Maestas' penalty hearing for the January 2003 attack in Mesquite.

Maestas previously pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, attempted murder and burglary, all with use of a deadly weapon, in the killing of 3-year-old Kristyanna Cowan and the stabbing of her half-sister, Brittney Bergeron, in a trailer in the CasaBlanca hotel RV park.

In the taped statement, Maestas told Matt Alberto and his partner that he "got pissed off" after realizing the victims' mother, Tamara Schmidt and her husband, Robert Schmidt, sold him $125 worth of salt instead of methamphetamine.

Upon realizing the couple "tried to burn me" he and his sister, Monique Maestas, found the Schmidts at the CasaBlanca casino and told them "I wanted my money back and that it was salt." When the Schmidts denied they had sold the Maestas siblings bogus drugs and refused to return his money, Beau Maestas threatened them.

He said he urged them to rethink their decision "if you don't want this to get ugly."

Beau Maestas said a brief altercation ensued and casino security guards escorted him and his sister out.

Security tapes recovered from the Oasis and CasaBlanca were shown in court Friday and they corroborated Beau Maestas' story in regard to meeting the Schmidts at the Oasis and later confronting the couple at the CasaBlanca.

"I was upset," Beau Maestas said. "I wanted to see that guy (Robert Schmidt) and not necessarily kill him, but cut him, maybe scare him."

"I'd like to take full responsibility for what happened, it was my idea," Beau Maestas told the detectives. "I stabbed them (Kristyanna and Brittney). I knocked (on the door of the trailer). I went in and did everything."

Beau Maestas was adamant that his sister played no role in the attack, asking the detectives to "make sure that it's noted that I did all of it."

He told the detectives Monique Maestas wasn't even in the trailer during the attack.

No trial date has been set for Monique Maestas, who faces the same charges as her brother plus one count of conspiracy to commit murder.

Once inside the trailer, Beau Maestas said, the girls "started screaming and I didn't know what to do, to turn around and walk out or shut her up."

"The louder she screamed, the faster I stabbed her," Beau Maestas said.

The jurors were later shown the butcher-style knife with a 12-inch blade that District Attorney David Roger said Maestas "admitted he plunged into the little baby's head."

Roger proceeded to read excerpts from a letter written by Beau Maestas that was intercepted by detention center officers.

"I can't even begin to explain the poor girls didn't deserve it," he wrote. "I feel I deserve a slow and painful death, alone and left there to rot."

In the letter, Maestas said he was "doing a lot of different drugs and a lot of alcohol" on the day of the killing. He even discusses looking to the Bible for help, but that he gave up after reading a passage saying "evil comes from the heart."

In a subsequent letter Maestas wrote to his sister, however, he seems far from responsible or apologetic for his crimes as he tells Monique Maestas, "I hope you don't feel sorry for what I did" because the Schmidts deserved it for selling them fake drugs.

Brittney's foster mother, Judy Himel, brought the day of testimony to a close to tell the jury about the new life Brittney leads as a result of the brutal attack.

Brittney has been in foster care since the attack. Last week Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle denied a petition to have Brittney's mother's parental rights terminated.

Himel said Brittney requires extensive medical care, which includes regular care from a nurse. She said Brittney's food intake has to be monitored closely, and use of a catheter is required every few hours.

She said Brittney undergoes physical and occupational therapy and counseling once a week.

When Himel first received Brittney into her care, she said Brittney could not sleep unless the "television and lights were on, she wanted noise and didn't want to be left in the dark."

Himel said Brittney only thinks of "the happy times" when talking about her sister, who she affectionately calls "Kissy."

She said Brittney releases balloons in the air on Kristyanna's birthday and on the anniversary of her death.

The reality of Brittney's world since the attack was then shown to the jury via a DVD created by Himel's son.

In the DVD Brittney can be seen sliding out of her wheel chair and going into a swimming pool. As Brittney tries to move out of the pool into a hot tub and then back into her wheel chair, the sheer strength required to move her paralyzed legs was all but too clear.

As the footage played, several of the jurors looked away from the screen to look at Beau Maestas, who sat hunched over, looking down at the floor.