Judge declares Maestas case a mistrial

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Thursday, June 9, 2005 | 11:49 a.m.

Accepting that the jury deciding the fate of Beau Maestas was deadlocked over the death penalty, District Judge Donald Mosley declared a mistrial this morning.

Mosley said there will be a status check July 7 to determine the next action in the case.

Maestas, 21, previously pleaded guilty to one count each of murder, attempted murder and burglary, all with use of a deadly weapon for killing 3-year-old Kristyanna Cowan and stabbing and leaving her half-sister Brittney Bergeron paralyzed.

As detailed in the penalty phase before the jury, Maestas stabbed the girls in a Mesquite trailer park in 2003 He was looking for their mother and her then-boyfriend, who he said ripped him off in a drug deal.

Jurors heard the details in the penalty phase, but couldn't come to a decision.

On Wednesday, after roughly six hours of deliberation the jury's forewoman told Mosley on Wednesday afternoon "at this moment, sir, we are hung."

The judge gave them more instructions and sent the back for more deliberation. After breaking for the night, the jury came back this morning, tried again and the forewoman told the judge jurors were still deadlocked.

Asked by Mosley if there was any room for movement, the jury forewoman said "No sir."

Previously, if a jury was deadlocked during a death penalty case in Nevada, a three-judge panel was created to determine sentencing, but in 2002 the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty should be applied only by a jury.

That means that either a new jury will be selected for a new penalty hearing or the prosecutors and Maestas' attorneys will come to some sort of a plea agreement.

After jurors came in Wednesday, Mosley gave the jurors a new legal instruction to consider and told them to continue deliberating. The jury continued deliberating for less than an hour before being sent home.

The jury was trying to decide whether Maestas would be sentenced to death, life in prison without the possibility of parole, life in prison with the possibility of parole or a set term of 40 to 100 years in prison.

Mosley called the new jury instruction he gave to the jurors "a reminder more than anything else."

"The verdict must represent the considered judgment of each juror," the new instruction reads. "In order to return a verdict, it is necessary that each juror agree thereto. Your verdict must be unanimous. It is your duty, as jurors, to consult with one another and to deliberate with a view to reaching an agreement, if you can do so without violence to individual judgment."

"Each of you must decide the case for yourself, but do so only after an impartial consideration of the evidence with your fellow jurors. In the course of your deliberations, do not hesitate to re-examine your own views and change your opinion if convinced it is erroneous. But do not surrender your honest conviction as to the weight or effect of evidence solely because of the opinion of your fellow jurors, or for the purpose of returning a verdict."