LAS VEGAS — Two Utah teens facing the death penalty in a deadly butcher knife attack on two little girls in Nevada are the children of a twice-convicted killer, according to court records and their lawyers.
Harry Maestas, 54, was convicted of second-degree murder in Ogden, Utah, in the early 1970s for the shooting death of his girlfriend, according to court records.
Now a quadriplegic out on parole, Harry Maestas also pleaded guilty to a manslaughter charge in a 1976 slaying in a Utah prison, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Tuesday.
His son, Beau Santino Maestas, 19, and daughter, Monique Maestas, 17, could face a death sentence in Nevada if convicted in the stabbing death of 3-year-old Kristyanna Cowan in Mesquite. Cowan's half-sister, 10-year-old Brittney Bergeron, was left paralyzed in the attack.
Beau Maestas' defense attorney, Howard Brooks, told the newspaper that Harry Maestas is the biological father of the siblings. Brooks said he confirmed the paternal link through conversations with Harry Maestas and the teens' mother, Marilyn Maestas.
Brooks said Harry Maestas' imprisonment caused a traumatic childhood for Beau and Monique Maestas, who were left with relatives for extended periods while their mother worked.
Monique Maestas' defense attorney, Philip Kohn, said the teens' background didn't justify what happened in the case. But he said District Attorney David Roger should have considered the teens' background before deciding last week to seek the death penalty.
Roger declined comment.
Authorities allege Beau and Monique Maestas broke into a recreational vehicle trailer outside a Mesquite casino early Jan. 22 and attacked the two girls in retaliation for a drug deal rip-off involving the girls' mother and her boyfriend.
The teens have pleaded innocent. Their defense attorneys say they were under the influence of methamphetamine at the time of the attack, and Kohn is challenging a decision to try Monique Maestas as an adult. She was 16 at the time of the attack.
According to court records obtained by the Review-Journal and conversations with Brooks, Harry Maestas was convicted of robbery in Utah in 1967 and served a little more than five years before he was paroled. Thirteen months later, he was charged with first-degree murder.
An Ogden District Court spokesman said few records were available on Harry Maestas' murder case. An appeal said Harry Maestas killed his girlfriend, Rosemary Matteucci, on New Year's Eve 1973. The court records say Matteucci had been an eyewitness to a robbery involving Harry Maestas.
Originally charged with first-degree murder, Harry Maestas was convicted of second-degree murder and sentenced to five years to life in prison.
While in prison, Harry Maestas was accused by authorities of participating in the 1976 killing of an inmate, Brooks said. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter, and was released from prison in 1987.
Maestas was arrested three months later on a drug charge. He was acquitted, but was sent back to prison on a parole violation. He was paroled again in October 2002.
Brooks said Maestas was paralyzed after being infected with spinal meningitis.