Tuesday, July 26, 2005
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

MESQUITE STABBINGS: Mother, spouse plead guilty

Pair admit to leaving children alone when they were attacked in 2003

Tamara and Robert Schmidt appear Monday in court. They each pleaded guilty to a single felony count of child abuse-neglect causing substantial bodily harm. Photo by Gary Thompson.

The mother of two children viciously stabbed in Mesquite pleaded guilty to felony child abuse-neglect Monday, and the plea deal could affect the fate of her surviving daughter, Brittney Bergeron.

"I left my kids alone, and it resulted in bodily harm," Tamara Schmidt told District Judge Donald Mosley in a brief court appearance Monday afternoon.

Schmidt, previously known as Tamara Bergeron, and her husband, Robert Schmidt, each pleaded guilty to a single count of felony child abuse-neglect causing substantial bodily harm.

Each faces a potential sentence from two to 20 years in prison when they are sentenced by Mosley in September. Probation is an option.

The two admitted to leaving Kristyanna Cowan, 3, and Brittney, now 13, home alone for hours at a time when the children were stabbed, allegedly by Utah siblings Beau and Monique Maestas, in January 2003.

Kristyanna was slain, and Brittney was paralyzed from the waist down.

Authorities said the stabbings were revenge for a bogus methamphetamine deal involving Tamara Schmidt. She has denied any involvement in a meth deal.

Tamara Schmidt declined comment on her guilty plea after her court appearance Monday, but Robert Schmidt said he and his wife always have admitted their mistake.

"I wish we wouldn't have left them alone," Robert Schmidt said. "We wanted this to be done and over with, so we can go on with our lives."

Brittney is in foster care, and she has been the subject of a custody dispute. In June, Family Court Judge Gerald Hardcastle ordered social workers to continue to try and reunite Tamara Schmidt with her daughter despite an effort by the district attorney's office to sever Tamara Schmidt's parental rights.

The consequences of Tamara Schmidt's guilty plea on that issue were unclear Monday.

But if Mosley sends Tamara Schmidt to prison for an extended period of time, any attempts to reunify Tamara Schmidt with her daughter will become moot until she gets out.

"Certainly, if she goes to prison, it will have a major impact," said Brittney's court-appointed attorney, Steve Hiltz. "She won't be there to plan for Brittney's future.

"If it's probation, it's up to the courts," Hiltz said. "The plea is significant. We will just have to see how significant."

But Tamara Schmidt's attorneys, Stephen Caruso and Joseph Caramagno, are optimistic that Mosley will sentence Tamara Schmidt to probation considering her turnaround in life.

At the time of the stabbings, she was a methamphetamine addict working as a drug informant for law enforcement, and her parenting skills were the subject of multiple complaints when she lived in California with the children.

Since the stabbings, Tamara Schmidt has tested negative for drugs and works full time in the Las Vegas Valley, as does her husband.

"He (Mosley) is known as a tough judge, but he's also known as a fair judge," Caramagno said.

Caruso said he thinks the guilty plea will have little effect on Hardcastle's ruling.

"That case has been decided," he said.

Caruso said that even if Tamara Schmidt were to serve prison time, that would not mean she would relinquish her rights as a parent. He said Tamara Schmidt's next scheduled meeting with her daughter is on Thursday, and he suspects Brittney will be aware of the guilty plea.

"Brittney is 13," Caruso said. "She can read the paper and watch the news. She knows what is going on."

Robert Schmidt's defense attorney, Ben Bingham, said his client is deserving of probation and that Robert Schmidt did not have a legal obligation to watch over the children. At the time of the stabbings, Robert Schmidt and Tamara Schmidt were not married.

"He wasn't the natural father; he wasn't married to mom at the time," Bingham said.

The child abuse-neglect case lodged against the Schmidts alleged that they left the children alone and that they exposed them to a negative environment that included exposure to drugs.

The pair originally were charged with two felonies and 12 gross misdemeanors.

Monday's plea deal came minutes before their trial was scheduled to start.

Prosecutors will make no recommendation regarding prison time for Robert Schmidt. For Tamara Schmidt, they have kept the right to argue for jail.

"It's a fair deal for both sides," Clark County prosecutor Lisa Luzaich Rego said. "We get a felony conviction and an opportunity to argue for a fairly significant prison sentence, and they (the defendants) reduce their potential penalty. By pleading, they have a better shot at probation."

Luzaich Rego said she plans to ask Mosley to sentence Tamara Schmidt to prison.

"She keeps talking about how she's reformed, she's better, she's clean," Luzaich Rego said. "Too little, too late."