Mark Mesiti ‘molested his daughter to death.’ Judge delivers sentence.

A Stanislaus County judge on Friday ordered Mark Edward Mesiti to spend the rest of his life in prison for sexually abusing and killing his teenage daughter before burying her body in the backyard of his Ceres home.

His daughter, Alycia Mesiti, went missing in August 2006. Three years after Alycia disappeared, the 14-year-old girl’s body was found buried in the backyard.

Mesiti, 50, was convicted of murder in his daughter’s death, as well as the sexual abuse of Alycia and two other girls identified in court as Jane Doe 1 and Jane Doe 2.

After authorities discovered and unearthed the girl’s remains, they determined Alycia died of a “mixed drug intoxication.” The prosecution said investigators found images of Mesiti sexually assaulting his daughter while she was unconscious. Authorities believe Mesiti drugged his daughter to prevent her from resisting his sexual abuse.

Stanislaus Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves on Friday formally sentenced Mesiti to life in prison without the chance of parole, in accordance with his plea deal. The judge said Mesiti took the childhood and innocence from his victims, using intoxicants to sexually assault these girls while they were unconscious.

The proceedings included two more emotional victim impact statements, and there also was an outburst from a woman claiming to be Mesiti’s sister who was ushered out of the courtroom.

“The defendant took advantage repeatedly of the most sacred position of trust,” Reeves said in court. “He molested his daughter to death, wrapped her in a bag and buried her.”

Mesiti on Oct. 17 pleaded guilty to more than 40 criminal charges stemming from his daughter’s death. His plea deal would result in a sentence of life in prison without parole. Prosecutors had been seeking the death penalty.

But Mesiti changed his mind a few weeks later. He filed a motion to withdraw his guilty plea to get a new trial.

Mesiti initially wanted to legally represent himself but changed his mind a few months before his trial. The court appointed attorneys Martin Baker and Bob Wildman to represent Mesiti in the trial. After a few days before trial, Mesiti offered to plead guilty.

Steven O’Connor, Mesiti’s newly hired attorney, argued that his client should be allowed to withdraw his guilty plea because his attorneys were giving up on his case. O’Connor said Baker was unwilling to present to the jury Mesiti’s claims that he was framed in his daughter’s death and the sexual abuse of the girls.

“It’s one of the most disheartening things that can happen to a defendant... that’s what led to the pleas in this case, your honor,” O’Connor argued last month.

In the Oct. 3 trial’s opening statements, Baker told the jury that Alycia likely died from a drug overdose, and a forensic pathologist did not determine the manner of the girl’s death.

Baker last month testified that Mesiti claimed someone remotely accessed his encrypted hard drive, altered hundred images and video to show Mesiti sexually abusing his daughter and leave them in his computer for investigators to find three years later. He said he chose to only dispute the homicide charge at trial to save Mesiti from the death penalty.

“And I believe Mr. Mesiti disposed of her body... Mr. Mesiti confessed (to police) to burying her, Mr. O’Connor,” Baker said on the witness stand last month.

Chief Deputy District Attorney Annette Rees, who prosecuted the case, called Mesiti’s claims “nonsense.” She argued that Mesiti chose to plead guilty shortly before the jury would hear testimony about the several hundred explicit images found on the defendant’s computer, which would prove his guilt in the sexual abuse charges.

“Mark Mesiti has made a lifetime of misdirection and misrepresentation, and this motion to withdraw his plea is more of the same,” Rees argued last month.

In her ruling Friday, Judge Reeves said Mesiti presented no evidence to support his claims that he suffered from duress, coercion or fraud that affected his free will to plead guilty. She called Mesiti’s decision to plead guilty “strategically calculated.”

The prosecutor called Mesiti “a monster.” Rees argued that Mesiti did “unspeakable things” to the three girls while they were unconscious.

O’Connor tried to stop the judge from sentencing Mesiti until after the court can rule on a pending motion to remove the District Attorney’s Office from the case. He also said he intended to appeal Reeve’s ruling on the plea withdrawal.

“This gentleman has not been provided adequate counsel,” O’Connor said about his trial attorneys.

Reeves overruled O’Connor’s objections and proceeded with the sentencing. The judge on Friday allowed two more victim impacts statements from people who could not attend hearing in late November.

Elena Velasquez is Alycia’s younger sister from another relationship; she is not Mesiti’s daughter. She was 8 years old when Alycia went missing. She said her world fell apart, and Mesiti is responsible.

“I’m just really glad that Alycia is getting her justice,” Velasquez said.

The prosecution showed a video in court of Jane Doe 2, one of the sexual abuse victims, describing the anguish she suffered at the hands of Mesiti. She said she was 16 when Mesiti started giving drugs to abuse her.

“I just hate him,” Jane Doe 2 said. “He deserves to die, he really does.”

A woman who said she was Mesiti’s sister stood up in court, and said she could no longer hear Jane Doe 2’s victim impact statement. She said loudly her brother was wrongfully convicted. “This is a sham,” she said as bailiffs escorted her out of the courtroom.

O’Connor tried to stop the statement from Jane Doe 2. “Objection, your honor. This is blood lust,” the defense attorney said.

The judge overruled O’Connor’s objection and allowed the video to continue. Reeves also denied O’Connor’s request to delay Mesiti’s transfer to state prison.

This story was originally published February 2, 2018 at 4:29 PM with the headline "Mark Mesiti ‘molested his daughter to death.’ Judge delivers sentence.."