Judge postpones capital murder trial for father accused of killing teenage daughter

A Stanislaus County judge on Thursday granted a defendant’s request to postpone his capital murder trial for two months because he wasn’t given sufficient access to a writing surface to properly prepare his defense while in jail.

Mark Edward Mesiti’s trial initially was scheduled to begin Feb. 6. Mesiti is accused of sexually abusing and killing his 14-year-old daughter, Alycia Mesiti. On March 25, 2009, her body was found buried in the backyard of the Ceres home where her father lived at the time of her August 2006 disappearance.

Mesiti, 49, has been in the jail since June 2011 and chose to act as his own attorney in October 2015. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty. Mesiti is charged with murder and more than 40 counts of sexually abusing his daughter, as well as sexually abusing two other girls.

Superior Court Judge Dawna Reeves on Thursday rescheduled Mesiti’s trial to begin April 10. None of the single-inmate cells that Mesiti has occupied since May 2016 had a firm writing surface.

“The only horizontal surface available for writing is the bedframe and concrete floor,” the judge wrote in her ruling. “No other opportunity to write on a firm surface while unshackled appears to have been afforded.”

Reeves wrote that the defendant’s preparations could be delayed without a writing surface, so she postponed the trial. But she determined the defendant’s claims that other poor jail conditions stalled his preparations were not supported by the evidence.

“In fact, many of the claimed conditions were either greatly exaggerated or false,” Reeves wrote.

In an evidentiary hearing earlier this month, Mesiti claimed inadequate bedding, noise, inability to sharpen pencils, assaults, flooding, an ineffective advisory counsel and ignored administrative grievances at the jail had slowed his trial preparations. The judge found no evidence for any of these claims.

Deputy County Counsel Marc Hartley, who represents the Stanislaus County Sheriff’s Department, on Thursday informed the court that Mesiti has been moved to a single-inmate cell at the Public Safety Center jail facility in south Modesto. Hartley said the sheriff voluntarily decided to move Mesiti into a cell that has a writing surface, where he’ll remain housed throughout his trial.

Martin Baker has been appointed to work as Mesiti’s advisory counsel. He also is the court’s standby counsel in this case, ready to become lead defense counsel if Mesiti changes his mind about acting as his own attorney.

On Thursday afternoon, Baker told the judge he has arranged to meet with Mesiti weekly at the jail to help him prepare for trial.

This story was originally published January 19, 2017 at 5:54 PM with the headline "Judge postpones capital murder trial for father accused of killing teenage daughter."