DUBLIN — A man accused of mortally stabbing a Tracy woman and leaving her on the side of the road in Livermore earlier this year pleaded guilty to murder Thursday in a surprise move.
Daniel Gross, 19, of Modesto, was ready to admit he killed Lizette Cuesta, 19, on Feb. 12, according to his attorney. After she was stabbed, Cuesta was spotted by a motorist crawling on her belly on Tesla Road in unincorporated Livermore around 2:05 a.m. She later died of her injuries.
Defendants usually enter pleas of “not guilty” even if they already have admitted their guilt to police or others, or “no contest” in plea deals, meaning they don’t dispute or admit to the charges against them.
At the East County Hall of Justice on Thursday morning, Gross’ attorney, Eric Mirzaian, indicated his client wanted to plead guilty. Gross’ co-defendant and fiancée, Melissa Leonardo, 25, who is pregnant with their child, also is charged in Cuesta’s murder. She entered a plea of not guilty, said her attorney, Daniel Shriro.
Gross pleaded guilty as charged to murder as well as two special allegations of use of a deadly weapon — a knife — and causing great bodily injury. Whether he gets charged with first- or second-degree murder will be determined at his sentencing, which hasn’t been set yet. His next appearance is scheduled for June 11.
He faces 25 years to life in prison If convicted of first-degree murder and 15 years to life if convicted of second-degree murder.
By pleading guilty, Gross may be hoping that by taking responsibility early it could help him before a parole board, Shriro said. If prosecutors amended the complaint to add special circumstances, he could have faced a lifetime in prison without the possibility of parole, or even the death penalty, depending on the allegations.
Gross has already admitted his guilt. In an interview with KTVU in February, saying he “snapped” and never meant to hurt or kill Cuesta.
“I didn’t plan to do this at all,” Gross told the television station.
He told KTVU that he acted in self-defense after Cuesta elbowed him in the ribs, and that the confrontation happened somewhere in Livermore after he and Cuesta had sex in the back of Leonardo’s car as Leonardo drove. All three had smoked marijuana that night, he told KTVU.
Gross, Leonardo and Cuesta worked together at a Carl’s Jr. restaurant in Tracy, and investigators said she got into their car willingly.
His own mother, Tracy Gross, told this newspaper in a brief statement she believed her son’s fiancée, Leonardo, orchestrated the whole thing.
Cuesta’s final dying words led investigators to Gross and Leonardo, who were arrested just 12 hours after Cuesta was found.
In a phone interview with this newspaper in February, Gross’ ex-girlfriend said she didn’t know what to believe when she heard the allegations against her ex-boyfriend. The two share a son, who is less than a year old.
“He said he wanted to change his life for the better,” she said.
Leonardo’s case will not be affected by Gross’ plea. She will next appear in court in July, while Gross is expected to appear in June.