Suspects In Brutal Livermore Stabbing Enter Pleas
DUBLIN (KPIX 5) – The two suspects in a fatal stabbing of a woman who was left to die on a rural Livermore road last February entered mixed pleas in a Dublin courtroom Thursday.
The two defendants – 19-year-old Daniel Gross and 25-year-old Melissa Leonardo – are accused of killing alleged victim 19-year-old Tracy resident Lizette Andrea Cuesta in the early morning stabbing attack on February 12.
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Cuesta was found bleeding from multiple stab wounds near Tesla Road about two miles west of the Carnegie State Vehicular Recreation Area. She was air lifted to Eden Medical Center in Castro Valley where she succumbed to her injuries, but not before naming the two suspects in the stabbing who were arrested later that day.
In court on Thursday morning, Leonardo entered a not guilty plea.
However, there was an emotional outburst from the gallery when she entered her plea. After that, the judge ordered reporters from the courtroom before Gross appeared to enter his plea.
The lawyer representing Gross told the judge that his client was expected to enter a guilty plea, which he did later Thursday afternoon.
The guilty plea entered by Gross is not part of a plea deal. The defendant had previously admitted his guilty in a television interview broadcast last February.
