Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Woman pleads guilty in attack with acid

Unlike her boyfriend, Maritza Marincota has accepted a plea bargain for her role in the sulfuric acid attack on the man's former wife, school librarian Toni Smith.

Marincota faces a possible 16-year prison stay when sentenced June 6 by District Judge Joseph Pavlikowski on charges of mayhem and assault with a deadly weapon.

The guilty plea came Tuesday after psychiatric tests showed the 27-year-old woman was competent to stand trial over the Dec. 6 attack outside Crestwood Elementary School that left Smith, 42, burned over much of her body.

Her former husband, 53-year-old Robert Breault, has decided not to take a plea bargain that would have put him in prison for a minimum of six years.

Instead, Breault has pleaded not guilty and will stand trial June 24 on attempted murder, conspiracy and other felony charges. He faces a possible sentence of more than 70 years if convicted.

Breault, Marincota and Rudy Estevez, 30, had waived their preliminary hearings in Justice Court in March in anticipation of taking plea bargains.

Estevez pleaded guilty to mayhem and battery counts for being the one who actually splashed a container of sulfuric acid over Smith after waiting outside the elementary school where she worked.

The attack came the day after her divorce from Breault became final.

Estevez will be sentenced May 7 and faces the possibility of 20 years in prison.

The assault left Smith with disfigured and scarred flesh over much of her body. She already has undergone seven skin graft surgeries.

A key witness for the state is Jorge Ramirez, 22, an admitted accomplice who already named the three defendants as participants in the plot to disfigure Smith. After Estevez was arrested he also confessed his involvement to police.

Ramirez testified in Justice Court that he and Estevez were recruited by Marincota to throw acid on Smith.

Ramirez testified through an interpreter that Breault attended two meetings -- including one the morning of the attack during which he provided a photograph of the victim.

Payment for the attack, according to Ramirez, was $350 for each man.

Ramiriz, who received immunity from prosecution for his story, testified that he drove Estevez with the cup of acid to the Crestwood Elementary School, where they waited by Smith's car for her to appear.

Marincota

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