Steskal Should Die, Jury Says

Time has not dulled Meriel Riches’ grief or her need to see her son’s killer receive justice.

She received some solace Friday morning, though, when an Orange County jury recommended the death penalty for the man who murdered her son, a 34-year-old sheriff’s deputy, moments after he pulled into a convenience store parking lot in 1999.

“I don’t think I can ever forgive,” Riches said outside the Santa Ana courtroom where dozens of Brad Riches’ relatives, friends and colleagues wept. “But I have hope that every cop will look at this verdict and feel it has given them more protection.”

An earlier jury that convicted Maurice Steskal deadlocked 11-1 in favor of life in prison without parole for the unemployed laborer, whose mistrust of authority figures allegedly drove him to carry an assault rifle.

The most recent hearing lasted three weeks and included testimony from mental health experts and Riches’ friends and relatives.

Judge Frank F. Fasel will sentence Steskal on Feb. 6.

Dressed in a checked shirt and khaki pants, Steskal, 44, stared straight ahead, expressionless, as the verdict was read. “Yes,” said Riches’ mother, her sigh audible throughout the courtroom, as relatives around her embraced and began to cry.

“The victim impact was considerable,” said jury foreman Joseph Luse, 66, of Fountain Valley after five days of deliberation. “That and other aggravating factors outweighed the mitigating factors of his mental illness.”

Prosecutors contended that Steskal’s mental capacity allowed him to understand and plan his actions and know their consequences. He tried to escape detection by shaving his mustache and breaking down his AK-47 into small parts.

“He knew exactly what he was doing,” Deputy Dist. Atty. Bryan Brown said after the verdict was read. Brown called the recommendation a victory for law enforcement and Riches’ family.

“The jury recognized that police officers go out there every day to guarantee their freedoms,” Brown said. “They realized that Brad Riches gave his life for us and deserves justice on his behalf.”

Public Defender Mark Davis left immediately after the verdict was read and was not available for comment.

During the trial, he said that Steskal acted out of fright rather than maliciousness the night he fired 30 rounds from an assault rifle into his victim’s body and patrol car.

One mental health expert testified that Steskal was plagued by a paranoid fear that authority figures were hunting him, and that his test scores indicated an inability to reason that didn’t align with his average intelligence.

Testimony during Steskal’s first trial revealed that he walked into a 7-Eleven in Lake Forest on June 12, 1999, an assault weapon in his left hand, and told the terrified clerk he planned to use the rifle against “the pigs.”

He bought a pack of cigarettes and left the store, where Riches had just arrived on routine patrol. Steskal emptied his gun’s magazine at Riches. Several bullets tore through the deputy’s bulletproof vest.

“For myself and for his family and for the community, it closes another chapter,” said firefighter Jim Henry, who befriended Riches 17 years ago when both were taking firefighter classes. “But nothing can ever bring back Brad.”