After being on the run for more than three years, a former Cochise County woman has been sitting in a Nevada jail without bail since Jan. 3 while county and state officials work to secure Gov. Doug Ducey’s signature on a governor’s warrant for her rendition, or return, to Arizona.
Melissa Lara Livingston failed to appear at Cochise County Superior Court for sentencing in November 2018 after pleading guilty in several cases involving burglaries in the greater Sierra Vista area. She was named in a nationwide arrest warrant a few days later.
Public records show Livingston, now 50, was taken into custody in Nye County (NV) jail but has refused to voluntarily agree to be handed over to the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office. As a result, documents are being readied for Ducey to sign, as Nevada law requires extraditions to be processed within 30 days of arrest.
Livingston was indicted in early 2017 in four cases stemming from a series of high-value burglaries dating back to 2016. She avoided trial by pleading guilty in August 2017 to four charges as part of a negotiated agreement between herself, her defense attorney Stephanie Stoltman, and the Cochise County Attorney’s Office.
Under the plea deal, 10 other felonies were dismissed against Livingston. She was to be sentenced to prison for a term determined by the trial judge, with a presumptive, or mid-range, total of 13 years, according to the agreement. Livingston also agreed to pay restitution in an amount of to $100,000.
The plea deal further required Livingston “to provide truthful, complete, and accurate testimony regarding her own conduct, as well as the conduct of her co-defendants” in connection to the four cases. And it required her to provide testimony concerning “other criminal matters that she has been involved in or witnessed” in Cochise County.
Livingston’s sentencing hearing was indefinitely delayed so she could testify in her various co-defendants’ cases. And in an exception to court rules, she was permitted to remain out of custody pending sentencing despite her mandatory prison time.
Just days after signing her plea agreement, Livingston filed her own motion asking to withdraw her guilty pleas and go to trial on all the original charges. Her filing alleged Stoltman provided ineffective assistance of counsel in negotiating and explaining the provisions of the plea deal.
One such provision noted that withdrawing from the plea agreement would only be permitted if the Court determined a withdrawal was necessary to correct “a manifest injustice.” The trial judge and the Arizona Court of Appeals ruled Livingston failed to meet the burden of proving a manifest injustice.
The Arizona Supreme Court refused to consider the matter, after which Livingston received notice that her sentencing hearing would be conducted Nov. 5, 2018. By then, Livingston had been out of custody post-plea for more than one year.
Livingston was a no-show, after which the fugitive warrant was issued. The Cochise County Sheriff’s Office circulated a “wanted” flyer in February 2020 but it appears Livingston has had no police contact until this month.
Her refusal to voluntarily return to Cochise County means Ducey must sign and send a rendition demand to Nevada Governor Steve Sisolak to secure Livingston’s transfer. It would be the responsibility of Cochise County deputies to bring her back to Arizona.
Once the paperwork reaches Nevada, Livingston could be standing before a Cochise County judge by mid-February. It will then be up to Cochise County Attorney Brian McIntyre to decide whether the honor Livingston’s 2017 plea deal or have it voided by a judge.
If all charges are restored in the four cases, Livingston faces more than 30 years in prison if convicted at trial of all counts.
