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A federal judge in Phoenix has dismissed a plea deal for a man who confessed to assaulting a Navajo elder, leaving her for dead, which would have spared him additional prison time.
Preston Henry Tolth, 26, is now set to stand trial on charges of carjacking and assault related to the 2021 disappearance of Ella Mae Begay. The trial date has yet to be determined.
The proposed plea agreement would have seen Tolth released after serving a three-year sentence in exchange for admitting his involvement in the crime and pleading guilty to a single robbery charge.
Ella Mae Begay, celebrated for her skill in weaving pictorial rugs, was 62 when she went missing from her hometown of Sweetwater, Arizona, a small community situated on the northern Navajo Nation. It was here she grew up and later raised her three children.
Begay’s case drew national media coverage, shedding light on the larger issue of Indigenous individuals who disproportionately go missing or are murdered. Nearly five years after her disappearance, Begay remains unlocated.
The rare decision to reject a plea agreement followed anguished testimony from Begay’s family members who told the court Tolth should not walk free without revealing Begay’s location.
Seraphine Warren described her aunt as a warm and sweet person who opted for “hugs instead of handshakes,” and implored the judge not to “give up on her” by accepting a plea agreement that Warren said offered no justice to the grieving family.
“Accountability is not time served,” Warren told the judge tearfully. “It’s about truth, and we still don’t have the truth.”
Gerald Begay, Ella Mae’s son, said, “I feel like the justice system has failed me.”
Tolth, whose father was dating Begay’s sister, was identified as a person of interest within days of Begay’s disappearance. He initially denied involvement but in a later interrogation, confessed to stealing Begay’s truck with her in it, punching her repeatedly and leaving her on the side of the road.
Tolth was set to face trial in 2024, but a federal judge dealt prosecutors a major blow by ruling his confession inadmissible, saying Tolth had been unlawfully coerced by an FBI agent who lied about evidence that law enforcement had against him after Tolth had invoked his right to remain silent.
The U.S. Attorney’s office for Arizona and Tolth’s public defenders declined to comment on the judge’s rejection of the plea agreement.
Tolth did not speak at Thursday’s hearing. His attorney asked the judge to consider his unstable childhood and history of homelessness and substance abuse, calling his three years in federal custody a reasonable sentence.
A federal prosecutor said the suppression of Tolth’s confession weakened the government’s case and that the plea agreement would provide Begay’s family with more certainty and finality than a trial with sparse evidence. Begay’s family members disagree.
“We want to see this go to trial because we have nothing to lose,” Warren said. “If we lose, at least we fought.”