She Wanted It All - Kathryn Casey [155]
The portrait Wetzel painted of Celeste was a damning one, a woman who married for money, then abhorred her husband, ridiculed him, and drugged him. She recounted Tracey Tarlton’s version of her romance with Celeste, asserting Celeste “worked on Tracey to convince her Steven Beard was a terrible man.”
To the world, she said, Tracey and Celeste held themselves out to be a couple. They attended a wedding together, sent each other cards, talked on the telephone “all the time.” Then Tracey came to hamburger night and kissed Celeste in front of Kristina. It was Tracey who went to the girls’ graduation party at Jimmy Martinez’s house, not Steve. He wasn’t invited. That August, Steve told his wife to rid herself of Tarlton, and Celeste, Wetzel said, “stepped up her campaign to do harm to Steven Beard…
“A few days before they were to depart for Europe, Celeste asked Tracey Tarlton to shoot Steven Beard. She promised if Tracey got caught she’d take care of her pets, pay for her lawyer, and support her.”
Wetzel recounted that night in October, detailing the plans Celeste made, claiming she’d told Tracey to shoot Steve in the stomach, not the head or chest, because that would make a mess. Afterward, Celeste attempted to wipe all remnants of Tracey from the house, anything that could tie her to the killing. When Steve died the following January 22, “Celeste’s mourning was short.”
With her final words, Wetzel delivered a punch: “This is a simple case of a greedy, manipulative defendant who took advantage of a mentally ill woman who loved her.”
For a few moments the courtroom remained silent. Then Dick DeGuerin stood. It was his opportunity to address the jury, to convince them to see the case his way. Unlike Wetzel, he showed little nervousness. For the first moments, however, he did seem overwhelmed. He knew jurors would find many of his client’s actions reprehensible. “This is a case of fatal attraction,” he said. “This is a case of a fatal obsession.”
While Celeste had barely looked up from her chin-to-shoulder pose during Wetzel’s opening, as DeGuerin spoke she sat up, listening intently. DeGuerin agreed with Wetzel that Tarlton was mentally ill. In fact, he went even further, labeling her psychotic and saying she heard voices and experienced auditory and visual hallucinations. “She is a lesbian,” he said, spitting out the words, “predatory and aggressive.”
A self-satisfied smile flashed across Celeste’s face as he spoke. Branding Tarlton that way was risky in liberal Austin, yet DeGuerin had reasoned it through. While the jurors might not condemn Tracey’s sexuality, he intended to draw her as a sexual predator, obsessed with Celeste. DeGuerin felt certain the jury wouldn’t condone that.
Tarlton killed Steve to get him out of Celeste’s life, DeGuerin charged, because she wanted her for herself. She then turned on Celeste, fingering her as the planner, to escape the death penalty or a life sentence. To defuse later testimony, he admitted parts of what Wetzel had charged. Yes, he said, Celeste married Steven Beard for his money, for security, for his promise that he would support her. Steve knew that. He was a kind, generous, outgoing and friendly man. He was bighearted with Celeste and gave her everything she wanted. “He was generous,” said DeGuerin, “to a fault.”
The twins were “spoiled brats,” he said, who turned against their own mother to get their adoptive father’s money.
Yes, Celeste was unfaithful, had a relationship with her ex-husband. But, he implied, Steve knew and didn’t object. He was sexually impotent, DeGuerin said, requiring a shot in his penis to get an erection. He drank too much, had heart problems, breathing problems. He knew Celeste married