Meister resentenced to life in prison for 2001 murder

After pleading with a judge to provide him with some life at the end of a long prison sentence, David Meister found himself in the same place he was nearly a decade ago: spending his remaining years behind bars for the 2001 killing of Tonya Hart.

"You are before the court without remorse, and you are before the court without apology," 2nd District Judge Carl Kerrick said to Meister before imposing two fixed-life sentences, one each for his November convictions of first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit first-degree murder.

Kerrick had discretion to fix as few as 10 years of the life sentences. But he cited Meister's continued maintenance of his innocence, his "utter disregard for human life" and the fact that he killed Hart for money as reasons to deny him any chance at an early release.

The sentences will be served simultaneously, and Meister, 28, will remain in the custody of the Latah County Jail until he is transferred to the Idaho Department of Correction.

An earlier jury found Meister guilty of the same charges in 2003, and Judge John R. Stegner also sentenced him to fixed life. But the Idaho Supreme Court ordered a new trial after it found judicial errors were made during the first trial.

Hart was shot once in the face and once in the chest when she opened the door of her trailer on U.S. Highway 95 north of Moscow on the night of Dec. 11, 2001. In a confession he later recanted, Meister said Hart's boyfriend Jesse (Shorty) Linderman allegedly paid him to kill her.

Linderman has never been charged. But in her victim's statement to the court, Hart's aunt Mary Kingery appealed to "any good" that Meister has left in him to confess so Linderman could face punishment too.

Kingery also pointed to Hart's good works in the community, like helping the homeless, the elderly and anyone else in need. She said there is a plaque in her honor on a wall at a Moscow food bank.

"Tonya did some things in her life that I didn't like," Kingery said. "However, she did more good."

Hart's mother, Debra Hart, described learning of her daughter's murder.

"I lost it. I was devastated and shocked," she said before turning to Meister. "David Meister, you are a cold-blooded murderer. You thought nothing of her life. I think you are a slithering snake. I can only hope to God that you burn in hell."

Hart's father, Barry Hart, declined to take the stand and make a victim's statement. But seconds after Kerrick recessed the hearing, he shouted "F--- you David Meister. You can burn in hell," before a sheriff's office employee escorted him from the courtroom.

Meister, who has grown a reddish beard that is graying at the chin since his conviction last year, stood and reasserted his innocence when Kerrick gave him the chance.

"A terrible crime has been committed, and I have been found guilty of it," he said. "I know that I have many years ahead of me in prison, and I will face it as I fight for my rights and my liberty. There is no valid reason that I could not one day re-enter society as a productive member. Please, judge, provide me with some life at the end of this."

But Kerrick cited the aggravating factors of killing someone just for money and the disregard for human life. He also pointed to the clear premeditated nature of the killing, which included weeks of planning, buying a gun, and a 25-minute walk through the snow to Hart's trailer.

"There was plenty of opportunity to think better of it, turn back, and not do it," Kerrick said.

Joel Mills may be contacted at jmills@lmtribune.com or (208) 883-0564.