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(Nephi, Utah-AP) -- A Utah judge cleared the way this morning for two teenagers to be returned to Nevada to face charges in a butcher knife attack on two little girls outside a Mesquite casino.
19-year-old Beau Santino Maestas and his 16-year-old sister -- Monique -- could be returned to Las Vegas this afternoon. The teens could face the death penalty in Clark County on charges including murder and attempted murder in the January 22nd attack.
Juab County prosecutor Jared Eldridge says Beau Maestas said nothing while his lawyer told the judge he would not fight extradition.
Monique Maestas waived extradition earlier in Juab County Court.
Three-year-old Kristyanna Cowan was killed and her 10-year-old sister -- Brittney Bergeron -- was paralyzed from the waist down in the attack in a trailer park outside the Casa Blanca Casino.
Beau Maestas told police the attack came in retaliation for a drug deal rip-off involving the girls' mother and the mother's boyfriend in the casino.
Kristyanna's due to be buried Saturday in Beaumont, California, in a private ceremony with family members after two postponed funerals and three weeks of custody battles between her divorced parents.
Clark County authorities have been awarded custody of Brittney, who is recovering at a southern Nevada rehabilitation center.
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
