Inside the plea deals for mom, stepdad of toddler found dead in Smyrna softball field

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story has been updated to reflect additional information provided by Emma Grace Cole's father and the Delaware Department of Justice.

The plea negotiations resumed early on a Thursday morning in late May.

Just before the Kent County courthouse opened to the public for the day, Kristie Cole Haas’ attorneys and a Delaware Department of Justice prosecutor huddled together to hash out the final details.

Haas, 31, would plead guilty to murder by abuse or neglect for the 2019 killing of her 3-year-old daughter, Emma Grace Cole. She’d also plead to abuse of a corpse for dumping the child’s remains in a Smyrna park and setting them ablaze, the attorneys agreed.

Regarding her other kids, the plea would be to three counts of endangering the welfare of a child – one count for each living child. The murder charge is a felony, but all others are misdemeanors.

By the time the attorneys made their way to the judge’s chambers for an 8:30 a.m. conference, they’d negotiated that the state would recommend 50 years behind bars, of which Haas would actually serve 30.

The judge, however, didn’t know it yet.

“I understand there are plea negotiations ongoing,” said Kent County Superior Court Judge Noel Primos, according to a transcript of the meeting obtained by Delaware Online/The News Journal.

“I don’t want to hold you here if it would be more productive – if you think – to go down and continue those.”

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But the paperwork had already been signed. Haas had scrawled her name on the plea document earlier that morning − Primos just needed to accept it.

The judge, the transcript shows, was eager to complete the process – he had case reviews at 9 a.m., but “given the importance of the matter,” he said, could fit in the plea before beginning those.

Moments later, it was decided: Attorneys would be present in Courtroom 8 at the dot of 9.

Without much ado and with almost none of Emma Grace’s family present – save for Haas’ mother, who has primary custody of the other three kids and who had traveled from Indiana for the negotiations – Haas would quietly plead guilty.

‘I thought I was about to have a stroke’

In Kentucky and Indiana that same morning, Emma Grace’s father, grandfather, aunt and great aunt – who served as the toddler’s legal guardian for much of her short life – were beginning their days.

An acquaintance had notified Tanya Axsom Conley, Emma Grace’s former guardian and great aunt, that Haas had a 9 a.m. hearing scheduled, but she didn’t know much else.

As the day wore on, Conley tried to put Haas out of her mind. She’d almost been successful when, as she waited for a work meeting to begin, her phone “started blowing up.”

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Conley was shocked and indignant as she read a brief news article about the plea, given the last communication she’d had with the Delaware Department of Justice was weeks earlier. At the time, a social worker had called her to say that Kevin Smith, the lead prosecutor on the case, would be in Indiana in late June and wanted to meet.

The social worker hadn’t given many details, but said they would be in town to speak to Emma Grace’s family. The trial, Conley was told, was still slated for July 10 as long as Haas didn’t take a plea before then.

The Justice Department later said attorneys were still under a gag order at the time Haas took the plea and could notify only next of kin of the proceedings. Emma Grace’s father, who is considered next of kin, said Smith had asked his position on a plea deal, but added he wasn't notified of plea negotiations. He said he also learned of the plea through the news.

Conley was initially angered by the early May call – how could prosecutors even consider a deal when Haas had done what she’d done, she’d thought. She certainly couldn’t fathom a world where Haas didn’t spend the rest of her life behind bars.

Learning of the plea through a news article was all the more gut-wrenching.

“I thought I was about to have a stroke,” she told a reporter later that afternoon, laughing ruefully. “I am so pissed off. I am so mad that they didn't even bother to say a damn thing to any of us.”

News of the plea deal spreads

James Cole – Haas’ father and Emma Grace’s grandfather – was even more caught off guard by the news.

Like Conley, he was at work when he received a call from a reporter. Stepping out of a meeting, he answered the phone with “hello,” his Kentucky drawl placing emphasis on the ‘o.’

“They did what now?” Cole said as he was told about what had transpired in Kent County that morning. “I didn't even know there was a plea deal on the table.”

Cole was sure that his older daughter – Haas’ sister, Kelsey Cole Navarro – was also unaware of the plea. Like Conley, Navarro’s latest contact with anyone from Delaware had been when the Justice Department social worker called to say the prosecutor would be making a trip out to Indiana and wanted to meet.

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Cole needed to break the news to her.

Quickly, he hung up and dialed Navarro. Fortunately for him, she’d just gotten off the phone with the prosecutor.

Navarro had been home cleaning when Smith called. Though she didn’t know his number, she saw the Delaware area code and guessed she should answer.

The prosecutor, Navarro later said, was apologetic. He explained that the plea had happened relatively last minute and was sorry if she had learned of it through a news article. She hadn’t, but was taken aback nonetheless.

Like her father, Navarro hadn’t known of the Thursday morning hearing. And while she could understand why Smith had offered the plea – a key reason, the prosecutor told her, was to avoid forcing Haas’ other children, the oldest of whom is 12, to testify – she was heartbroken.

“There was a part of me that was hoping that it was (Haas’ husband) Brandon or there was some sort of extenuating circumstance that led to Emma’s death,” Navarro said. “But I’m also angry because it just didn’t have to happen.”

‘Never know the truth’

As the news sank in – for Conley, that Haas might one day be free; for Cole, that he’d “never know the truth” of what happened to his granddaughter; and for Navarro, that her sister had killed Emma Grace – the toddler’s family only had more questions.

How had the plea come about? After almost three years behind bars, what was the catalyst for it? What was the status of Brandon Haas’ charges, who’d been out on bail despite also facing murder and child abuse charges for Emma Grace’s death?

While the family may never get some of these answers, court documents show that Brandon Haas negotiated a deal with prosecutors long before Conley, Cole and Navarro even had an inkling that Kristie Haas might plea.

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According to court transcripts, Brandon Haas’ attorneys requested an office conference in mid-February with Primos – the judge – and Smith.

A week prior to the meeting, which was held Feb. 23, Brandon Haas had signed paperwork agreeing to plead to four counts of endangering the welfare of a child – one, a class F felony, and the other three misdemeanors. The conference was intended to bring Primos up to speed.

As the group met via Zoom that Thursday in late February, Brandon Haas’ attorneys explained that in exchange for open sentencing − meaning prosecutors would not offer a sentencing recommendation and leave the decision in Primos' hands − and the removal of a GPS ankle bracelet he’d been wearing for about two years, the 41-year-old would “cooperate and testify truthfully” against his wife.

But there was a caveat – Brandon Haas’ attorneys were concerned about what might happen if the news media got word of the plea.

At some point not too long before the paperwork was signed – it’s not exactly clear when – Haas had sent a letter to her husband asking him to take out a life insurance policy on her.

The gist of the note, one of Brandon Haas’ attorneys explained to Primos, was that she “was contemplating not staying alive.” If Haas learned of the plea through the news, the attorney explained, the consequences might be dire.

Smith agreed, emphasizing that while there would come a time “in short order” when Haas and her attorneys would have to be made aware of her husband’s cooperation deal, executing the plea in a closed courtroom and sealing the documents would be best.

“The public disclosure of that cooperation agreement could have a deleterious effect on a potential trial,” Smith told the judge.

As Primos listened to the attorneys, he agreed. His only concern, transcripts show, centered on the logistics of sealing the court proceedings.

But soon, those details had been worked out and a date was set: In two Thursdays, at 9 a.m. on March 9, Brandon Haas would take the plea. His sentencing would be deferred until after his wife’s case was resolved.

‘A slap on the wrist’

Much like the news of Haas' plea, information about Brandon Haas’ deal came in bits and pieces.

When Smith spoke with Emma Grace’s family members one by one, hours after Kristie Haas pleaded guilty to murder in late May, all documents related to her husband's March 9 plea were still under seal. By court order, only Emma Grace’s father and the attorneys involved in the case could know.

Yet due to a story that was mistakenly published by a national news outlet the following day – despite the documents still being under seal – the toddler’s family once again learned about a plea from the news media.

Weeks later, they have little additional information.

They now know when the plea occurred and some of the reasons for it not being disclosed earlier. But they may never know how Smith and Brandon Haas’ attorneys came to a the plea agreement – or what his exact role in Emma Grace’s death was.

“I think it’s atrocious,” Navarro said of the deal. “Maybe he didn’t kill her, but he was with Kristie for a whole year after and didn’t say anything.”

Navarro added that while she doesn’t believe probation, which Brandon Haas could receive, is enough for abusing and neglecting Emma Grace and the other three children − none of whom are biologically related to Brandon Haas − it’s even more upsetting given “the aiding and abetting with Kristie and hiding information from police.”

“How do you do something so heinous and be a part of that for so long?” Navarro questioned. “And then just get a slap on the wrist?”

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But Neama Rahmani, a former state and federal prosecutor based in Los Angeles, said plea deals – and trials – are often complicated, especially in murder cases or crimes involving children.

While Rahmani hasn’t looked into Emma Grace’s case extensively, he said given what Brandon Haas pleaded to, and the sentence recommendation, the evidence likely showed that he was not the one directly responsible for the 3-year-old’s death.

If this was the case, Rahmani said, prosecutors likely would have made it a priority to convict Kristie Haas on murder charges, despite “some people probably not being happy with this kind of deal.”

Displeasure with the plea has certainly been the case here. But as frustrated as Emma Grace’s family has been with the way recent events have transpired and how they learned of them, they all plan to attend Haas’ sentencing, slated for next month. Brandon Haas is set to be sentenced in September.

Conley is still attempting to arrange travel, given money is an issue. A friend has set up a GoFundMe to help her travel from Indiana to Delaware. She feels if she doesn’t attend, she’ll be “failing” the little girl she loved and cared for.

Cole and Navarro, meanwhile, are trying to prepare themselves for the day. They both want to see Haas and hear what, if anything, she has to say.

Cole hasn’t yet decided what side of the courtroom he’ll sit on – the prosecution’s side or the defense’s side. Emma Grace was his granddaughter, he said, but Haas is his daughter.

Navarro shared a similar sentiment.

While she believes her sister is where she deserves to be, it’s difficult to know that “she’s gonna spend the majority of her life behind bars.”

“She's not going to have days where she gets to celebrate things in life, and deservingly so,” Navarro said. “But it's still hard because you want the best for people that you love, whether they deserve it or not.”

Got a tip? Send to Isabel Hughes at ihughes@delawareonline.com or 302-324-2785. For all things breaking news, follow her on Twitter at @izzihughes_.

This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Delaware attorneys reached plea deal in murder of Emma Grace Cole