Philippine government intervenes in Calambro Case

Brendan Riley

Friday, June 12, 1998 | 8:19 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A representative of condemned killer Alvaro Calambro's native Philippines has asked a federal judge to delay his Saturday night execution pending a mental competency review.

Maria Lourdes Bello, vice-consul of the Philippine consulate in Los Angeles, made the request of U.S. District Judge Howard McKibben, who tried unsuccessfully to question Calambro during a hearing Thursday.

"We haven't been able to even talk with him," the vice-consul said after attending the hearing and submitting a written request to meet with Calambro.

Calambro's mother, Lydia Calambro of Delano, Calif., also wants a delay. She says her son is borderline mentally retarded, has symptoms of schizophrenia, language difficulty and an IQ of only 71.

Mrs. Calambro also said she spoke with her son earlier this week and he told her, "Mama, I'm OK" and "Mom, it's not bad." Until now, family members and defense lawyers hadn't been in contact with Calambro for about two years.

Calambro, 25, wouldn't answer repeated questions from the judge aimed at determining whether he wants to stop his 9 p.m. Saturday execution, saying "yes" only when the judge asked if he was going to ignore the questions.

Deputy Attorney General Dave Sarnowski said Calambro "knows exactly what he is doing" by not responding, adding his silence was "a considered choice by an altogether rational and wily person."

Sarnowski also accused defense lawyers of "brinksmanship" in filing 11th-hour petitions in federal and state courts, adding they want "to tie this up in litigation until the cows come home."

Mike Pescetta, the deputy federal public defender seeking "next friend" legal status for Lydia Calambro so she can try to stop her son's execution, said there's clear evidence that Calambro is mentally incompetent.

Pescetta also said mental problems run in Calambro's family, adding that he has a schizophrenic father who beat him and abused his mother and sister.

He also has said Calambro has "vampire" fantasies about not really dying if he's executed by injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City. If the appeal fails, Calambro will be the first person executed in Nevada since 1996.

McKibben said he was "extremely troubled" that Calambro hadn't undergone a competency evaluation when he gave up his appeal rights in earlier state court proceedings.

The judge also said he could get a psychiatrist to conduct an evaluation on Friday, but Pescetta said that could be nothing more than a superficial " quick and dirty hearing." He wants a stay to allow for a more thorough review.

After the hearing, Pescetta said the psychiatrist mentioned by the judge, Dr. Philip Rich of Reno, had been involved in an earlier, sketchy review of Calambro that amounted to finding "he can spit over his chin and he's all right."

Calambro was sentenced to die for the January 1994 murders of Peggy Crawford, who had a tire iron driven through her skull, and Keith Christopher, whose head was crushed by a hammer.

The killings occurred during a $2,400 robbery at a U-Haul business in Reno where Calambro's crime partner, Duc Huynh, had just been fired. Huynh also got the death sentence but hanged himself at Ely State Prison.

After the killings, Huynh and Calambro fled and were arrested following a crime spree that began in Sacramento and ended with a high-speed highway chase, the kidnapping of a woman security guard in Los Angeles, and a 9 1/2 -hour standoff.

Calambro's family has maintained that Huynh was responsible for the murders. Family members also said Calambro, who came to the U.S. from the Philippines in 1982, had no earlier record of serious crimes and managed to get along until meeting Huynh.