Bishop: Planned execution is an ‘affront’

Friday, Oct. 2, 1998 | 11:30 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Bishop Phillip Straling, bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Reno, said Thursday the coming execution of Las Vegas killer Roderick Abeyta is an "affront to the respect for all life."

Straling said even though Abeyta has refused to pursue additional court appeals, the execution "denies the sacredness of life which mandates that no human life can be taken away as punishment."

Abeyta, 46, has told psychiatrists that it is God's will he die for the murder of his ex-girlfriend Donna Martin in Las Vegas in October 1989. He is spending his final days at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City and the execution by lethal injection is set for 12:01 a.m. Monday.

Prison spokesman Glen Whorton said Abeyta's family is scheduled to visit him but he did not know the time.

There will be 11 representatives of the news media and seven or eight other witnesses at the execution, Whorton said. He would not reveal whether any members of the victim's family have asked to attend.

Abeyta has not yet said what he wants for his last meal.

About an hour before the execution, he will receive a sedative to stop any last minute struggles.

Straling, in a news release, said that by coincidence this Sunday is "Respect Life Sunday -- a day when Catholics throughout the country observe and pray for a greater respect for all human life."

A vigil is planned outside the prison Sunday night at about 9:30 p.m. in which prayers will be offered for the victim, for Abeyta and for both of their families.

Abeyta and his half-brother, Casey Korsmo, broke into Martin's home in search of drugs. She apparently was passed out from using too many drugs and Abeyta sat on her back, grabbed her hair and shot her twice in the head.

Korsmo pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and received a life sentence with possibility of parole.

There are 84 persons on death row. The most recent execution in Nevada was that of Richard Moran, in 1996, who shot and killed two people in a Clark County bar and then murdered his former wife.