Condemned convict says he’s ready to die

Brendan Riley

Saturday, Sept. 26, 1998 | 10:14 a.m.

CARSON CITY, Nev. - Condemned inmate Roderick Tyrone Abeyta says he's ready to die Oct. 5 for the execution-style murder of his ex-girlfriend in Las Vegas, and wants no appeals filed on his behalf.

Abeyta, 44, interviewed Friday in a 6-by-10-foot visiting room at Nevada State Prison, said he realizes a court fight could keep him alive, but that would be "immoral to my religious beliefs."

"I'm seeking to be held accountable for my actions. I did a terrible wrong and I recognize that," added Abeyta, convicted of murdering Donna Martin, 38, in 1989 by firing two shots into her head as she slept. He had broken into her home in search of drugs.

The death row inmate said he tried for several years after his conviction to avoid execution by injection, but he no longer wants to "manipulate the system." He has been in prison in California and Nevada for most of his adult life.

"I'm not looking forward to being executed. I'm giving up control, and self-preservation wants to kick in," said the bearded, mustachioed convict.

"But I know I must give unto man the pound of flesh for the crime that I committed against society's laws. Spiritually, I know that I'm saved ... I am already forgiven for my sins against God through the blood of Christ Jesus," he said, motioning with a shackled, tattooed forearm toward his Bible.

Abeyta also said he wants the victim's family to know "I'm truly sorry for the pain I've caused them. That's what I want to express so deeply."

Raised in the Burlingame-San Mateo area near San Francisco, Abeyta said he was abused by his now-dead father and wound up in foster homes and eventually in California Youth Authority camps. At age 14, he began using methamphetamine and at 17 he was caught driving a stolen car.

Instead of another stint in a CYA camp, he went into the Marine Corps for two years. Back home in 1973 and still using "meth," he was arrested for robbery and would up serving 3 1/2 years in California prisons. He then moved to Las Vegas where, in 1979, he got another prison term for robbery. Released in March 1989, he shot Martin seven months later.

While awaiting trial, Abeyta spent several years in the state Lake's Crossing mental facility in Sparks. Eventually, he was found competent to stand trial and was convicted in 1996.

"It was all based behind drugs," he said of his crimes. "All my life has been 'speed.' I wasn't able to deal with my problems ... I'm not trying to blame anybody, but nobody gave me any tools for dealing with things."

"Maybe those things affected me and why I made my decisions. But I can't place the blame on those things. I made my choices, you know."

Abeyta also said he hasn't been in contact with his mother, two brothers, or estranged wife, and doesn't expect them to intervene at the last minute. He has no other family.

"I know they love me in their own way," Abeyta said of his family. "But what I did was a terrible wrong. Who wants to be a part of that or even connected with it?"

Abeyta also said he will fight any efforts by state or federal defenders to intervene.

"I'm all by myself on this," he said. "Myself and Christ. That's all I've got to hold on to. That keeps me strong."

Abeyta lost an automatic appeal a year ago and last spring wrote a judge to say he wanted to be executed. Clark County District Court Judge Jeff Sobel on Sept. 15 issued a warrant authorizing the execution after reviewing an updated report indicating Abeyta is competent.

"They made me see a psychiatrist to see if I was competent to make this rational decision," Abeyta said. "They came to the conclusion I'm very serious what it is that I'm doing."

If there's no court stay, Abeyta will be the first death row inmate to be executed since Richard Moran died in 1996.

Moran died for the August 1984 murders of bartender Sandra Devere, 24, and off-duty cook Russell Rhodes, 27, in a barroom. He also got a death sentence for killing his ex-wife, Linda Vandervoort, but it was later overturned.