LV ruling: Gallego competent for retrial

Wednesday, June 2, 1999 | 11:15 a.m.

SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento serial killer Gerald Armond Gallego is mentally competent to participate in a retrial of his Nevada death-penalty proceedings, a judge has ruled.

District Judge John S. McGroarty's decision, released Tuesday in Las Vegas, did not elaborate on his finding except to say that evidence in a three-day trial last month was "clear and convincing."

Pershing County District Attorney Belinda Quilici and Nevada Public Defender Steven G. McGuire, one of Gallego's two attorneys, declined comment Tuesday.

The judge's ruling marks an important step toward retrying Gallego on whether he should receive the death penalty for kidnapping Karen Twiggs and Stacey Redican, both 17, from the Sunrise mall in Citrus Heights and then killing them with a hammer in Nevada.

Gallego's death penalty sentence for the April 1980 murders was overturned in 1997 by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ruled that jurors were given erroneous instructions.

Prosecutors have been eager to reimpose the death sentence on Gallego for the Nevada murders. Before a penalty trial could be re-enacted, however, Gallego's attorneys expressed doubt that he was mentally competent to proceed, triggering an evaluation. During last month's trial, Gallego's attorneys presented testimony from experts who found him delusional, psychotic and suffering from brain damage and a deteriorating mental condition.

Psychiatric reports offered by the defense said Gallego, 52, believes himself to be possessed by his father, Gerald Albert Gallego, who was executed as a murderer at the age of 27.

But prosecutors and two court-appointed experts assigned to evaluate Gallego contended his new-found paranoia was a ploy to forestall the death penalty retrial.

Using prison records dating back to the early 1980s and staff observations, the court's doctors concluded that Gallego was competent to proceed under the law, which requires only that he "understand the criminal charges against him" and "can aid and assist in the defense."