Competency hearing set for convicted sex-slave killer

Monday, March 8, 1999 | 11:42 a.m.

Gallego, 52, was sentenced to die by lethal injection in 1984 for the murder of two Sacramento teen-agers. But his death sentence was overturned last year by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, which ordered a new penalty hearing on his conviction.

Clark County District Judge John McGroarty, who was appointed to preside over the proceeding, last fall ordered a psychological evaluation to determine if Gallego is competent to go forward.

A competency hearing was scheduled for March 22-24.

Karen Twiggs and Stacey Redican disappeared from a Sacramento-area shopping mall in April 1980. Their bodies were found three months later in a remote canyon in Pershing County, 90 miles east of Reno.

During his trial, his accomplice, Charlene Williams, testified Gallego was looking for "the perfect sex slave." Williams said she helped lure a number of victims into cars between 1978 and 1980 with promises of parties or jobs.

Williams confessed to taking part in 10 murders, including six that were never charged. She was released from prison in 1997.

Gallego is also on death row in California.