Governor to allow execution

Thursday, April 19, 2001 | 11:23 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- Gov. Kenny Guinn is not going to stop the execution of Las Vegas killer Sebastian Bridges, scheduled to die Saturday night at the state prison in Carson City.

Guinn's press secretary Jack Finn said today, "It's up to Mr. Bridges now," who has decided not to launch any new appeals to stay his death by lethal injection. "He (the governor) is not standing in the way."

Guinn had said earlier on Wednesday he was undecided what to do and questioned if he had the legal authority to stay the execution. Guinn said Bridges has told his lawyer Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender, that he has no intention of appealing further.

The decision by Guinn comes after the Senate Wednesday approved, by a 13-8 vote, a bill to put a moratorium on the death penalty for two years. But the measure allows those death row inmates to go forward with their execution if they want.

There was no debate in the Senate on the death penalty moratorium Wednesday, as there were on amendments to the bill. After the final vote, however, Sen. Ray Rawson, R-Las Vegas, served notice that he would ask for reconsideration of the bill today.

Rawson voted for the bill, but he said he wanted to talk to Guinn to determine "how comfortable" the governor was with the measure. Rawson said he had a lot of "soul searching" to do Wednesday evening. He does not favor a moratorium but does support a study of capital punishment during the next two years.

He said this was not a delay tactic, and he might let the bill go to the Assembly without asking for reconsideration today.

Voting against Senate Bill 254 were Republicans Mike McGinness of Fallon, Lawrence Jacobsen of Minden, Ann O'Connell of Las Vegas, Jon Porter of Henderson, Dean Rhoads of Tuscarora, Maurice Washington of Sparks and Bill Raggio and Randolph Townsend, both of Reno. Republicans who joined the nine Democrats included Rawson, Mark Amodei of Carson City and Mark James of Las Vegas.

Bridges was convicted of the fatal shooting of Hunter Blatchford, the boyfriend of his estranged wife. Bridges maintained the shooting was an accident. But after he killed Blatchford in October 1997, he buried the body in the desert outside of Las Vegas.

Bridges feels he received an unfair deal in the justice system and even went so far as to ask the Supreme Court to speed up his execution date. That appeal was denied. He also has refused offers by Pescetta to file additional appeals to delay the execution as other courts review at the conviction and death penalty.

SB254 imposes the ban on executions until July 1, 2003. However, juries could still decide to hand down the death penalty, and appeals from convicts on death row could still go forward.

In the meantime, the Legislative Commission would appoint a committee to study the issues relating to capital punishment. It would look at the race, economic status and sexual orientation of those charged and sentenced to death; whether defendants who are younger than 18 or mentally retarded should be sentenced to death; the competency of defense lawyers in capital cases; whether jurors understood the law and jury instructions; whether capital punishment is an effective deterrent against murder and the costs of prosecutions and appeals in a death penalty case, as opposed to one in which the person is sentenced to life in prison.

The Assembly Judiciary Committee has approved a bill to prohibit the execution of mentally retarded persons. The committee, however, deleted a provision in another bill to prohibit the execution of persons younger than 18.