Legislator wants death penalty loophole closed

Monday, April 23, 2001 | 11:34 a.m.

CARSON CITY -- The dramatic execution of Sebastian Bridges on Saturday has at least one legislator saying that it will be the last execution in Nevada for the next two years.

Bridges, 37, a South African national, was put to death by lethal injection, yelling and screaming that he was innocent and that he hated the father of the man he killed.

Assemblyman Bernie Anderson, D-Sparks, chairman of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, said he wants to eliminate an exception that would have allowed Bridges' death, even if the bill had already become law.

Senate Bill 254, which is in his Assembly committee, would impose a two-year moratorium on the death penalty except for those who want to be executed.

Anderson said he thinks there's a good chance his committee will take that exception out of the bill.

"I see no purpose in it," he said. "That's another form of suicide or euthanasia. People of the state of Nevada don't like that."

Anderson will have a lot to say when the committee considers the bill, which was approved 13-9 by the Senate last week. He was a co-sponsor on the original bill to abolish the death penalty. It was amended to provide for a two-year moratorium to permit a study of the fairness of capital punishment.

The study may lead to a public vote on the death penalty, Anderson said.

His committee approved Assembly Bill 353, which would prohibit the execution of mentally retarded people.

Anderson said he would allow the exception sponsor, Sen. Mark Amodei, R-Carson City, a chance to testify and explain the reasoning.

Gov. Kenny Guinn had indicated earlier he would be willing to stay Saturday's execution if Bridges wanted to continue his appeals. The governor said he did not want an execution carried out when a bill calling for a moratorium might reach his desk a day or so later. But the governor maintained it was up to Bridges to seek to continue his appeals.

But Bridges, while maintaining his innocence, steadfastly refused to ask that the execution be stopped.

The execution was delayed twice while Bridges talked to Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender who was ready to petition for a last- minute stay if the killer asked.

Bridges told Prison Director Jackie Crawford, "You can stop this, Miss Crawford."

She replied she could not, and it was up to Bridges to make a request. He declined.

Crawford accommodated Bridges' last wishes, allowing him to wear a dark suit and tie instead of the traditional prison clothing and permitting his minister, identified only as "Father Kelly," to be with him at the end. Usually the condemned man is alone in the death chamber when the injection is given.

At the end, Kelly was holding Bridges' hand as Bridges looked at Walter Blatchford, sitting in the front row of the seven witnesses. "I hate you," Bridges said to the father of Hunter Blatchford, who was shot to death in Las Vegas. Blatchford, the boyfriend of Bridges' estranged wife, Laurie, was buried in the desert. After the execution, Walter Blatchford told reporters that Bridges was a "twisted man" and that he felt no grief in watching the killer die. "I feel little emotion," he said. During the process, he had flashbacks of his son, Blatchford said.

Usually those scheduled to die are sedated before entering the death chamber. But Bridges refused, and he appeared calm when he was led in and strapped down.

He asked to see Pescetta. Then he started to yell such things as, "I didn't kill anybody," "This is murder" and "You want to kill me like a dog."

Crawford said Bridges had "high anxiety," and she quoted his last words as, "You have no justification to kill me. It's wrong, it's wrong."

On Saturday Bridges released a nine-page statement to the media, proclaiming his innocence and saying he got a raw deal during legal proceedings by not being able to hire his own attorney. He complained about the competency of the Clark County public defender's office, which represented him at trial. He represented himself on appeal.

Anderson said the statements were perplexing.

"I don't understand his thought process," Anderson said of Bridges. "He feels he was denied due process, and he doesn't take advantage of the due process in front of him."

Bridges' last meal included aloe juice, crab salad, shrimp, lobster tail, mango, cheesecake and vanilla ice cream. He died at 9:19 p.m., and his body was taken to a local mortuary. The funeral arrangements were kept confidential.