Woman sentenced in fatal beating over sports ticket

By Matt Pordum (contact)

Friday, July 30, 2004 | 9:21 a.m.

District Judge John McGroarty on Thursday sentenced a woman to 54 years to life in prison for beating to death a 66-year-old man over a $44,000 sports ticket.

A jury in May had convicted 35-year-old Bridgett Pascua, 35, on charges of first-degree murder, kidnapping and robbery for the killing of Doyle Upson. Pascua served as her own lawyer during the trial.

Prior to the sentencing, Pascua's standby counsel, Jennifer Bolton, unsuccessfully argued for a new trial on the grounds that the jury should have been allowed to consider the complete statements from a man who was present during the eight-hour, crack-fueled, fatal beating of Upson.

Bolton said statements alleged drug dealer Ralph Crispin gave to police should have been ruled admissible in their entirety as opposed to the eight "fragments" that were introduced at the trial without "any context." She said Pascua tried to have Crispin's statements entered at three different times because she believed they were relevant and not as an offering of truth.

"As a rule of evidence the statements are admissible," Bolton said. "They (Crispin's statements) were relevant and their weight and credibility is up to the jury. He (Crispin) was present at the murder, and in it up to his murdering little eyeballs."

Chief District Attorney Bill Kephart disagreed, saying McGroarty was correct in refusing to admit Crispin's entire statements because they would "confuse the jury and make the jury determine if they were truthful or not." Essentially Kephart said it would have been wrong for McGroarty to allow Pascua to "introduce evidence that wasn't legally compelling."

By her own admission, Bolton said, Crispin's statements were loaded with inconsistencies, but she said Pacua was "not offering the statement saying it was the gospel truth" but instead as relevant information.

"Four people were in that room (Upson's home) and three people walked out alive," Bolton said. "So we should have had all their statements admitted."

McGroarty, who had read written arguments from both Bolton and Kephart prior to the hearing, simply said the argument was "insufficient to set aside the verdict."

Before issuing the sentence, which leaves Pascua ineligible for parole until she's about 90 years old, Kephart, Bolton and family members of Pascua argued about how the mother turned drug-addicted murderer should be sentenced.

Kephart said the Pascua whom family and friends remembered in letters asking for leniency from McGroarty is not the same woman Pascua is today.

"I have no doubt that at one time Bridgett was a pretty good lady, a loving mother and a loving wife," Kephart said. "Things in her life happened due to alcohol and drugs. She killed that person, as well as Doyle."

Kephart held up a thick stack of paperwork containing a list of infractions Pascua had committed in her last three months in custody in county jail. Kepheart said Pascua put on a different face while defending herself and in fact is someone who continues to lie and cause problems in prison.

Pascua's mother said her daughter was an intelligent and loving person who "still has a great deal to offer society."

In her one opportunity to address the court at the hearing, Pascua, in handcuffs, slowly rose from her chair, saying only "I'm innocent."

Prosecutors said Pascua, her friend Kimberly Crawford, 36, and Crispin were all present in Upson's home as Pascua and Crawford tortured Upson to make him hand over a $40,000 sports ticket Pascua believed she was entitled to.

Kimberly Crawford, 36, had previously confessed to beating Upson with a hammer and was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 20 years.

Crawford's testimony during Pascua's trial was crucial to Kephart's case. She said Pascua was in control of the killing and not just covering it up under orders from a mobster, as Pascua had claimed.

Crawford testified she, Pascua and alleged drug dealer Ralph Crispin all had smoked crack and went to Upson's home in the 700 block of Casino Center Boulevard to try to make Upson hand over the winning sports ticket.

When Upson wouldn't give it to them, Crawford said Pascua ordered her to start beating him with the hammer until he handed it over. Crawford said the three continued smoking crack throughout the nearly eight-hour attack, which also included choking and injections of Valium that were intended to be lethal.