Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

With minutes to spare, killer begs off execution

CARSON CITY -- Less than an hour before his execution, killer Robert McConnell sought and received a stay at the Nevada State Prison, leaving the mother of the victim angry.

Pam McCoy, the mother of Brian Pierce, told reporters after the stay was granted she was "back to square one on anger and bitterness." But she added "I cannot allow his lies to control my life any longer."

McCoy and members of her family from Reno were present at the prison to witness the execution by lethal injection.

But at 8:26 p.m. McConnell, 32, asked Michael Pescetta, an assistant federal public defender, to start the wheels rolling for another appeal. There was no reason disclosed why he changed his mind.

Jackie Crawford, director of the state Department of Corrections, used a hot line to call District Judge Steven Kosach in Reno, who granted the stay of execution. McConnell will be returned Monday to death row at the state prison in Ely.

It came off as prison officials predicted. They believed he was playing the system. He had a last meal of pizza and ice cream and was allowed to use the phone all day.

"He orchestrated the whole process," Crawford said.

Gerald Gardner, chief criminal deputy in the state attorney general's office, said, "He seemed to be playing a game."

McConnell will now file a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Appeals generally take years to make their way through the state and federal system.

McConnell pleaded guilty to murder in the death of Pierce, 25, who was shot 10 times and stabbed three times on Aug. 7, 2002, in Reno. McConnell then called the victim's mother and left a message on her answering machine, "Your son died like a coward."

Pierce was living with McConnell's ex-girlfriend. He raped the woman, forced her into a car and drove to California where she was able to escape. He was later arrested in San Francisco.

In an interview with the Reno Gazette, McConnell said he should have killed the girl instead of Pierce. And he wrote a letter to McCoy apologizing for killing her son.

McCoy told reporters outside the prison that she had wanted to trust him. But she said, "He still wants to torture and kill." She called him a coward and added he was not man enough to go through with the execution.

"He is dead to me forever," McCoy said. "Now he goes to his grave at the prison in Ely."

During the day, McConnell met with a Catholic priest and once with Pescetta, an expert on death penalty cases. He met with his mother and stepfather for several hours. He was in chains but the visit was not blocked by a glass partition. His mother hugged him, prison officials said.

He had said that if he wasn't allowed to hug his mother, he might call off the execution.

Gardner said Pescetta advised McConnell not to wait until the last minute to decide on an appeal. Pescetta entered the prison with the forms necessary to halt the execution.

Fritz Schlottman, a spokesman for the prison, said McConnell phoned his brother and sister who live in another state.

"He is lively and he waved to me," Schlottman said, different from the last men who were executed. They were very quiet and subdued.

A late change of heart by a condemned man has happened before. Carson City killer Jimmy Neuschafer was scheduled to die and had his last meal. But then he changed his mind. He later died in prison.

"It's a manipulation of the system," said Crawford, noted that thousands of dollars were spent on overtime and other items.

Eleven inmates have been executed since capital punishment was reinstated. Ten of them volunteered to die and the appeal process ran out for the other. The last execution was in August 2004. Terry Dennis said it was better to die than to spend another 15 to 20 years in prison.

Outside the prison Thursday, 15 to 20 people held a candlelight vigil, protesting the death penalty. They carried signs that read, "Killing is not the answer," and "All killing is wrong."

A single woman across the street from the prison carried a sign that said, "Victims have rights too."

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