Attorney says Ressa suffers from history of mental illness

David Kihara

Thursday, Sept. 29, 2005 | 10:12 a.m.

The man charged in the deaths of three people hit by a car on a crowded sidewalk on the Strip last week is believed to have a history of mental illness going back several years, his attorney said Wednesday.

Stephen Ressa, 27, suffered from mental illnesses and possibly a bipolar disorder while living in California and made previous statements to people about his mental state, said Joseph Abood, deputy public defender.

"Our preliminary investigation shows his delusional behavior began manifesting itself in California before he even got here," Abood said.

Ressa of Rialto, Calif., is facing three counts of murder, 11 counts of attempted murder as well as multiple counts of battery with a deadly weapon in the Sept. 21 incident that also injured 11 other people in front of Ballys.

Police said Ressa told them he intentionally drove into the people because he thought they were armed and looked like "demons," according to a police report.

Abood said Ressa was experiencing serious delusions and believed his life was in danger when he drove into the people on the Strip.

"He truly and honestly believed that these people wanted to kill him," Abood said. "He never meant to intentionally cause this suffering. He was trying to preserve his own life."

On Wednesday, a third victim in the crash, Richard Bradford, 60, of Renton, Wash., died at UMC. Bradford had remained at UMC since the incident and had been upgraded in recent days from critical to fair condition.

Cheryl Persinger, spokeswoman for the hospital, said Bradford died from complications. She declined to comment further.

Gordon Kusayanagi, 52, of Hollister, Calif., died soon after the crash and Mark Modaressi, 26, of Irvine, Calif., died the following day.

Abood said he contacted Ressa's family on Wednesday morning to report that another victim had died, and his family was very distraught to receive the news.

"Their grief is not so much for their son as much as it is for these innocent people and their families who are affected by this," he said. "The family is just in tears over these innocent family members dying."

Ressa was wanted in California for allegedly beating his mother, putting a knife to her throat and stealing her car a few days before coming to Las Vegas.

He had previously been charged with marijuana possession with intent to sell and driving under the influence, among other charges. He was serving a nine-month sentence in California but was allowed to serve the time on weekends.