OWN CORRESPONDENT, Carson City, Nevada | Friday
SEBASTIAN Stephanus Bridges, the South African national sentenced to death for killing his estranged wife’s lover in Nevada, is ready to die.
Bridges won’t appeal, even though he has said he is not guilty and was treated unfairly in court.
Governor Kenny Guinn said this week he would not intervene to halt Saturday’s lethal injection. He said Bridges can appeal if he wants.
Nevada lawmakers are considering a two-year moratorium on capital punishment, but it would affect only inmates fighting for their lives, not those who want to die.
Bridges, 37, is adamant in his refusal to let anyone else appeal on his behalf, even though he would be entitled to an automatic stay. He even sent word to the South African government to stay out of the case.
Bridges was convicted in the shooting death of Hunter Blatchford outside Las Vegas in 1997. Bridges has alleged that his estranged wife Laurie, who testified against him, committed the crime, but said he took the blame out of “fatal, unconditional love and loyalty to her.”
He was prevented from using his own money, about $56_000 seized when he was arrested, to hire a lawyer. As a result, he defended himself – and got a death sentence “for what people are saying is not a death penalty case,” said assistant public defender Michael Pescetta.
The Sixth Amendment right to counsel wasn’t raised by a public defender in a mandatory appeal to the state Supreme Court, and the high court wouldn’t let Pescetta’s office raise the issue because the county defender hadn’t.
Bridges isn’t giving interviews, but in a 16-page letter written in 1998, he said his decision shouldn’t be viewed as a sign of mental illness or suicidal intent. He said he doesn’t want to prolong “the inevitable fate,” even though his “rights have been violated from day one.”
“The right to choose to appeal and/or accept your punishment should be left to the defendant, without interference,” he said.