State High Court Refuses To Delay Execution

The state Supreme Court justices today denied a request to delay the Oct. 13 execution of triple-murderer Jeremy Vargas Sagastegui.

The nine justices met this morning behind closed doors to consider Cayetana "Katie" Vargas' request that the court consider her son's history of sexual abuse as a child, his suicidal tendencies, and testimony of professionals that he may suffer from multiple personalities.

Vargas asked for legal standing as "next friend," which acknowledges that a defendant is mentally incompetent and that someone else should be allowed to make decisions in his best interest. It's the first time a "next friend" status had been considered in Washington courts. Vargas wanted the delay so she could then challenge the death sentence.

In November 1995, Sagastegui raped and drowned 3-year-old Keiven Sarbacher. Later that night he shot to death the boy's mother, Mellisa Sarbacher, and her friend Lisa Vera-Acevedo in a small town east of Kennewick.

This week, he told the Supreme Court that he was sane and competent and that his mother's request should be ignored, allowing the execution to take place.

`Volunteer' for execution

Sagastegui is known as a "volunteer," or someone who wants to die. Not once has he fought for his life, making him the state's first such defendant in a capital-punishment case.

Sagastegui immediately pleaded guilty to the crimes. He waived his right to an attorney and acted as his own lawyer. He refused to present or allow to be revealed any details of his life that might have persuaded a jury to give him a more lenient sentence of life without the possibility of parole.

In December 1995, the Benton County Superior Court had Sagastegui's mental competency evaluated. After a 15-day evaluation at Eastern State Hospital, a team found Sagastegui was sane and competent to stand trial.

This spring, the state Supreme Court accepted Sagastegui as competent and said, among other things, that he never showed remorse for his crimes. The justices unanimously agreed the execution should be allowed to go forward.

But then his mother, represented by two attorneys experienced in getting people off death row, stepped in to try to persuade those same justices to halt the execution for the time being.

A murderer's childhood

In documents to the court, Vargas gave an account of Sagastegui's childhood: born of a rape; abused by a cousin at age 7; possibly abused by a stepfather; working as a prostitute as a teen; asking to be called Adam, ChiChi, Jerome, Arthur. A doctor, she said, told her Sagastegui was schizophrenic. She has long thought her son was mentally ill and after the murders, she wanted to help.

What Vargas did was to initiate proceedings that Sagastegui, if he had wanted to, could have initiated himself months ago.

Vargas is being represented by Seattle attorneys Todd Maybrown and Sheryl Gordon McCloud.

McCloud said she expected to make a decision by tomorrow on whether they would appeal the execution at the federal level.

Vargas had also petitioned the state Clemency and Pardons Board to recommend to Gov. Gary Locke to spare her son's life. The board met earlier this week but delayed making a recommendation until after the Supreme Court justices met. The five-member board is now expected to reconvene.

Florangela Davila's phone message number is 206-464-2916. Her e-mail address is: fdavila@seattletimes.com