Rudy Sablan ducked the death penalty this afternoon in federal court and will now serve a second life sentence for the killing and mutilation of a fellow inmate nine years ago.
Five members of the same federal jury that convicted him of premeditated, first-degree murder last month voted in favor of executing him, and seven were opposed.
U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel will pronounce a mandatory life sentence for the 38-year-old native of the Northern Mariana Islands during the second week of June.
“I felt very optimistic, and now I’m very happy,” said Lino Sablan Tenorio, 45, Rudy’s first cousin and the director of prisons for the Mariana Islands. “His mother (who refused to speak to the media) is very gratified and grateful to the attorneys who represented him.”
Rudy Sablan’s son, Irvin Saralu, 14, was noticeably relieved when the verdict was read. He, too, did not want to speak to the media.
“We prayed a lot for Rudy, even visited the Mother Cabrini Shrine over the weekend,” said Tenorio, whose family is devout Roman Catholic. “We don’t believe in an eye for an eye. The family plans to contact the victim’s (Joey Estrella’s) family, show them our remorse and try to make amends.”
Tenorio, who spent 20 years as a police officer, witnessed his partner being shot to death. The culprit was convicted and sent to prison. Years later, Tenorio and his partner’s father forgave the shooter and spoke in favor of him being released on parole.
Rudy Sablan’s lawyers, Forrest Lewis and Donald Knight, refused to comment, as did the prosecutors, assistant U.S. attorneys Brenda Taylor and Phil Brimmer.
Sablan’s cousin, William Sablan, was convicted of the same murder last year and also avoided the death penalty when one juror held out.
The Sablans, who shared an isolation holding cell in the maximum-security U.S. Penitentiary in Florence, were convicted of killing Estrella, a third cellmate, on Oct. 10, 1999. The two then eviscerated Estrella and used one of his organs to smear the window of the cell door, according to evidence in the trial.
In the verdict forms sent to Judge Daniel, seven jurors said they felt the Bureau of Prisons was partly responsible for the death by putting the three together and for not checking the cells every 30 minutes. Seven jurors also stated that Sablan’s lack of violence during the past nine years was a factor in not handing down a death sentence. And seven jurors stated that Sablan should not be executed because of the negative effect it would have on his son.
All 12 jurors voted that the crime was heinous and depraved.
Tenorio said the case of the Sablan cousins was well-known in the capital of Saipan as it is the first time any islander has faced the death penalty.
Mike McPhee: 303-954-1409 or mmcphee@denverpost.com
