Attorneys: Man who gutted cellmate had mental problems

Sara Burnett, Rocky Mountain News

Published February 12, 2007 at midnight

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The man accused of killing his prison cellmate, then gutting him and hanging his intestines from a clothesline in his cell, has a history of brain injuries and untreated mental problems that would have made it difficult for him to think clearly, plot a murder or "resist impulses," defense attorneys said today.

William Sablan, a native of the island of Saipan, is accused along with his cousin of killing cellmate Joey Estrella at the federal prison in Florence in October 1999. If convicted, he would be the first person in Colorado to face possible execution since Timothy McVeigh was sentenced to death for the Oklahoma City bombings in 1997.

In opening statements this morning, Assistant U.S. Attorney Brenda Taylor said the evidence is clear -- and captured on a gruesome videotape -- that William Sablan and his cousin Rudy Sablan killed Estrella. On the video, which guards began recording after they discovered Estrella dead in the cell, the Sablans are seen holding up Estrella's organs, Taylor said.

William Sablan also is heard confessing to the crime, saying "’I did it. No big deal, I did it,’" Taylor said.

The 18 jurors, made up of 12 women and four men, are expected to see that video this afternoon.

Defense attorney Patrick Burke argued it was Rudy Sablan who strangled Estrella, and that William Sablan is heard on the videotape telling his cousin in their native language that he will take the blame for the killing. Burke also said William Sablan was defending himself, and that other inmates saw the two men fighting prior to the killing.

Several physicians also will testify that Sablan suffers from psychosis, which has caused him to hear voices, and post-traumatic stress disorder, Burke said. He also has brain injuries caused by two falls from more than 20 feet and an attack in which someone hit Sablan -- whose shaved head bears at least two deep scars -- in the head with a machete.

Sablan, one of 15 children who had five kids of his own before one was killed, was moved to the Federal Correctional Institution in Florence a few days before the killing. He was supposed to receive treatment for his mental problems upon arrival at the prison, but did not, Burke said.

The trial before U.S. District Judge Wiley Daniel could take up to four months.

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