Robert McConnell

Case record: Robert Lee McConnell

Background

Robert Lee McConnell was 33 at the time he pleaded guilty and was sentenced to death. He later described himself as opposing capital punishment as “state-sanctioned murder” while still saying he would follow through with an execution.

McConnell was raised in a broken home and spent about three years in the California Youth Authority before his release at age 21. He described periods in group homes and said his upbringing involved neglect. He said he later went to live with his father in Texas and learned what he described as “corporal punishment.”

McConnell said he had “trust issues with women” that stemmed from a failed relationship. During his trial, he spoke badly of his mother. He said he wrote his mother a letter expecting her to reject it and that she instead wrote back saying “the past is the past” and that their future “has got to end” and that “you’re my first-born son and I love you.” McConnell said he replied: “I love you, too , mom, and I’m sorry.”

The offence

McConnell pleaded guilty to shooting Brian Pierce with a handgun. Prosecutors said the final shot, to the head, was fired at such close range that it left burns on the victim.

Prosecutors said McConnell shot Pierce nine times in August 2002 at the Sun Valley home shared with a woman McConnell used to date. McConnell then hid the body in a back bedroom and waited for the woman to return from work. Prosecutors said McConnell tried to dig out some of the bullets that killed Pierce, and then stabbed Pierce with a steak knife. Prosecutors said McConnell placed a tape of the movie “Fear” next to the knife that was buried to the hilt in the victim’s chest.

McConnell dressed in black and then waited for the woman to return from work and attacked her. Prosecutors said he cut off her clothes with a knife after she returned from work, restrained her with duct tape and handcuffs, raped her, and forced her to drive to the San Francisco Bay area.

Court and police records described the woman as escaping when they stopped at a service station in San Mateo, Calif. McConnell was captured later in the San Francisco area following a manhunt that included the FBI and several law enforcement agencies.

During the penalty phase in July 2003, jurors heard a taped phone call from McConnell to his father in which McConnell said:

“I shot him 10 times before he hit the ground.”

McConnell also stated to the Reno Gazette-Journal in a prison interview:

“I wouldn’t play around and have feelings like I did the last time.” “I wouldn’t let her get away. She would be tortured and killed.”

Investigation

The information described a manhunt that included the FBI and several law enforcement agencies, after which McConnell was captured in the San Francisco area.

McConnell described an earlier 2001 arrest on suspicion of violating a temporary protective order that the woman had sought. He said the background and his “bad temper and vindictiveness” led to the events that put him on death row.

Arrest

Trial

McConnell pleaded guilty in Washoe County District Court.

He fired his court-appointed lawyers and represented himself during the sentencing proceedings. He agreed with a prosecutor who called him an evil man who deserved no mercy.

During the trial, McConnell said he believed in the death penalty. He told the jury during the penalty phase:

“I would give me a death sentence — that’s a fact.”

A mandatory, automatic appeal was later rejected by the state Supreme Court.

Sentencing

In July 2003, a Washoe County jury sentenced McConnell to death for the murder and to two life prison terms for the rape and kidnapping.

Appeals

McConnell was scheduled for execution following a Washoe County District Court appearance.

A mandatory, automatic appeal to the state Supreme Court had already been rejected.

On June 9, 2005, McConnell filed an 11th-hour appeal that prevented his execution by lethal injection at Nevada State Prison. A stay halting the execution was signed at 8:26 p.m. by Washoe County Judge Steve Kosach after McConnell exercised his right to an appeal. Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said:

“It certainly seems as though he was playing a game with the system,”

On June 10, 2005, Corrections Department Director Jackie Crawford said McConnell would be returned Monday to death row at Ely while his appeal of his death sentence was pursued.

Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said McConnell signed documents requesting a stay of execution and requesting that a petition of post-conviction relief be filed on his behalf in the Second Judicial District Court in Reno, Nevada.

On July 26, 2009, the state Supreme Court rejected an appeal from condemned Nevada inmate Robert Lee McConnell. The court dismissed claims including one that Nevada’s lethal injection method is unconstitutional, and also dismissed challenges that:

• his guilty plea was not entered knowingly and voluntarily,
• he had ineffective legal counsel,
• elected jurists who presided over his trial and appeals lacked impartiality because they were “beholden to the electorate,”
• and a request to revise a 2004 ruling in his case that related to first-degree murder using a robbery circumstance and robbery as an aggravating circumstance.

Outcome

Nevada prison officials scheduled McConnell’s execution in early June 2005 following a Washoe County District Court appearance. State Prisons Director Jackie Crawford scheduled the execution.

McConnell said he would not file any appeals or petitions that would automatically stop his execution by injection at the Nevada State Prison in Carson City.

Officials said McConnell’s execution was scheduled by Nevada prison officials for June 9, 2005, and McConnell was scheduled to die at 9 p.m. According to accounts, McConnell ate his last meal of pepperoni pizza and was administered rites by a Catholic priest.

On June 9, 2005, a stay was signed at 8:26 p.m., and McConnell’s execution was postponed.

On July 26, 2009, the state Supreme Court rejected his appeal, including his challenge to the lethal injection method.

Aftermath

Pam McCoy, the mother of McConnell’s victim Brian Pierce, attended the Washoe County District Court hearing and said she was glad to see the process moving forward. She said she had not decided whether she would attend the execution and that she supported the death penalty.

At a Wednesday news conference before the June 9, 2005 stay, McConnell declared he was ready to die. On June 9, 2005, after getting the stay, officials said he would be returned to death row while his appeal was pursued.

McConnell’s last-minute change was accompanied by media reporting of protesters outside the Nevada State Prison grounds carrying signs opposed to the death penalty.

Timeline

• August 2002 — McConnell shot Brian Pierce with a handgun at the Sun Valley home shared with a woman McConnell used to date.
• 2001 — The woman sought a temporary protective order; McConnell said he was arrested in 2001 on suspicion of violating it.
• August 7, 2002 — McConnell broke into the house and shot Pierce; prosecutors described nine hits and burning from the final shot to the head.
• 2002 — McConnell dragged Pierce’s body to a back bedroom, tried to dig out bullets, stabbed Pierce with a steak knife, and placed a tape of the movie “Fear” next to the knife; prosecutors said McConnell attacked and raped the woman and forced her to drive to the Bay area.
• San Mateo, Calif. — The woman escaped at a service station; McConnell was captured later in the San Francisco area.
• July 2003 — A Washoe County jury sentenced McConnell to death for the murder and to two life prison terms for rape and kidnapping.
• May 30, 2003 — McConnell pleaded guilty in Washoe County District Court.
• July 26, 2009 — The state Supreme Court rejected McConnell’s appeal, including his lethal injection challenge.
• June 9, 2005 — McConnell filed an 11th-hour appeal; a stay was signed at 8:26 p.m.
• early June 2005 — Nevada prison officials scheduled the execution after a Washoe County District Court appearance.
• June 10, 2005 — Media described the execution as deflected and quoted officials on McConnell’s stay.

Other details

McConnell said his only regret was that he killed his ex-girlfriend’s fiancé instead of the woman. He told the Reno Gazette-Journal:

McConnell also said:

“I’m sorry I took your son. I don’t think he deserved that.”

McConnell stated:

“The honest truth is, if I could take it back, I would kill her. Yes, I should have killed her and left him alone.”

McConnell told the Reno Gazette-Journal:

“Nobody has the right to take life,”

He called executions:

“state-sanctioned murder.”

McConnell said:

“No matter what I do I’m going to upset people on either side,” and added: “If I don’t go through with it I upset his family. If I do, my mother ... loses a son.”

Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said in connection with the stay:

Chief Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner said McConnell was free at any time to pursue his appeal and quoted the filing details about seeking a stay and requesting a post-conviction relief petition to be filed in the Second Judicial District Court in Reno, Nevada.

Corrections Department Director Jackie Crawford described silence when Pierce’s family was given the news:

“silence”

Deputy Attorney General Gerald Gardner stated he did not know the nature of the discussion between Michael Pescetta and McConnell.

Michael Pescetta was identified as a federal public defender who specializes in death penalty cases and said his office had been in contact with McConnell and that it was aware of the death row inmate’s interests.

McConnell was described as a former Reno car salesman and previously earned $10,000 per month as a salesman; he said he was fired after the temporary protective order allegations.

McConnell said he had second thoughts about taking the woman’s life and that he would leave a living witness; instead of shooting her, prosecutors and court testimony described him restraining her and forcing her to have sex.

The woman was described as 25 at the time referred to in accounts, and Brian Pierce was described as 25. McConnell was described as 32 in some reporting and 33 in others, and he was consistently referenced as sentenced to die with execution procedures pending around 2005.