Thai Government Asks Wilson to Spare Murderer

The government of Thailand and a murder victim’s husband have joined a plea to Gov. Pete Wilson for clemency for convicted double murderer Jaturun Siripongs, scheduled to be executed Nov. 17.

Siripongs, 43, who was trained as a Buddhist monk in his native Thailand, was convicted of strangling the manager of a Garden Grove food store, where he had once worked, and fatally stabbing a clerk during a December 1981 robbery.

Police said the manager, Packovan (Pat) Wattanaporn, 36, was robbed of jewelry worth $25,000, most of which was traced to Siripongs.

Siripongs has contended he was only a bystander but has refused to identify the alleged killer. His lawyer, Linda Schilling, said 30 bloody fingerprints found at the scene did not match Siripongs’ prints. But Deputy Atty. Gen. Laura Halgren said the evidence against Siripongs was overwhelming.

The U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Siripongs’ death sentence last January, rejecting a defense argument that his trial lawyer acted incompetently by failing to investigate seriously the possibility of an accomplice or present testimony from family members.

The court said the accomplice defense was weak and that family testimony about Siripongs’ background would have opened the door to evidence of a burglary conviction in Thailand. The Supreme Court denied review of the case last month.

The clemency petition sent to Wilson made no assertion of innocence, instead emphasizing the views of the Thai government and the victims’ relatives, Siripongs’ background and his remorse. Clemency would be “both an act of respect [for Thailand] and an act of compassion,” Schilling wrote.

But an Orange County prosecutor, in a letter to Wilson on Friday, said U.S.-Thai relations would not be harmed by the execution and in any event should not be the primary issue in this case.

“No concern about international relations or strategic alliances outweighs the blood and lives of the innocent victims in this case,” Deputy District Attorney Jim Tanizaki said.

Wilson spokesman Ron Low said the state Board of Prison Terms would consider the case Monday and submit a recommendation to the governor.

Thailand’s ambassador to the United States, Nitya Pibulsonggram, and its minister of foreign affairs, Surin Pitsuwan, both sent letters urging Wilson to commute the sentence to life on “humanitarian grounds.” Both offered to have Siripongs spend the rest of his life in a Thai prison if his sentence is commuted.

Schilling said in the clemency petition that law enforcement officers failed to contact the Thai consulate after Siripongs’ arrest or tell him of his right to speak with the consulate, in violation of a treaty entitling both U.S. and foreign nationals to be put in touch with their consulates if arrested abroad.

The consulate could have talked to Siripongs’ lawyer about aspects of Thai culture and Buddhism that would have enlightened the jury about some of Siripongs’ behavior, such as his “conscious efforts to be apprehended and swiftly punished,” Schilling said.

She said clemency would “protect Americans abroad by demonstrating respect for international treaties that guarantee Americans protection when overseas.” It would also maintain relations with Thailand, an important U.S. ally and trading partner, she said.

Similar arguments were made unsuccessfully to governors and courts before recent executions of a Paraguayan in Virginia and a Mexican in Arizona.

The clemency request also included a letter from the store manager’s husband, Surachai Wattanaporn.

“As a Buddhist I do not seek revenge for my wife’s death, and ask you to please consider exercising mercy,” he wrote.