Serial killer seeks guilty plea

AUGUSTA - Against his lawyers&#39; advice, a man accused of raping and killing four young Augusta-area women said he wants to plead guilty and get on with his punishment. <br> <br> ``It&#39;s simply the right thing I can do,&#39;&#39; Reinaldo J. Rivera said Monday in Superior Court, occasionally choking back tears. <br> <br> Rivera, 38, of North Augusta, S.C., faces either lethal injection or life in prison if he is convicted. He said he wanted to skip the guilt-innocence phase of his trial to spare the families of the victims from having to relive the tragedy. <br> <br> Defense attorneys Peter Johnson and Jacque Hawk already have given notice of the intent to present evidence that Rivera, while competent to stand trial and legally sane, suffers from a host of mental illnesses. <br> <br> They tried to talk Rivera out of speaking in court, saying he lacks the capacity to understand what is in his best interest. <br> <br> ``If I were you, I&#39;d listen to them,&#39;&#39; Judge Albert M. Pickett told Rivera, who insisted on passing District Attorney Danny Craig a letter and then speaking in court. <br> <br> Rivera is accused of killing Fort Gordon Army Sgt. Marni M. Glista, 21, and 17-year-old Tabatha L. Bosdell in Georgia in 2000 and of the 1999 slayings of Melissa Dingess and Tiffaney Wilson, both 17, in Aiken County, S.C. <br> <br> After his arrest in connection with an Oct. 10, 2000, rape and near-fatal assault on an Augusta teen-ager, Rivera gave Richmond County and Aiken County sheriff&#39;s investigators detailed statements concerning that assault and the four others. He told them how he had pretended to be lost in order to strike up a conversation, telling the victims he was a photographer, luring them to isolated spots on the pretense of taking pictures, then attacking them. <br> <br> Pickett granted the prosecution&#39;s request to have Rivera examined by state mental health experts and instructed the defense attorneys to give prosecutors all reports and writings a defense expert used to reach the opinion that their client suffers from mental illnesses. <br> <br> The judge told attorneys on both sides to present written arguments on the question of whether Rivera can enter a guilty plea. <br> <br> Johnson said the only way Rivera can obtain a ``guilty but mentally ill&#39;&#39; verdict is to go through the guilt-innocence phase of the trial.