February 27

Inmate's illness may cheat death penalty imposed in 1986

By Michelle Schneider,

Colorado will never execute longtime death row inmate Frank Rodriguez, his lawyer says.

Rodriguez, convicted in the 1984 rape and stabbing death of Denver bookkeeper Lorraine Martelli, is dying of hepatitis C, sources said.

"The legal system wasn't getting the job done, so I guess God has taken over," Martelli's sister, Antoinette Massimino, said Tuesday night.

Rodriguez, 45, was hospitalized in Pueblo on Friday morning with liver disease brought on by the hepatitis, but after his condition stabilized Tuesday, he was transferred to the Department of Corrections' hospital facility in Canon City.

Inmates often contract hepatitis C in prison from dirty needles, either from drug use or while being tattooed.

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