READING EAGLE, READING, PA.

SUNDAY, DECEMBER 13, 2015

A7

Executing Justice

Cop killer describes harsh conditions on death row

Cletus C. Rivera
discusses the
difficulties people face
as they endure years
of largely solitary
connement.
By Nicole C. Brambila
Reading Eagle

WAYNESBURG Its difficult to sleep on death row. Not

because of the sequence of
events that led a person there
or a nagging conscience, but
because the lights never really go out.
Convicted cop killer Cletus
C. Rivera said he sleeps with
his head wrapped in a T-shirt
and covered in a sweater to
block out the fluorescent
beams, which are only dimmed
at night.
The lights are on 24 hours
in the cell; thats a form of
torture, Rivera said of the
State Correctional Institution at Greene, where he is
imprisoned while appealing
his death sentence for the
2006 murder of Reading police Officer Scott A. Wertz.
That can even lead to cancer, he said. They wont even
acknowledge it.
He is correct about the potential risks of constant light.
While the consequences of
nighttime light on the human
body is still an emerging eld,
studies in animals suggest 247 light exposure can increase
the risk of certain types of
cancer because it disrupts
the production of melatonin,
which is made during sleep.
The 33-year-old didnt specifically mention this study,
but it is apparent Rivera has
read up on the subject.
Rivera is one of 181 men and
women sentenced to death in
Pennsylvania. Berks County
has 11 inmates on death row,
the third most in the commonwealth behind Philadelphia and York counties.
Hes been on death row
since a Northampton County
jury bused in daily because
of heavy Berks County news
coverage of the case deliberated more than 10 hours
in 2008 and returned with a
death sentence.
Rivera agreed to an interview to discuss the conditions
on death row while acknowledging the pain he caused the
Wertz family and offering to
apologize if he could speak
with them.
The maximum security prison, which houses the bulk of
the states death row inmates,
sits on a sloping 128 acres
surrounded by tree-covered
hills in Franklin Township in
Greene County. The facility, located in the southwest corner
of the state about 280 miles
from Reading, is busting at the
seams. SCI Greene has a bed
capacity of 1,478 but houses
more than 1,700 inmates.
On L block behind the

READING EAGLE: CRAIG SCHAFFER

Prison officials did not allow the Reading Eagle to

photograph Cletus C. Rivera during this interview.

READING EAGLE: SUSAN L. ANGSTADT

Most Pennsylvania death row

inmates are housed in the
State Correctional Institution at Greene in Waynesburg,
Greene County, located in the
southwest corner of the state.

rings of coiled barbed wire

that run the fence line, Rivera
can watch officers leave the
prison from a small window
in the cell to which he is conned 22 hours a day.
For all the public discussion about the death penalty
from execution methods
and dwindling lethal injection
supplies to Gov. Tom Wolfs
moratorium on the sentence
the conditions of death row
connement, including solitary, rarely are discussed.

Looking at issue from

many perspectives an
illuminating approach

either ruling by name as a

jailhouse lawyer might, but
its clear hes been using his
time on death row to get acquainted with the issues surrounding his incarceration.
I wasnt sentenced to solitary confinement, Rivera
said. We were just sentenced
Courts are beginning to to death.
weigh in on the issue.
Two years ago, U.S. District It can get to you
Court Judge Leonie BrinkeLife on death row is a sema for the Eastern District quence of tight spaces a
of Virginia found in Prieto v. roughly 8-foot-by-10-foot cell,
Clark that Virginia had vio- the prison yard and library,
lated the Constitution by au- shower stalls Rivera described
tomatically placing death row as phone-booth size.
inmates in indenite isolation. Everywhere you go youre
A federal appeals court this boxed in, he said.
In his tidy, 85-square-foot
year, though, ruled solitary
connement does not violate cell, Rivera has a typewriter
and a small collection of books
prisoners rights.
Rivera doesnt mention The GED for Dummies, the

Its a groundbreaking style Ive borrowed,

rst using it to write about an unfolding abortion drama in Texas more than a decade ago
and now in telling the story about Pennsylvanias death penalty system. Both are as deeply
personal as the issues are controversial.
What I didnt expect, though, was how nuanced the points of view concerning the death
penalty could be.
I also didnt realize that the story would
By Nicole C. Brambila
take me across Pennsylvania (twice) and as far
Reading Eagle
away as Virginia, as I logged more than 2,200
miles most of it with staff photographer
NBC in 2002 created a oneSusan L. Angstadt, who documented nearly
of-a-kind police drama told
all the perspectives with photos and video, a
from the various perspectives
herculean task in itself.
entangled in a single criminal
Along the way, we talked to some of the very
investigation.
Set in Los Angeles and staring Donnie Wahl- same people who might have been ctionalberg, Boomtown was innovative storytelling ized in the short-lived Boomtown series,
such as victims families, a defense lawyer and
at its best.

Bible, a dictionary. Rivera said

he has a particular interest in
biographies, and Nelson Mandelas Long Walk to Freedom
is on his reading list.
Ive been using my time to
grow, Rivera said, noting he
was studying to take an exam
for a high school equivalency
diploma. Im a better me.
He also has in his cell some
pictures of family and the
beach, and a TV. He enjoys
watching the post-apocalyptic world of zombies in The
Walking Dead and Mr. Robot, a new thriller series that
follows a New York City hacker turned cybervigilante.
While he pays $17 a month
for 40 cable channels, Rivera
said he doesnt watch much
TV.
I see TV as a pacier, he
said. Its a distraction.
Most days he listens to music pop, jazz, rock, hip-hop,
anything but country. The radio helps drown out the loud
speakers and other inmates.
In isolation, Rivera said, inmates can start to hear things,
and some talk to themselves.
Its really, really horrible,
Rivera said. If youre not
strong mentally, it can get to
you.
What does penetrate Riveras cool exterior is his kids.
Since his arrest Rivera has
missed holidays, get-togethers,
even the funeral last spring for
his grandmother, the nucleus
of the family. When the father
of four was taken into custody,
his youngest child was an infant and his oldest just 8.
Over the past nine years,
Rivera also has missed all the
pivotal moments parents witness as their children grow
up from his youngest child
learning to walk and his rst
word to the countless football
games his older boys played
and his daughters cheerleading days.
He has had to watch his kids
grow up from behind a thick
window in the prisons visiting
room. Burned into Riveras
memory was a visit when his
oldest son cried inconsolably,
wishing his dad could come
home. Because death row inmates are not permitted to
make contact with visitors, all
Rivera could do was watch as
his daughter hugged his son.
That broke my heart, Rivera said.
The visits are few and far between, and a hardship on his
children, who skip meals and
wind up eating snacks from a
vending machine to spend the
day with their dad. His cousin
Yvette Rivera said that while
the visits are a lifeline for Rivera, its difficult for his kids.
Theres nothing for them to
look forward to, said Yvette
Rivera, 32. They know that
hes never coming home.
Rivera thinks a lot about
that fateful night when he
shot and killed Wertz in a foot
chase near City Hall. Rivera
said its a teaching moment
for his kids when they make

prosecutor, an exoneree and convicted killer.

We also spoke with jurors who hold in their
hands the lives of these killers as well as the
family members who still love them, despite
having committed the unthinkable.
The idea for this came last year when I interviewed Tricia Wertz, widow of Reading
police Officer Scott A. Wertz. Her husbands
killer, Cletus C. Rivera, is on death row.
While sharing her painful story, she told me
the most unexpected thing about Rivera:
He has a child. He has a mother. So, I do feel
for them. Especially his child because my boys
are growing up without a father, and theyre
growing up without a father.
I knew then that I wanted to talk to Rivera.
But I didnt know then that Id be talking to
the Rev. Harry Covert, who spent the day with
convicted killer Keith Zettlemoyer on the date
he was executed in 1995.

the four-plus hour trek across

the state to cram into a small
visitors room.
I try to make myself an
example of what not to do,
Rivera said. I tell my son to
be a better Cletus.

Its easy to become hopeless

Gov. Ed Rendell signed
Riveras execution warrant
on Aug. 23, 2010. His execution date was set for Oct. 20
of that year.
I had a brief punch-in-thegut moment, Rivera said of
the death warrant. I didnt
dwell on it. I knew what to expect, so I braced myself for it.
Its a real moment. It brought
me back to being sentenced.
Family members said the
death sentence took them by
surprise.
I dont know that anyone
can prepare for a death sentence, Yvette Rivera said. It
was a huge shock for the entire family.
Rivera received a stay of execution a week after Rendell
signed his death warrant.
Pennsylvanias dysfunctional system has sent hundreds to
death row in the modern era
but has only executed three
people, all of whom gave up
their appeals. The commonwealths last execution was
in 1999.
The states capital punishment system has been criticized for its disproportionate
impact on poor and minorities
as well as its costs and accuracy all cited in the governors moratorium, which set
off a political restorm.
Its easy to become hopeless, Rivera said. Forget
about the politics about the
death penalty. When youre
in this position, you should
always be in the mindset that
it can happen.
Predictably, Rivera would
like to see the death penalty
abolished.
Though Rivera said he
would not discuss his case, he
returned to that night again
and again, saying he knows
his situation is self-made.
I know Im wrong, and I deserve to be in jail, Rivera said.
But I dont believe I deserve
the death penalty. My actions
were meant to save my life.
If he could talk to the slain
officers widow, Tricia Wertz,
Rivera said he would apologize for the killing.
It pains me that Im responsible for taking away a father
and a husband, he said.
Rivera has maintained
that he shot and killed Wertz
in self-defense. At the time,
Wertz was working an undercover auto detail in plain
clothes. It is for this reason
Rivera and his family believed
he would get a life sentence.
I know people are mad at
me, Rivera said. I hope they
pray to nd forgiveness, not
for me, but so that they can
move forward in life.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-3715044 or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.

Nor did I suspect that Id meet Larry RJ

Bobish Jr., whose family was killed in front
of him when he was 12 years old and he was
shot at and stabbed. His familys killer, Mark
Duane Edwards, spent nearly a decade on
death row until he was resentenced this year
to life in prison. Despite Edwards having left
him without a family, Bobish forgave the
killer. Incredibly, he did not want Edwards
executed.
I got to see up close in these interviews all
the shattered lives that surround Pennsylvanias death penalty system as well as the
resilience of the human spirit and the power
of forgiveness.
I am not naive, and I realize these stories
may not change an entrenched mindset. But I
do hope it contributes to the conversation.
Contact Nicole C. Brambila: 610-371-5044
or nbrambila@readingeagle.com.