Archbishop's hostage-taker faces prison

ROCKPORT, Texas, March 28 (UPI) -- A jury will decide next week how much prison time a San Antonio man gets for holding a Roman Catholic archbishop and his secretary hostage two years ago.

The jury rejected Nelson Escolero's insanity defense Wednesday and convicted him on two charges of aggravated kidnapping. He could receive anywhere from five years to life in prison. The jury will convene Tuesday to hear evidence in the punishment phase.

Escolero held Archbishop Patrick Flores and his secretary hostage for nine hours in the Catholic leader's office in San Antonio on June 28, 2000. Escolero told hostage negotiators that the U.S. government was conspiring against him. No one was injured.

As he was leaving the courthouse Wednesday, Escolero told the San Antonio Express-News in Spanish that he was again the victim of a corrupt system.

Flores said he forgives Escolero and hopes that he will receive treatment for his mental illness.

"I felt that during the course of the nine hours he was holding us, that he was very confused," he said. "A lot of what he was saying just didn't make sense."

After the verdict, prosecutor Kevin O'Connell said a dangerous man had been removed from the streets.

"You have to take the man on his own word when he said to a policeman that the next time there won't be any negotiation, and I believe it," he said.

Defense attorneys argued during the seven-day trial that Escolero was mentally ill and did not know that kidnapping Flores and his secretary was wrong. A psychiatrist testified that the native of El Salvador suffered from a delusional disorder.

Prosecutors did not dispute that Escolero was mentally ill, but they stated he knew it was wrong to take Flores and his secretary hostage.

Dr. Richard Coons, a psychiatrist called by the state, testified Wednesday that he interviewed Escolero, who acknowledged that he knew his actions were wrong and that he would be arrested and jailed.

The trial was moved to Rockport on the lower Texas Gulf coast because of the extensive news coverage the hostage incident received two years ago in San Antonio.