Photo by Nathan Gray

Ramondeze Rivera, left, stands with his attorney Bill McGuire at the Anderson County Courthouse.

Photo by Nathan Gray

Ramondeze Rivera talks with his defense lawyer John Delgado during Rivera's hearing at the Anderson County Courthouse.

ANDERSON — Attorneys for Raymondeze Rivera made another request Thursday to let him plead guilty to murder in exchange for a sentence of life without parole. Tenth Circuit Solicitor Chrissy Adams refused.

“Based on the facts and circumstances of this case, we still believe that the death penalty is the appropriate punishment,” Adams said.

After the solicitor’s decision, Rivera pleaded not guilty — ensuring that he will be back in court for a trial.

Rivera is charged with murder in the 2006 strangling of Kwana Burns of Anderson. He was convicted in 2008 of killing another Anderson mother, Asha Wiley, the same week of Burns’ death.

The trial in the Burns case was scheduled to start next week, but it has been delayed until Nov. 9. Judge J.C. “Buddy” Nicholson said one of the defense’s witnesses, forensic psychiatrist Donna Schwartz-Watts, is ill and would not be able to testify next week.

Nicholson said he regretted the delay, but felt it was unavoidable.

Burns’ father, Kenny Caldwell, said he and his family were disappointed about the delay but understood.

In Thursday’s hearing, Rivera answered the judge’s questions and when asked how he wanted to be tried, he told the judge, “By God and my country.” He also expressed his own frustration over the delay.

Rivera’s attorneys, Bill McGuire and John Delgado, shed some light on the defense they plan to use when the case goes to trial.

They told Judge Nicholson that, depending on the evidence that Schwartz-Watts presents at the trial, they plan to ask the judge to give the jurors the option to find Rivera guilty but mentally ill. That would then give a jury the choice of finding Rivera not guilty, guilty or guilty but mentally ill.

With either of the guilty verdicts, Rivera could still face the death penalty, Delgado said.

“Our whole effort right now is the sentencing phase,” Delgado said.

After the hearing, Delgado and McGuire said Rivera has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and post-traumatic stress disorder by staff with the S.C. Department of Corrections. In earlier hearings, the judge ruled that Rivera was competent to stand trial.

McGuire and Delgado said Rivera is taking three psychotropic drugs, Seroquel, Depakote, Neurontin.

“On the medicine, he’s a completely different individual,” McGuire said, adding that Rivera has never been given the medication before. “Whenever this comes to court, I think you will see a different trial.”

Both referred to Rivera’s surprising confession on the stand when he was convicted of killing Wiley.

In the first trial, Rivera told jurors that he was hired as a hitman to come to Anderson and “eliminate” Burns. While in town, he met Wiley at the Anderson Mall and ended up at her apartment, where he killed her.

He spoke in chilling detail about how he strangled Burns and Wiley — both single mothers. It took a jury 20 minutes to find Rivera guilty of killing Wiley.

McGuire said they believe Rivera suffered “at the hands of his father” and may have suffered some moderate brain damage after being pushed down a flight of stairs when he was a child.

Delgado and McGuire said they filed the motion to enter a guilty plea in exchange for the lesser sentence about two months ago, Delgado and McGuire said. They said the move would cut down the time in court and save the state an estimated $500,000.

“It could be over in a day,” McGuire said. “We’ve been attempting to solve this for months now.”

Burns’ mother, Eleanor Caldwell, said she doesn’t want Rivera to plead in exchange for a lesser sentence. She said she has confidence in the solicitor’s office and wants it to push for the death penalty.

“He took my only child, my daughter so she will not see her kids grow. She’s got two beautiful kids she will not see grow up,” Caldwell said. “He hurt my family and everybody who loved Kwana. I miss her every day. Life is harder to go on without Kwana.”