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Killer of Medford teen is dying of cancer Mother of his victim blocks medical release The Associated Press SALEM -- Six years ago, Briseldo Escobedo, then 17, stabbed a man to death during a fight outside a Medford teenage nightclub. Now he's dying of cancer in the Oregon State Penitentiary infirmary, where he is bedridden and unable to feel anything below his waist. He uses a pump to self-administer morphine and drifts in and out of consciousness. His family wants him released to die at home, but the mother of his victim stands in his way, saying it's Escobedo's fate to feel the same pain she did when she lot her only son. "He's a killer," says Susan Esparza, whose 21-year-old son, Andre Pettaway, died outside the now-defunct Remix nightclub in August 1993 after being stabbed three times. Pettaway, legally blind at the time, was a weightlifter and accomplished high school wrestler. "When they tell you your child is dead, it's like being hit with a grenade ... all the pieces going everywhere. I don't believe you ever get all the pieces back together." Escobedo was sentenced to a 10-year prison term in the winter of 1994. Manslaughter carries a sentence of five years, but the judge doubled the time based on Escobedo's troubled history. He was one month shy of his 18th birthday at the time of the killing. His family, which moved from Medford to Salem to be near him, visits him twice a day. His parents are asking a court to release their son after being turned down by the parole board. Escobedo's sister, 26-year-old Blanca Escobedo, says her brother repented long ago and is at peace. Her family has prayed for Esparza "and hoped she found some kind of ease." But now, the Escobedo family just wants to be with Briseldo during his final hours. ``It's like we're being punished and we didn't do anything," Blanca Escobedo said. The family's attorney, Walter Todd, is pressing the case in Marion County Circuit Court. Todd argues that the lack of professional hospice care inside the prison -- which is piloting a hospice program using inmate volunteers -- constitutes cruel and inhumane treatment. Catherine Knox, health services administrator for the Corrections Department, said the department considered recommending an early medical release. Strong objections from the victim's mother "made us stop the process," she said. During his 1993 trial, Escobedo claimed he stabbed Pettaway in self-defense. A bouncer attempted to separate the two. According to news accounts, Escobedo reached under the bouncer's arms to stab Pettaway. A jury found him guilty of manslaughter. With time off for good behavior, Escobedo was due to be released in late 2001. Doctors handed him a death sentence in March. The cancer that started as a tumor in his prostate had spread to his bones and brain. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA