BURBANK KILLER RESIGNED TO FATE AS DATE NEARS.

Byline: Lee Condon Daily News Staff Writer

San Quentin officials have begun preparing for the scheduled Jan. 26 execution of William Kirkpatrick Jr., who killed two people at a Burbank Taco Bell in 1983 and has yet to file a new appeal to stay his execution.

It is the first time such preparations have begun in California since David Mason was sent to the gas chamber in August 1993, officials said.

"A date has been set and nothing has been done to stop it," said Dane Gillette, capital-case coordinator for the state Attorney General's Office. "It looks at this point to us as if it's going to go forward."

The death by lethal injection order was issued by the California Supreme Court on Nov. 27. There are 428 inmates on California's Death Row, but only Kirkpatrick and one other inmate, Gerald Stanley, have been assigned execution dates.

Stanley is scheduled to be executed Feb. 16, but Department of Corrections spokeswoman Christine May said it is unlikely the Stanley execution will take place at that time because appeals are expected.

Kirkpatrick, however, has told an associate warden at San Quentin that he does not intend to fight the execution.

"On Nov. 30 he was served with a warrant for execution. He stated at that time, 'Go ahead and kill me,' " said Lt. Joy Macfarlane, a prison spokeswoman. "He sent a letter to the U.S. Supreme Court indicating to them that he wanted to die."

Ed Horowitz, the Brentwood lawyer appointed by the California Supreme Court to represent Kirkpatrick, would not comment when asked whether he planned to file any appeals on behalf of his client.

He also declined comment on the reports that Kirkpatrick will not cooperate with efforts to save him.

Lance Lindsey, executive director of Death Penalty Focus of California, said his group and others that oppose the death penalty will fight any move to execute Kirkpatrick even if the inmate is resigned to his fate.

Besides launching protests, the group will support legal efforts to stop the execution, Lindsey said.

If the sentence is carried out, Kirkpatrick would be the third person to be executed in California since the death penalty was reinstated in 1978.

Kirkpatrick, 35, originally had been scheduled for execution Dec. 1. But Horowitz obtained a stay from the California Supreme Court on the basis of an error involving the scheduling of the execution date.

As part of the death preparations, the Attorney General's Office has notified relatives of Kirkpatrick's victims, who are eligible to witness the execution by lethal injection.

Rose Falconio, whose 16-year-old son, Jimmy, was killed in the Taco Bell attack, said she plans to do so.

"Absolutely," Falconio said. "It means that maybe I can close a chapter. Something very precious was taken. I think (Kirkpatrick) deserves more than what he's getting."

Kirkpatrick was a former employee at the Taco Bell near the intersection of Magnolia Boulevard and Pass Avenue in Burbank. He had been fired by Lindell Wayne Hunter, 27, his other victim.

Prosecutors said that on Sept. 17, 1983, Kirkpatrick, then 23, stole $650 from a cash register and then herded Lindell and Falconio into a closet, where he shot them both in the head, execution style.

Lindell died at the scene. Falconio, a Burroughs High School student, hung on for 11 days before he died at a local hospital.

Kirkpatrick, a transient, was arrested while sleeping in his car in North Hollywood, five days after the killings. He pleaded not guilty to the slayings and maintained his innocence throughout the trial.

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Photo William Kirkpatrick Jr. Convicted of 2 murders