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Former
Minister Fatally Stabbed in Prison Cell
Barbara
Hoberock
06/14/1994
TULSA WORLD (FINAL HOME EDITION
Edition), Page N9 of City State, News
OKLAHOMA
CITY - Less than a month after being removed
from
protective custody, a former Presbyterian minister
serving
a 40-year prison sentence for lewd molestation and
rape
was stabbed to death in his cell.
At least two inmates
have been implicated in the stabbing
death of Robert Bruce
Bridgen, 60, who was found at 7 p.m.
Sunday in his cell at
Oklahoma State Reformatory in Granite.
He was pronounced
dead on arrival at Elkview General Hospital
in Hobart.
The two prisoners, who were not identified, and several
other inmates also tied to the stabbing, were separated
from the prison's general population shortly after the
attack,
prison spokesman Josh McCurdy said.
Bridgen
originally was charged with 20 counts of lewd molestation
and one count of rape by instrumentation stemming from
acts
involving girls age 4 to 14 who attended his Alva
church.
He was convicted in June 1992 of eight counts of
lewd molestation
and one count of rape by instrumentation.
Trish States of Alva, whose daughter testified against
Bridgen,
said she was relieved at the news of the former
minister's death.
"I feel sorry for the family, don't get
me wrong, but I'm
glad Mr. Bridgen is gone because he can
no longer do harm
to any more children or any other
innocent families," she
said. "Right now I feel like
whoever did this, I thank
them for it because justice has
been done."
Bridgen, who maintained his innocence, was
appealing his
conviction to the Oklahoma Court of Criminal
Appeals, said
Ron W. Bittle, Bridgen's trial lawyer, of
Alva.
"The sad thing about this is I believe he had an
excellent
chance of getting a new trial," Bittle said.
McCurdy said at least two inmates entered Brigden's cell
about 7 p.m. Sunday and stabbed him numerous times in the
chest and legs.
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