Defense lawyers did their job. Turpins pled not guilty at first until their lawyers got all info and evidence. Then lawyers put all that on the table, we don’t know what all of that was, but many have expressed it here. Next they told the Turpins this is what you can do....guilty, not guilty, blame each other, trials and this is wha will happen to you both, much worse then if you plea guilty now. Their lawyers explained it well.
IMO I don’t think the parents thought about how hard it would be to put their children through a trial, they don’t care about the children, just about how long they could be in prison. It was always about themselves.
Let the children heal, grow and enjoy life. They will never forget but I so hope they can move on and enjoy each other and life.