Here's the dealio with Maryland: back in the 1980's, LLW was unable to get himself a private attorney or a bed in an expensive mental hospital, and it was abundantly clear that he knew it was morally wrong and against the law to assault and batter another person, so he was found guilty. I've seen Maryland allow some criminals to get away with lots of unlawful behavior before finally putting them away, but those are usually rich criminals with great enablers, and it usually turns out to be a mistake on Maryland's part to grant that kind of leniency, anyway. Hopefully, Virginia will not fall for this nonsense.
Here's a really cool idea for taking the death penalty off the table.......Lloyd Lee "Michael" Welch can tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth about the whole situation! He can discuss everything from his use of a vehicle without a drivers license to his interference with Mr. and Mrs. Lyon's parental rights to his unlawful restraint and wrongful imprisonment of Sheila and Katherine to the acts of murder and abuses of corpses. He can also discuss the involvement of any enablers turned accomplices and the help he received from them while tampering with evidence. He can also turn in anyone, relative or not, who lied or failed to come forward with the appropriate information about these two murders. If he is willing to do all that, the prosecution will probably take the death penalty off the table.