In discussing the confession vs guilty/not guilty and the whole need for a trial, there's a huge elephant in the corner that, as far as I can see, no one has brought up so I'll jump into this heated debate and add my two cents. One of the most important things to keep in mind is if the State seeks the death penalty, with or without a confession, whether or not the confession is legit or coerced, and whether or not the confession was recanted, in Arkansas (and I know in many other states as well - probably all of them) by law ALL capital murder trials have to go through certain steps in the courts. The justice system requires certain legal processes and protocols must, by law, be followed. The only exception being if the defendant waives all rights to appeals and wants to go straight to the death chamber.
In the past 50 years in Arkansas (maybe even longer, but I've only been alive 50 years) there's only been one case where a defendant waived his right to appeals - Ronald Gene Simmons. A true monster amongst monsters, not to mention humans. There really are very few murderers who can even come close to comparing to him, even most serial killers aren't on the same sick level as this sadistic degenerate.
Just days before Christmas, Ronald Gene Simmons killed 14 members of his own family (including a daughter he had sexually molested and the child he had fathered with her). He first killed the family members that were in the family home (his wife, a son, and a young granddaughter) and then laid in wait for more family members to arrive at his home for the holiday. As they arrived he lured each of them, one at a time, to their death and then left the bodies all around the house for two days while he sat around drinking. He then went in to the nearby town of Russellville, killed two more people, and also injured two people.
He died by lethal injection only about 2 1/2 years later because he refused to appeal his death sentence and, in his request for an immediate death, he stated that anything less than death for him was "cruel and unusual punishment" (whatever - cruel and unusual is the only punishment that man deserved). I'll never forget watching the news and seeing him on the stand making that comment as he asked the court to grant his request to waive his appeals and basically kill him right then and there. However, I thought that the only justice that man deserved was to rot away in prison instead of getting the gift of a coward's easy way out via lethal injection.
If you're not familiar with this demon's murders, here's a link to his Wikipedia page. If anyone has ever doubted there's true, pure demonic evil in this world they'll change their mind immediately when they read what that man did to all the little children and babies - and they were all his own flesh and blood.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Gene_Simmons
I'm not trying to get completely off subject with information about another case, but I've lived in Arkansas my whole life (with the exception of about 2 years) and the Ronald Gene Simmons and West Memphis cases are still very disturbing subjects for many of us who lived in Arkansas at the time and were old enough at the time to fully understand the enormity of the horror in both cases.
I won't go into detail on my position with the WM3, but I will say my mind changed DRASTICALLY from when the three boys were first murdered to when the WM3 took their Alford pleas. Being friends with the man who was the State's AG at the time of the Alford pleas had a lot to do with my change in position. However, the most important thing is those three poor little boys deserve justice and because of crooked cops and people out to make a name and buck for themselves (many of whom faced their own justice one way or another) ruined any chance of those little boys having their real killer brought to justice. I've always dreaded that other children have died because LE missed their chance get this case right and get the right guy.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk