I'm no fan of RA but his attorneys did him a real disservice IMO. He was never a stable, ordinary CVS worker. He was fragile, volatile, needy, and as such, dangerous. He brought that to the bridge, he carried it until he was arrested and he brought it with him into his cell.
It might have been an act of mercy (and law) to broker a guilty plea, on his behalf. No theatrics, no threats. In prison, RA will have access to therapy, medical care, perhaps AA or something of the kind. He will likely be afforded a one-man cell, for even if he's no longer a risk to himself or staff (something that can still change on a dime), he will always be a risk in gen pop, two-fold. Prison justice is real, but also, he's easily provoked. He needs to be protected from that if he's to live out LWOP and die of natural old age, whenever that might be.
He wanted to confess and he was blocked. His family wouldn't believe him, wouldn't talk to him, his attorneys were basically vacant, working apart from him and arguably against his free will. Inventing harmful, fanciful tales, incriminating innocent people, all while their client couldn't handle the truth of what he'd done and the fear he'd effed up too far this time. And yet, he set his sights on eternity, even considered he might have to let KA go...
The conflict was never Odinism, guards, name-your-conspiracy. The conflict was always RA. RA himself, a deeply conflicted man, who needed to feel powerful that day, for reasons we may never know, and it ended in the brutal slaughter of two beautiful young lives.
There is no sorry to repair that. But a confession and a guilty an entire year ago would have spared everyone this profane circus.
FRANKly, his attorneys should have listened to him.
I am ready to turn the page on him. Abby and Libby, their lives, their laughter, and the lives they should be living -- that will stick with me.
Bring on another double rainbow.
JMO
