Hall Pleads Guilty!

Yesterday, Edwin Hall plead guilty for the kidnapping, rape and murder of Kelsey Smith.  He will be sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole as part of his plea deal - an agreement struck after the Judge in the case allowed the prosecution to seek the death penalty.

After seeing the evidence that would have been presented at trial, pleading guilty in exchange for avoiding the death penalty seems like a good move.  There's quite a bit of DNA evidence, security camera footage that places him at the Target where Kelsey Smith was abducted, and some witnesses that saw a man fitting Hall's description getting into a truck resembling his at Longview Lake, where Smith's body was found.

But seen from the other side, this deal makes little sense.  With all that evidence and a jury full of Johnson County residents who watched the search for Kelsey Smith and Hall's arrest on TV, it seems like a death penalty verdict would have been a slam dunk.

Did someone get hold of Phill Kline and finally convince him that his courtroom incompetence was threatening the outcome of this trial, and therefore his political career?  Or is it normal for an up-for-election DA, in a deeply red state, to just give the death penalty up when he's got a surefire win?

Comments

[Joe]

Or is it normal for an up-for-election DA, in a deeply red state, to just give the death penalty up when he's got a surefire win?

Some states have a policy that they'll take the death penalty off the table for any defendant who will plead to life without parole. It's very expensive to execute somebody, and about a third of death sentences are never carried out due to procedural error (and occasionally actual innocence), so those states have basically concluded that they'd rather have an inmate incarcerated for life without appeal rights than a sure cost of several million dollars for a 65% chance that they will end up executing the guy in 5-10 years.

It also has a lot to do with state-county relations. The county is the one that gets the PR benefits of going for the death penalty, but the state is the one that assumes all detention and appellate costs. Given that, many state AGs will tell county DAs to plead out.

[Stephen]

Joe, thanks for that info.

[Sir Charles]

I also think that based on what you posted earlier that Kline may have committed procedural errors that could have kept this thing in limbo for at least a decade. Pretty good reason to take the plea.

[Rick]

Stephen, where are you getting your information about Kline's supposed incompetence? From Tiller? Or maybe Planned Parenthood's lawyers in Overland Park.
The news also stated the family did not want a trial to bring back memories.
Think for yourself man.

[Rick]

Stephen, where are you getting your information about Kline's supposed incompetence? From Tiller? Or maybe Planned Parenthood's lawyers in Overland Park.
The news also stated the family did not want a trial to bring back memories.
Think for yourself man.

[Sir Charles]

Rick,

Round here we view Phil the Panty Sniffer as not only incompetent, but a huge, unspeakable dick.

So go sell your bullshit somewhere else.

[Sir Charles]

Man.

[Stephen]

So go sell your bullshit somewhere else.

Now, now, I'd like Rick to stay for a while. Maybe he can give us some examples of Kline's courtroom brilliance - and getting a grand jury, in Kansas, to indict a Planned Parenthood clinic isn't exactly evidence of brilliance.

I'm also curious, Rick, to know if you were one of the people who cheered ol' Phill on as he orchestrated the big property tax cut back in the 90s, only to scratch your head in wonderment as Kansas school districts started to suffer financially for the first time anyone could remember.

Have you also supported increased sales taxes so we have enough money to educate our children? Did you ever stop to think that maybe slashing property taxes would have real-world effects?

But that's Phill and his supporters. Do any damn old thing as long as it sounds good right now and let the little people deal with the consequences.

I'll give those anti-evolution folks - Kline of course met with members of the state BOE in violation of sunshine laws to give them legal advice on how to insert creationism into the schools - in Kansas one thing: they are their own best argument against the idea that people, at least, can evolve.