Another mass murderer allowed to avoid possible death sentencing via plea deal in Arkansas

Via this inauguration executive order, Prez Trump called the death penalty the “only proper punishment for the vilest crimes” and asserted that his “Administration will not tolerate efforts to stymie and eviscerate the laws that authorize capital punishment against those who commit horrible acts of violence against American citizens.”  And yet, in recent months, prosecutors have allowed persons who committed vile and horrible acts of mass murder in Idaho and in Texas to avoid facing a possible capital punishment by pleading guilty.  Yesterday, as detailed in this local article, prosecutors in Arkansas decided to allow another mass murderer to avoid a possible death sentence:  

Travis Posey on Monday pleaded guilty in a Ouachita County courtroom to four counts of capital murder and 11 counts of attempted capital murder in the June 2024 mass shooting at the Mad Butcher grocery store in Fordyce, with sentencing set for early August.  Posey, 45, of New Edinburg, stood before many of the people whose loved ones he killed or whom he had shot as he told 13th Judicial Circuit Judge Spencer Singleton that he admitted to the shooting June 21, 2024, and understood his actions led to the carnage that day….

In return, the state sought life sentences for the four murder convictions and 20 years each for the attempted murder convictions, 13th Judicial District Prosecutor Jeff Rogers said.  Rogers left the decision of whether those sentences are to be served concurrently or consecutively up to Singleton, he said….

Posey was convicted Monday of the murder of Ellen “Janie” Shrum, 81; Callie Weems, 23; Roy Sturgis, 50; and Shirley Taylor, 63, and the attempted murder of James Ryan Johnson, Sharon Brazil, Thomas Brazil, Brittney Sullivent, Demaria Cooper, Kasey Harbour, Latoya Allen, Silas Compton, Jacqueline Curb, Ronald Clayton and Judy Clayton….

Outside the courtroom Monday morning, Helen Browning, Weems’ mother, said she understands that nothing the court can do will bring her daughter back, but she said she took some solace in the fact Posey’s mother won’t lose her child as well. Weems was a nurse and leaves behind a daughter, Ivy, who was 10 months old at the time of the shooting. Browning is raising Ivy….

After the hearing, Harbour, who Posey shot in the legs, said she was left unsatisfied with the outcome and would have preferred a trial resulting in Posey’s execution.  More than a year after Posey shot her, Harbour said her wounds are healing well but she still isn’t able to work, and isn’t sure she ever will be able to again.  Last fall, the mother of one said she was still in serious pain and was using a cane to walk….

Taylor’s daughter Angela Atchley also said she would have preferred Posey be executed — by hanging, ideally — but understands the realities of the modern justice system and said Monday’s outcome was the best result possible to allow the affected families to move on without forgetting.  Atchley said she thinks Posey was treated too carefully by the justice system. He never set foot in court in the city in which he killed four people, appearing only by video conference in those hearings.  She surmised that was to protect him from anyone seeking to harm him in retribution. “I’m very upset that he’s been protected,” Atchley said.