Motives
Despite the scale and brutality of his crimes, no definitive
official analysis of Simmons' motives was ever developed. There were various
reasons for this, including:
Simmons’ Refusal to
Cooperate or Appeal: He provided no clear explanation or confession, remaining
largely silent about his reasons. After both trials, Simmons explicitly waived
his right to appeal.
Swift justice: Given
the strong evidence and Simmons' refusal to appeal, there was little need to
concentrate on why he did it. The rapid timeline—less than three years from
crime to execution, with convictions in two separate trials—left little room
for prolonged inquiry.
Limited Psychological
Evaluation: While Simmons underwent a competency evaluation to determine his
ability to stand trial, this assessment focused narrowly on his sanity and
capacity to understand the proceedings—not on a comprehensive analysis of his
motives.
Complexity and
Ambiguity of Motives: The evidence from the crime scenes, witness statements,
and limited documentation suggests a tangle of potential motives, none of which
were conclusively explored due to Simmons’ silence and the lack of follow-up
investigation.
Legal and Social
Context: The legal system in Arkansas at the time prioritized swift justice
over exhaustive motive analysis, especially given Simmons’ willingness to accept
his fate.
Lack of Collateral
Evidence: Unlike many high-profile killers, Simmons left no manifesto, diary,
or correspondence explaining his motives. Family members who might have
provided insight were either dead or unable to offer more than speculation,
hampering official efforts to establish a motive
Simmons' abusive
control and the threat of the family's growing resistance
In New Mexico, Simmons exerted complete control over his
family, subjecting them to relentless abuse—primarily verbal, but at times
physical. He first struck his wife in front of their children in 1978. After
school and on weekends, the kids mainly went around and found rocks—they were
building a stone wall around the property. The eldest daughter, Sheila, endured
the worst of it, suffering sexual abuse at his hands.
According to attorney John Harris, when the family fled New
Mexico, Simmons became a fugitive with a felony warrant hanging over him.
Unbeknownst to him, New Mexico had ceased pursuing that warrant, and the case
became inactive in 1982. Simmons remained convinced that there was still an
active warrant out for his arrest. As a result, his grip on the family
tightened, and the abuse escalated. Financial struggles and personal failures
deepened his obsessions, pushing him further into isolation and tightening his
oppressive control over those trapped under his rule.
Simmons confided to Harris that he was concerned that his
wife might divorce him and that would be the end of everything with his record
(the incest charges). He had a lot of debt and had quit his remaining part-time
job. Becky had a lump in her breast that compounded his worries.
Simmons kept a tight rein on his family, according to
schoolmates, particularly his wife and 17-year-old daughter. While the children
were all talented in school, they were intensely shy and reluctant to discuss
family life.
According to family acquaintance Janet Mayhew, the children
had a strained relationship with their father and preferred his absence. “They didn’t like him at all,” she said.
The children reportedly had hideouts on the Simmons property to avoid him when
he was home. Jennifer Mayhew noted they favored the periods when he worked two
jobs, with their mother remarking they’d be content if he worked “seven days a week, 24 hours a day.”
Becky Simmons stayed with her husband out of fear, according
to her sister, Edith Nisby, on December 30, 1987. "I think she was afraid to leave," said Mrs. Nesby. "She was a woman with small children
and no work skills. She was too ashamed to turn to her family after the sexual
abuse thing. She was just afraid and she didn't know what to do."
During the investigation, local residents expressed shock
over the discovery. Edna Baker, a longtime resident, described it as "the worst thing since the Civil
War" to happen in Pleasant Grove. Neighbors recalled seeing Simmons
supervising his children as they gathered mud and stones to fill ruts in their
driveway—a memory that resurfaced for some, including Ron Standridge, upon
learning of the tragedy.
In a 1987 press briefing on December 31, Pope County
sheriff's investigators suggested that Ronald Gene Simmons Sr., may have been
driven to rage by his wife Becky's secret plans to leave and divorce him due to
his abusive behavior. In Russellville, witnesses told them Simmons harbored
personal grudges against victims shot in Russellville and that he had an
unrequited amorous infatuation with Kathy Kendrict who had rejected repeated
advances and filed a sexual harassment complaint against Simmons.
The three oldest siblings, all adults who had left home,
were working in concert to convince Becky to leave Simmons.
In a summer 1987 four-page handwritten letter from Becky
Simmons to son William, she wrote, in part, "I
am a prisoner here and the kids too ... Dad has had me like a prisoner
...." "I don't want to live the rest of my life with Dad."
"Every time I think of freedom I want out as soon as possible."
The slain wife of R. Gene Simmons was contemplating leaving, but worried she
could not find a job but decided to wait. "God
is telling me to be more patient, Right now I'll just say (I'll) do some
checking and then it will help me make my decision." "I know when I
get out I might need help, Dad has had me like a prisoner, that the freedom
might be hard for me to take, yet I know it would be great, having my children
visit me anytime, having a telephone, going shopping if I want, going to
church." The letter depicts a suppressed, isolated family living in
fear.
In the letter, Becky Simmons wrote she wanted Loretta to move
in with William and Renata after the teen turned 18. "She wants to go to college and she can get a job, too.”
A friend of 17-year-old Loretta said that Loretta told her
that her mother had been thinking about leaving with the children because of
Simmons' repressive and abusive behavior, that the only thing stopping her was
that she was afraid she wouldn't be able to support the children, and, most
recently, Mrs. Simmons had talked about going to San Antonio, where Loretta's brother,
Gene Jr, was living.
In a September 29, 1987, letter to Sheila, Becky wrote:
Billy, I know, worries
over me so I've been doing a lot of thinking of leaving your dad. I've been a
prisoner long enough. Bill and I are trying to find a way. I just don't want to
give your dad anything. He has mistreated us all long enough, so I feel no pity
for him, and being alone is what he deserves. All this will take time but I
don't want to continue this life with Fatso.
Becky often referred to Gene as "Fatso" in letters that didn't get mailed through him.
In another letter, Becky said she was a prisoner and yearned
for freedom.
Becky Simmons' family said they didn't trust Simmons because
he seemed to get stranger and stranger each year. Becky's older sister, Viola
O'Shields, said, "He was a very
loving man at one time. He loved his family." Manual Ulibarri, her
brother, said Simmons had his sister "so
isolated so she couldn't go anywhere or do anything. The only time she could go
out was to wash clothes." "Gene never liked his stepfather,"
said his sister-in-law, Edith Nesby. "Actually,
he didn't like anybody. ... Anything that went wrong was always somebody else's
fault."
"In my heart, I
think I know the reason why. Like told you before, he just had lost control of
the family. He couldn't bear to be with... Like a general, he had to have
control all the time, said Manuel. "After the incest he lost control. My
sister Becky was sleeping in the room with the girls.... Gene just lost control
of the family and couldn't take it. In other words, they just didn't have
anything to do with him and he couldn't take it. Ulibarri said that another
factor that prompted the family massacre was Simmons' belief his family was
planning to leave him. "Gene
thought he (Ronald Gene Simmons Jr.) was coming to pick up the family and take
them with him back to San Antonio."
News Anchor and a
Local Reporter
Simmons initiated communication with KHTV news anchor Anne
Jansen through a letter, leading to an exchange that consisted of eight letters
from Simmons and four two—to three-hour conversations. These interactions
occurred across multiple locations: twice at the Pope County Detention Center,
once at Tucker Unit, and once at Cummins Unit. Simmons requested that Jansen
keep their discussions confidential, emphasizing that he would have ceased
communication if he believed they were intended for journalistic use.
In their initial conversation, Jansen noted Simmons'
pronounced paranoia. He expressed suspicion that even unsecured objects, such
as light bulbs and wall switches, might conceal listening devices. He remained
highly vigilant, consistently monitoring his surroundings.
Simmons also communicated with another reporter,
Russellville Courier Democrat reporter Laura Shull, including once in his Pope
County jail cell.
Surrender versus
suicide
It was thought that Simmons planned to kill himself after
his rampage in Russellville. After several shots from the .22-caliber pistols
failed to kill multiple victims, he worried that using it for suicide might
leave him disabled instead. He also doubted his chances of dying if he tried to
shoot it out with the police.
Trials, convictions
and appeals
On December 30, 1987, Simmons was transferred from the Pope
County Detention Center to the Arkansas State Hospital in Little Rock after Circuit
Judge John Patterson ordered him held without bond and to undergo a psychiatric
evaluation. Despite a backlog of admissions, Simmons was immediately admitted
on an emergency basis at Rogers Hall, which housed the criminally insane,
arriving there under heavy security because of threats on his life. Dr. Roy
Ragdale said hospital policies allowed patients to be admitted early if they
were charged with a capital crime.
Following 60 days of psychological testing, on February 29,
1988, State Hospital director Dr. Roy Radsdale said that Simmons was competent
to stand trial and was responsible for his actions at the time of the killings.
Ragsdale said that Simmons was diagnosed as having a mixed personality disorder
“with narcissistic and paranoid
features,” Ragsdill said. “It is a
clinical way of describing coping techniques in dealing with his feelings and
stress.”
Simmons was returned to Pope County, where Judge Patterson
accepted the state hospital's finding that he was competent to stand trial and
that he was not insane at the time of the slayings. Patterson also set a May 9
trial date.
Patterson said on March 7 that he would be "hard-pressed" to label
Simmons an indigent since he was receiving a military pension of about $917 a
month. He ruled that Simmons could pay for his defense, for which Simmons'
attorneys had accumulated about $11,000 in fees and expenses. Prosecutor Bynum
objected to the defense's request for payment, saying it would deplete the
county's indigent defense fund, which only held $15,278 in February. Everything
of value that Simmons had eventually went to his attorneys, including concrete
blocks from the wall that had shielded the house from view from Broomfield Road
and gifts from Christmas that had never been opened.
Trial for Russellville
shootings
In his first trial, Simmons was charged with murdering
Kendrick and Chaffin, attempting to murder five others, and kidnapping a sixth
on December 28, 1987.
In a plea arraignment on March 24, 1989, Simmons spoke for
the first time in court since his arrest and pleaded innocent to four capital
murder charges, five counts of attempted capital murder, and one count of
kidnapping and saying, "In the
interest of justice... I request a speedy trial.” In the same hearing,
acting on a request by Simmons attorneys, Judge Patterson ruled that the trial
for the Russellville spree would take place in Franklin County.
Simmons wanted the death penalty from the very beginning. A
death sentence, under Arkansas law, was only permitted upon a jury's
recommendation. If he had pled guilty, the only available sentence would have
been life imprisonment without the possibility of parole.
Defended by two local court-appointed attorneys, John Harris
and Robert "Doc" Irwin,
Simmons' first trial began on May 9, 1988, in Ozark—moved there because of
widespread news coverage. A seven-man, five-woman, all white, with two
alternates, was selected on Monday, May 9 from a jury pool of 113 people. The
jury was overwhelmingly older, working-class, with limited formal education.
On Tuesday afternoon, Judge Patterson excused a juror
following an hour-long meeting with attorneys. He had been told the juror made
a derogatory remark about Simmons but declined to declare a mistrial, citing
the availability of two alternates. Seventeen prosecution witnesses testified
on Tuesday. Thirteen witnesses testified on Wednesday. Nine of the thirty
prosecution witnesses identified Simmons as the man involved in the rampage.
One witness said Simmons had told him he would "like to get even" with some people in the area and that
there were a few people in town he would like to get even with.
In the four-day trial, Simmons was linked to shootings at
four businesses through eyewitness accounts and ballistics evidence.
The defense rested without presenting evidence or calling
any witnesses even though they had subpoenaed eleven. They had previously
decided against an insanity defense. "Doc"
Irwin had said he planned to call about five witnesses but told the Gazette he
was unable to find one. “We didn’t have any
witnesses,” he admitted after the verdicts were reached. “We looked high and low.”
Prosecutor John Bynum, arguing for death, said, "There is nothing in the record that
says this man is entitled to a break—nothing.”
The jury deliberated less than 1½ hours before convicting
Simmons on May 12, 1988. After hearing arguments on whether to sentence him to
life in prison or death, they deliberated another 2 hours and returned with a sentence
of death. Simmons was also sentenced for 30 years for each of four attempted
capital murder counts, 20 years for a fifth attempted capital court, and 7
years for a first-degree false imprisonment charge.
After jurors had been excused, Simmons told Circuit Judge
John Patterson he had a statement to make. Speaking softly from the witness
stand, Simmons stated in open court that, after careful thought and
consideration, he was ready to waive all his rights to appeal.
Later that evening, one juror said, "It's something the jury was not proud of." Another said
the jury had no problem with its decision.
Simmons statement:
My statement is that
if the jury renders the most proper and just and wise sentence of death in this
case, I, Ronald Gene Simmons Sr., want it to be known that it is my wish and my
desire that absolutely no action by anybody be taken to appeal or in any way
change this sentence.
It is further
respectfully requested that this sentence be carried out expeditiously. I want
no action that will delay, deny, deter or denounce this very correct and proper
death sentence.
My attorneys have
repeatedly counseled me to appeal. However, that is not what I want. I believe
now and always have in the death penalty.
To those who oppose
the death penalty, I say, in my particular case, anything short of death would
be cruel and unusual punishment.
I am of sound mind and
body and have been seen by psychoanalysts who can verify that I am capable of
making a clear and rational decision. I have given clear and careful thought
and consideration so there is nothing that will cause me to change my mind.
Let the torture and
suffering in me end. Please allow me the right to be at peace.
After Simmons read his statement, Dr. Lew Neal, a
psychiatrist, testified that Simmons was mentally competent to make the
request. "There is no way he is
going to change his feelings on this," Dr. Neal said. Simmons'
attorneys said Simmons wrote the statement days earlier against their advice.
Later that evening, James Lee, a spokesman for the attorney
general's office, said that Simmons had the right to waive his appeals. "Under Arkansas law, the appeal is not
automatic, it is not mandatory."
Post-trial interview
and hearings
Simmons said, "Death
is not to be feared." in a May 15 two-hour interview with a reporter
from the Russellville Courier-Democrat. "It
is what comes before death" that is to be feared. "I have no doubts that this (death sentence) is right, but I won't
believe it until it happens." Refusing to answer anything about what
happened at his home; he criticized the criminal justice system, saying those
who need punishment don't get it. Describing himself as an introvert, he said
he didn't answer all questions when he was examined at the State Hospital.
On May 16, Judge Patterson found Simmons to be of sound mind
and could waive his right to appeal. Patterson issued an order for Simmons to
be executed by lethal injection at 11 a.m. June 27. Calling his sentence "proper punishment for the crime,"
Simmons told the judge he would not try to stop the execution. "I arrived
at my decision in regard to the proper punishment on Dec. 28 and don't hold
your breath for me to change it. Simmons told Patterson he had decided to seek
execution on the day of the shooting spree.
Judge Patterson reminded Simmons that "any time prior to execution, you have the right to change your
mind and appeal." Simmons told the court that his decision was made
the day of the shootings in Russellville and that he wouldn't change his mind.
Simmons property sold
at auction
In early January 1988, Dorothy Gueller of Woodhaven, N.Y.,
filed a foreclosure suit against Simmons seeking return of the property she
sold Simmons on Broomfield Road and $28,081 she said was still owed. The
foreclosure petition was approved in May after there had been no payments since
November 1987. On June 15, the property was sold at auction on the steps of the
Pope County Courthouse. The only bid came from the woman Simmons had bought the
property from. On March 29, 1989, the house, which had been subjected to
ongoing vandalism, was destroyed by fire. The state fire marshal ruled the
blaze as arson. The site has faded from public attention with no subsequent
property development.
After the trial in
Ozark
Simmons met several times with Roger and Viola O'Shields.
Viola was Becky's sister. Simmons told Roger that he had intended to kill
himself after he was finished with his victims. When Roger asked him why he
changed his mind, Simmons told him, “Do
you know what kind of ammunition I was using? .22 caliber hollow points. They
don’t penetrate. They splatter. I did not want to shoot myself and become a
vegetable.”
On June 16, 1988, just over a week before his scheduled
execution, the Arkansas Churches for Life filed a petition with the Arkansas
Supreme Court, seeking a stay of execution and asserting that death sentences should
be appealed.
In a 6-1 ruling, the Arkansas Supreme Court issued a
temporary stay of the execution on June 20 after attorney Mark S. Cambiano for
Catholic priest Louis J. Franz raised issues of whether Arkansas had or should
have had a mandatory review of capital cases or the waiver of appeals in such
cases.
After the state Supreme Court action, On June 21, Circuit
Judge Patterson said that the trial for the murders of Simmons family members,
initially scheduled for July 18, would be postponed indefinitely pending
decisions by the higher court.
The Arkansas Supreme Court terminated the temporary stay on
July 1, 1988, in a 5-2 ruling, holding that Rev. Franz did not have standing in
the case and that Simmons understood his choice not to appeal. They also held
that automatic appeals were not mandated but that the court would not
automatically acquiesce to a defendant's desire to decline his right to appeal.
With the stay lifted on July 15, on July 15, Arkansas
Governor Bill Clinton set Simmons's execution date for August 9 in a letter to
A.L. "Art" Lockhart,
director of the Arkansas Department of Corrections.
U.S. District Judge G. Thomas Eisele stayed the execution on
August 3, 1988, telling lawyers he would decide later in the month whether a
court review in death penalty cases is mandatory but wouldn't consider if
others had standing to intervene nor whether Simmons was competent to waive his
right to appeal. Eisele's stay came after attorney Mark Cambiano filed motions
on August 2 on behalf of Catholic priest Louis J. Franz and Darrel Wayne Hill,
an inmate who was also on death row.
Attorney Mark Cambiano filed a motion on August 12 asking
that a temporary guardian be appointed to Simmons, claiming that Simmons'
attorneys, John Harris and Robert W. "Doc"
Irwin, had provided ineffective assistance of counsel.
After Circuit Judge John S. Patterson scheduled a tentative
trial date for the first week of December, defense attorneys requested Simmons is
brought to Russellville to make him more accessible for preparation of motions
pending in state and federal courts. Simmons was moved from death row to the
Russellville jail on August 19 and returned to death row at the Maximum
Security Unit near Tucker on September 1.
Judge Eisele ruled on September 23 that Rev. Franz and
inmate Hill did not have standing to appeal Simmons' execution and that Simmons
himself must make any further appeals in the case. He also ruled that the
Arkansas Supreme Court had established that mandatory capital case appeals were
not required.
On September 29, Judge Eisele ordered more psychiatric
evaluations for Simmons and appointed Little Rock lawyer John Wesley Hall Jr.,
to advise him on possible avenues of appeal. Before making a final ruling on
the competency issue, Eisele wanted a 30-day assessment of Simmons by
authorities at the Medical Center for Federal Prisoners in Springfield,
Missouri. Hall thoroughly reviewed the case records and decided that Simmons'
attorneys had made all of the appropriate arguments and objections and that the
appeal issues had been addressed.
A December 29 order provided to the Arkansas attorney
general's office by Judge Eisle ruled that Simmons could waive his right to
appeal his conviction.
Trial for family
killings
On December 21, 1988, Judge John Patterson issued an order
moving Simmons' trial for the murders of his 14 family members to Clarksville,
in Johnson County because of pre-trial publicity. The 14 deaths had been
consolidated into one count of capital murder.
On January 18, 1989, in an evidentiary hearing, Judge
Patterson refused to bar most of the evidence the state gained when officers
entered Simmons' home. Sheriff Jim Bolen and other officers entered the home on
December 27, 1987, after Simmons had been arrested in Russellville following
the shootings there. They testified that their concern was for the welfare of
the family. They entered under guidelines that allow officers to take action
when they have reason to believe an emergency exists. Bolin said he thought
they could be injured, perhaps bleeding to death in the house and that his fear
was based on Simmons' reaction when asked about his family, though he wouldn't
answer any questions. He also said that, when asked if he would consent to a
search of the residence, Simmons "shook
his head, no, his lips was quivering, and his eyes watered up."
Sheriff Bolin testified, "I
felt very deeply that his family might be in there, might be shot, and needing
medical help. We couldn't find them. He wouldn't tell us where they were."
He also said, "The first thing we
did when we got in there was to check each body to see whether there was any
life left in them."
Patterson ruled that the 14 deaths would be treated as one
count of capital murder.
The trial began on Monday, February 6, with jury selection
from a pool of 89 potential jurors. Judge Patterson addressed the publicity
issue by asking, "Is there anybody
who has not heard anything about this case?" Nobody raised their
hands.
Extra security had been brought to the courthouse, including
state troopers inside the building and the courtroom.
Jury selection was completed late Tuesday, with four women
and eight men seated. The last two jurors were selected after the defense
exhausted its peremptory challenges.
During opening arguments on Wednesday, in a Clarksville
courtroom crowded about 100 spectators, prosecutor John Bynum said the
prosecution would present a note by Simmons that authorities found in a safe
deposit box at Peoples Bank in Russellville. "It will show you and indicate to you a motive as to why Mr.
Simmons killed some these people," Bynum said, and that it would
describe a love-hate relationship with his oldest daughter with whom he had
fathered a child. A dozen relatives of the victims sat on two benches at the
front of the courtroom.
On February 9, in testimony, Dr. Bennett G. Preston, former
assistant medical examiner for Arkansas, summarized what he found when he did
autopsies on the 14 bodies. Other testimony indicated that no firearms were
found at the Simmons home.
As to motive in the trial, a family friend told
investigators that Simmons' wife had been saving up money to divorce Simmons
when the killings happened.
On the morning of February 10, a state firearms and tool
marks examiner testified that bullets taken from the bodies of five of the
victims matched a gun Simmons had with him when he was arrested. Bullet
fragments from the sixth victim could not be positively identified.
During a routine sidebar conference just before noon between
the judge and both parties, Simmons lunged between the lawyers and slugged John
Bynum, the prosecutor, in the chin, "sending
spectators shrieking and ducking beneath their seats" After missing
with a second punch and reaching for the holstered gun of one of the baliffs,
Simmons was subdued by court officers who swarmed over him and whisked him out
a side door. Jurors watched wide-eyed and some relatives of the slain family
dove for the floor. Charlotte Crosston, whose daughter and son-in-law died in
the murder spree, said, I'm glad he showed the jury, and I'm glad the jury got
to see what he's really like.
Bynum had introduced a letter between Simmons and his
daughter Sheila in which Simmons expressed anger that Sheila had revealed that
he was the father of her child, and that he would see her in Hell. Bynum later
said he saw the punch coming right before it landed. "I was startled, but it didn't hurt me. He may have tried to hit
me on the chest, but the only blow I felt was the one to the face.”
Judge Patterson immediately had the startled jurors removed
from the courtroom and before declared a recess, telling them, "I want you to set aside what in the
courtroom for now. The trial has gone on for five days. We want to finish if we
can. You need to disregard the incident that just happened here today.”
Simmons was later asked by his attorney why he had sucker
punched the prosecutor. Simmons replied, “I
am in control, I am in control.” Harris thought it was intended to sabotage
any defense that might be offered. Simmons sought no sympathy from the jury and
aimed for a death sentence, even striking the prosecutor to ensure it.
Sometime later, in one of their confidential, off-the-record
meetings, Ann Jansen spoke with Simmons about hitting the prosecutor. She
asked, "Gene, what did you do?"
He smirked and replied, "MNM,"
explaining it stood for "mitigating
or mitigation neutralizing maneuver." He wanted the jury's last
impression to be an act of violence to secure a death penalty.
After the recess, Lt. Jay Winters of the Pope County
Sheriff's Department read the letter introduced by Bynum, which was to
Simmons's eldest daughter, Sheila McNulty. "I
told you that your lack of communication with me was going to be your
downfall." Simmons wrote. "You
have destroyed me, and in time you will destroy yourself." "If you are
trying to hurt me, then you should be very proud of yourself, because you have
done a very good job of it. You have destroyed me. I do not want D. to set foot
on my property. He turned you against me. You want me out of your life. I will
be out of your life. I will see you in hell."
The trial included just 18 prosecution witnesses, and the
defense didn't present a case, However, before Simmons' attack on Bynum, they
had planned to call Vicky Jackson—the Woodline Freight employee Simmons told to
call police—, a police dispatcher, and a ballistics expert.
Handcuffed after the earlier outburst, Simmons showed no
emotion when he was found guilty that evening at 8:30 PM after the jurors
deliberated for more than four hours. The jury returned with a sentence by
lethal injection at 11:08 PM. Relatives of the victims clapped when the verdict
was announced, but the courtroom was silent when the sentence was read.
On February 11, after Simmons told Judge Patterson he knew
of no reason he should not be immediately sentenced, the judge set the execution
for March 16.
He refused to appeal his death sentence, stating, "To those who oppose the death penalty
– in my particular case, anything short of death would be cruel and unusual
punishment." The trial court conducted a hearing concerning Simmons'
competence to waive further proceedings, and concluded that his decision was
knowing and intelligent.
After the trials
Judge John Patterson allowed Simmons to waive his appeal of
the death sentence in a March 1, 1989, hearing. After the hearing, Simmons
talked to reporters in a rare move. While he declined to discuss the crimes or
his apparent death wish, he made threatening and disparaging statements about
people who had blocked his first death sentence, Rev. Louis J. Franz of Star
City and Morrilton attorney Mark Cambiano. “Perhaps
you folks can suggest to Scum-Cambiano and Joker Franz that as they crawl
through their self-created cesspool, that maybe they ought to keep an eye over
their shoulder,” Simmons said. “Someone
might just want to put their lights out.]
On March 10, the state Supreme Court ruled Simmons competent
to waive his appeal for his February conviction. On March 13, the court
rejected a petition for review from another death row inmate, Jonas Whitmore.
The following day, the petition was filed with US Supreme Court Justice Harry
Blackmun, who referred it to the entire court. On March 15, 1989, the U.S.
Supreme Court delayed the execution scheduled for the next day,
On March 29, 1989, the 8th Circuit again delayed Simmons'
execution, set for April 5 by Governor Clinton, to review Eisele's ruling in
the first trial and allow the U.S. Supreme Court to weigh Whitmore's petition
on the family slayings, the second trial.
On July 3, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to review
Whitmore's appeal, with arguments to be heard in October.
The situation was bizarre as Ronald Gene Simmons and
Attorney General Steve Clark both wanted the trial to end. Simmons submitted a
sworn statement saying, “Do not appeal
for me or try to help me; I willingly accept my punishment.”
After a 13-month pause due to Whitmore's appeal, on April
24, 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Whitmore
v. Arkansas that Whitmore had no standing to intervene, leaving the denial
of an appeal for a death sentence unaddressed. The net effect of the ruling was
that the only person that could stop the execution was Simmons.
On May 31, Governor Bill Clinton signed a new death warrant
for Simmons for June 25, 1990, nearly two years after the original date. There
would be no more obstacles—Simmons was set to die, leaving many wondering if
this would bring the relief they sought.
Execution
Simmons was kept alone on death row. Other prisoners were
upset because he didn't fight his death sentence, and they thought it hurt their
cases.
In June, Assistant Attorney General Jack Gillean said
Simmons could stop the execution at any time up to the point of the lethal
injection by saying he wanted to pursue his right to an appeal. "That is because he is a volunteer,
which is the word we're using for people who aren't appealing and who want to
be executed."
On May 31, 1990, Arkansas governor (later President) Bill
Clinton signed Simmons' execution warrant.
Before his execution on June 25, Simmons gave a brief,
confusing final statement, "Justice
delayed finally be done is justifiable homicide." One of his
attornies, John Harris, said he thought Simmons accepted his punishment but
felt that it had been delayed for too long.
Fourteen people were present in a darkened witness room. Two
witnesses were reporters—Bob Simmons (Associated Press bureau chief) and Scott
Bowles (Arkansas Gazette).
At 9 p.m., curtains over the windows of the execution
chamber opened without notice. Light from the bare white room brightened the
witness room.
Simmons lay strapped in a gurney about eight feet from the
first row of witnesses, his head to the witnessess' left, his feet to the
right. Two intravenous bottles hung over his head.
He looked straight up, into the fluorescent lights of the
chamber, blinking frequently.
Simmons was covered from chin to toe in a white sheet with
his arms bared and strapped to his side. Catheters were in each arm.
"He's not a very
big man, is he?" (One of the) witnesses whispered to himself.
At 9:02 p.m., Warden Willis Seargent announced the execution
was to begin.
Simmons continued to blink and glance about him. His head,
held tight by a brown leather strap, was unable to move, but he tried to glance
above him at the executioner's room.
He then looked once to his right, toward the witnesses. His
eyes returned to the ceiling, blinking frequently.
At 9:06, Simmons called out, "Oh, oh," and he began to cough.
His eyes shut. He
seemed to nod off, as if asleep.
He continued to cough after his eyes shut. The convulsions
raised the sheet around his stomach and caused his gurney to move.
Over the next four minutes, Simmons continued to convulse
and shake the gurney, although less frequently as the minutes passed. His
fingers and face began to turn purple.
By 9:10 p.m., Simmons was still.
At 9:15, prison medical administrator Byus checked the
catheter in Simmons' right arm. At 9:17 p.m., Byus held a stethoscope to
Simmons' chest, held Simmons' right wrist, then touched the man's neck. At 9:18
p.m., the Lincoln County coroner entered the chamber and examined Simmons. He
pronounced Simmons dead at 9:19 pm.
Simmons died by the method he had chosen, lethal injection,
in the Cummins Unit. This execution was significant for Arkansas: it was the
first by lethal injection, the first where an inmate waived his right to
appeal, and the second execution since the resumption of capital punishment
after a 26-year moratorium, occurring just one week after the prior execution.
Two hours prior to his execution, prison officials inquired
about Simmons' wishes for the disposition of his remains. He responded, "No comment." With no
surviving relatives willing to claim his body and no specific burial
instructions provided, Simmons was buried in Lincoln Memorial Lawn cemetery
near the Varner Unit in Lincoln County, Arkansas. Details of the burial
arrangements remained undisclosed until 20 minutes before the service. Nancy
Madden, Simmon's sister, and members of her family were present at the graveside
ceremony.
Motive
Simmons never expressed remorse for his actions.
Simmons repeatedly sought execution to end his suffering but
shared little with authorities. Acquaintances suggested his silence reflected a
desire to retain control over his family posthumously.
A CBS Evening News report on September 29, 1987, stated that
authorities had one major unanswered question, expressed by Sheriff James
Bolin, "Why?"
After the execution, that question had never been fully
answered, certainly not by Simmons.
Afterward
Three videotapes from the murder scenes at the Simmons
property were burned in mid-August 1990 after Judge Patterson authorized their
destruction.
"I did what I’ve
wanted to do ever since Simmons was executed, destroy the tapes,"
Sheriff Bolin said. "I’ve had calls
from all over the country, even before he was executed, from people wanting the
videotapes. The calls have been heavy since the execution."
The tapes document the condition of 14 bodies: four adults
and one child found in the house, seven from a shallow grave, and two children
wrapped in trash bags in a car trunk. Parts were shown to the jury during
Simmons’ trials.
Simmons' two pistols were auctioned for $2,925. One gun,
which was not used in the murders, was sold to a resident of Pottsville, who
bought it as a souvenir for $1,325. The second weapon, the gun Simmons used to
kill eight people, was purchased by John C. Harris, one of Simmons' attorneys.
He said he thought bids on his former client's guns were "too low." Most of the crowd of over 100 and about a
dozen journalists were there for the spectacle. Only 13 people bid on either
gun and virtually all of the bidding was done by just four men.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ronald_Gene_Simmons
