Mullins Loses Appeal in Lillelid Conviction
Tuesday, February 25, 2003
by Associated Press
 |
(Knoxville-AP) -- One of the killers of the Lillelid family lost an appeal.
A three-judge panel of the Court of Criminal Appeals yesterday upheld the conviction of Edward Dean Mullins. He was one of six people from eastern Kentucky who pleaded guilty to the shooting deaths of Vidar and Delifina Lillelid and their daughter Tabitha.
The victims were returning from a religious convention in Johnson City to their home near Knoxville when they were slain near an interstate rest stop in Greene County.
All the defendants were sentenced to three consecutive life sentences without parole.
Mullins claimed he was denied an effective lawyer, and that he did not voluntarily plead guilty. The appeals court said "the petitioner knowingly and voluntarily entered his pleas of guilty with a complete understanding of the consequences."
(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)