Petition For Lillelid Murderer Dismissed

Saturday, September 4, 2004

The latest petition by one of the six convicted murderers of the Lillelid family in Greene County in 1997 has been dismissed.
Judge Thomas Hull has dismissed the petition filed by Edward Dean Mullins.
Mullins and five others entered guilty pleas to the killings of Vidar and Delfina Lillelid and their daughter Tabitha.
Mullins filed a writ of habeas corpus in U.S. District Court in Greeneville last September in response to the Tennessee Supreme Court's refusal to review the lower state court rulings that upheld his convictions and sentences.
Mullins challenged the constitutionality of issues raised in his previous appeals and asked that his guilty pleas be set aside and that he be granted a trial.
In his ruling, Judge Thomas Hull dismissed Mullins' petition and wrote in his opinion that any appeal of his decision would be frivolous.
Earlier this year, a similar petition by Natasha Cornett was also dismissed.