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Thread: Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell Sentenced to 50 Years in 2019 AR Murder of Linda Collins-Smith

  1. #11
    Administrator Heidi's Avatar
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    Today marks one year since former Sen. Linda Collins was found murdered outside her home

    On Thursday, June 4, 2020, marks one year since former Sen. Linda Collins was found murdered outside her home.

    The family of Linda Collins’ released a statement marking the one year anniversary.

    [indent]“One year ago today, our mother Linda Collins was found brutally murdered outside her home. As news outlets around the world started reporting the death of the former Senator, our family grieved the loss of our beloved daughter, mother, and grandmommy. The shocking news of Linda’s death set off a ripple across the state as thousands of people reached out to tell us how much Linda had impacted their lives. We hope that today you will continue to share your memories of Linda because those memories are what keep Linda’s legacy alive. While Linda’s death was horrific, we never want it to define who she was. She was more than just a former Senator who was murdered, she was a wonderful daughter, a loving mother, and the best grandmommy to her three grandsons. Linda was also a great advocate for the people of Arkansas, she was an outstanding business woman, and a Christian who had a strong, unbreakable faith in God. She may have been short in stature but she was big in personality and ambition. Linda’s ongoing murder case has been rough for the family this past year, but we continue to be pleased with the work that the State is accomplishing. The recent changes to the case show the continued work of the prosecution and police departments in their effort to bring justice to Linda. As we get closer to the trial in October, we hope you will keep us in your thoughts and prayers as our family continues to seek total justice for Linda.”"[/b]

    According to court documents, prosecutors are seeking the death penalty for Rebecca O’Donnell, 49, who is charged with capital murder, abuse of corpse and evidence tampering in the killing of Sen. Linda Collins.

    Robert Dittrich, the special prosecutor assigned to the case, has alleged that O’Donnell committed the crime for money and to avoid arrest.

    O'Donnell, who was a reported close friend of Collins, pleaded not guilty to Collins-Smith's murder. She faces the death penalty.

    According to court documents, O'Donnell's next hearing is on June 12, where the court will discuss if she can be sentenced to the death penalty if convicted.

    https://www.thv11.com/article/news/j...1-b84100d7e22a
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  2. #12
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Judge denies O’Donnell’s request to drop capital murder charge

    By Region 8 Newsdesk
    KAIT News

    POCAHONTAS, Ark. (KAIT) - A woman accused of murdering a former Arkansas state senator will be able to meet with her attorneys in person but she won’t be allowed to visit a doctor.

    Those were just some of the motions a judge approved and denied during a pre-trial hearing Friday at the Randolph County Courthouse in the Rebecca “Becky” O’Donnell murder trial.

    O’Donnell is accused of killing former State Senator Linda Collins of Pocahontas last June.

    Her attorneys had filed a series of motions, including prohibiting photographic evidence of the crime scene and the autopsy, as well as asking that the charge of capital murder be dismissed and the death penalty removed, claiming it was “cruel and unusual punishment.”

    During Friday’s proceedings, the judge granted O’Donnell access to her counsel which her lawyers had claimed they had been unable to do in the last three months since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

    The judge also granted O’Donnell’s request to appear in all cases before the jury in civilian clothes and with no restraints on.

    Other motions approved Friday were:

    Judge Fogleman also approved motions to allow O’Donnell to appear in all cases before the jury in civilian clothes and no restraints, as well as prohibiting the display of emotional outbursts, approval or disapproval and any other prejudicial behavior in the courtroom.

    However, Judge Fogleman denied her request to remove the death penalty from the table due to a precedent set by the Arkansas Supreme Court.

    The judge also denied her attorneys’ motion to dismiss the capital murder charge. Prosecutors have alleged she committed the murder for monetary gain.

    In answer to O’Donnell’s request to visit a local physician for an examination, the judge said he would allow a doctor to visit the jail to examine her and determine if further evaluation was needed.

    Other motions denied Friday were:

    • A judicial review of all impact evidence that prosecutors plan to introduce in the capital sentencing part of the proceeding.


    • A motion to bar Special Prosecuting Attorney Robert Dittrich from violating improper action in the case. Fogleman denied the motion, but said he would not allow personal opinion or appeal to bias or prejudice to be used in the case.

    As part of a motion asking for an in-person, telephone or questionnaire interview of possible jurors, defense attorney Lee Short told the judge about being worried of a jury’s opinion swaying due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    The issue will be discussed by the judge, attorneys and a court reporter during a conference call at a later date.

    The next set of hearings on motions to suppress photographic evidence and others will be held on August 6 and 7.

    https://www.kait8.com/2020/06/12/jud...murder-charge/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  3. #13
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    O'Donnell Pleads Guilty to Killing Linda Collins

    Arkansas Business Staff

    Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell reached a deal with prosecutors and pleaded guilty Thursday to killing former state Rep. Linda Collins, Arkansas Business news partner THV 11 news reports. A judge sentenced her to 50 years in prison.

    O'Donnell had been charged with capital murder, abuse of a corpse and evidence tampering. She had pleaded not guilty.

    But in an agreement with prosecutors announced Thursday at the Randolph County Courthouse, O'Donnell pleaded guilty to first-degree murder and abuse of a corpse, according to Jonesboro ABC affiliate KAIT-TV Channel 8.

    Collins' body was found June 4, 2019 outside her home in Pocahontas. She died from stab wounds. O'Donnell, 49 and a former campaign worker and a friend of Collins, was arrested about two weeks later.

    Robert Dittrich, the special prosecutor on the case, said in April that O'Donnell killed Collins for money and to avoid arrest. But more about O'Donnell's motives have remained a mystery, and the court and prosecutors have kept details under wraps. Little light was shed during Thursday's hearing.

    "I went to Linda's house, and I intentionally killed her and then hid the body," O'Donnell told the judge, according to Little Rock ABC affiliate KATV-TV, Channel 7.

    Investigators determined that Collins was last seen alive on May 28, 2019. Video footage from Collins' security system showed O'Donnell removing security cameras from inside the former lawmaker’s residence that day, investigators said.

    O'Donnell also pleaded no contest to murder solicitation charges in a case brought by Jackson County. She received seven years in prison on those charges, a sentence that will run consecutively to a 43-year sentence for the Randolph County charges, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. She will be eligible for parole.

    Collins was a member of the Arkansas House from 2011 to 2013. Elected as a Democrat, she switched parties in 2011. In 2014, she ran successfully for the state Senate and served one term, which expired in January 2019.

    Collins-Smith was married to Philip Smith, a retired circuit court judge. They divorced in 2018.

    "No amount of punishment will ever fill that void that Rebecca O’Donnell made in our lives the day she killed our mother," Tate Williams, Collins' daughter, said after the hearing. "Today we find some shred of peace that Rebecca O’Donnell will be put away in prison for a very long time, unable to hurt anyone else."

    In a statement, Collins' son Butch, who discovered his mother's lifeless body and called police, said the plea deal "was not what my first choice would have been."

    "The last memory of her that I have was of me making that 911 call and trying not to vomit all over at the sight and smell of my mother's body," he said. "My thought on the conclusion of this case is that none of the punishments allowed per Arkansas state law will come close to what I feel is right and equal punishment for her."

    (The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

    https://www.arkansasbusiness.com/art...-linda-collins
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  4. #14
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Pulaski County judge: Time to begin releasing materials related to former state Sen. Linda Collins' murder

    Jurist gives parties in suit time to flag irrelevant data

    By John Lynch
    Arkansas Democrat Gazette

    Pulaski County Circuit Judge Chip Welch said he wants to begin releasing more investigative materials related to the murder of former state Sen. Linda Collins by Dec. 10, 15 months after another judge halted public disclosure of the documents.

    News agencies requested the materials the day after Collins' killer pleaded guilty. Welch said the proceedings to decide what can be made public have taken too long.

    "It's been a long time," the judge said.

    Collins' two children and ex-husband have sued the Arkansas State Police and the Randolph County sheriff's office -- the investigating authorities -- to restrict what the public can see of the murder probe. They want the judge to review investigative files and cull materials irrelevant to the investigation.

    The family does not dispute that the investigative files include public records that will be released under the Arkansas Freedom of Information Act. But they say the murder probe was so broad that police collected their private, personal and business information, which should not be made public.

    Collins, 57, was stabbed to death at her Pocahontas home in June of 2019. A friend and campaign worker, Rebecca Lynn O'Donnell of Biggers, was arrested about two weeks later. Collins' body was found wrapped in sheets in her driveway, and the slaying of the former Republican lawmaker, hotelier and real estate agent captured national attention.

    In August 2020, O'Donnell, 51, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, reduced from capital murder, and abuse of a corpse in exchange for a 50-year prison sentence. That includes her no-contest plea to solicitation of capital murder for trying to have Collins' ex-husband killed and framed for Collins' murder. The plea agreement spared O'Donnell from facing the death penalty at trial.

    O'Donnell never told authorities why she killed Collins, and her only public statement was to admit that she deliberately killed Collins as a condition of her guilty plea. Collins' son told reporters that his mother had suspected O'Donnell was stealing money from her and Collins had confronted her about it.

    At the request of prosecutors, police reports and materials related to the investigation, including court records, were ordered sealed the day after Collins was killed. The arrest affidavit was disclosed two months later at the prosecution's request in an acknowledgment of the "public's right to know the fundamental nature and facts of this case." That court order also allowed public access to the court record and pleadings.

    But everything else, like search warrants, remained sealed with authorities further prohibited from talking about the case outside of court.

    Five days after O'Donnell's guilty plea, presiding Judge John Fogleman ordered the investigative materials unsealed, and the process of releasing the materials began the next week.

    Just a few days into the process, the Collins family filed their suit in Pulaski County Circuit Court to delay the release of information until materials they deemed irrelevant to the murder investigation could be culled.

    Judge Cathi Compton immediately blocked the police agencies from releasing more materials in an order that was intended to be temporary -- at most two weeks -- until a hearing could be convened. But there were so much material to look through -- more than 20,000 pages -- that the sides reached an agreement to delay that hearing indefinitely until the materials could be collected and made ready for the judge's review.

    The parties further agreed that the Collins family would be able to make their arguments for what materials should be held under seal.

    Court records show that Compton began reviewing the Randolph County sheriff's materials but that as of December 2020 had not received the state police file. Seven months later, in July, the litigation was transferred to Welch as part of a judicial realignment of duties.

    The next action came in October when ABC News moved to join the litigation, stating that news agencies' interests in the public records might not be protected otherwise. The Arkansas Press Association similarly joined the case at Wednesday's hearing.

    At the proceeding, the judge expressed concern about how long it's taken so far, noting that the state police had only just provided him with its investigative file Tuesday night.

    His message to the Collins family and state lawyers was to get together and work out what they could agree was public record, setting the Dec. 10 deadline to codify their decision in an order for him to sign so material can be released "immediately." Documents that the sides can't agree on will be the subject of a later hearing, the judge said.

    https://www.arkansasonline.com/news/...gin-releasing/
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

  5. #15
    Administrator Helen's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Helen View Post
    When this comes out in the wash I bet its a murder for hire and the ex husband of the senator is behind it.
    I stand by this to this day. Why else would this murderess try to hire hitmen to kill the dead woman's ex-husband, and why have the victim's family done everything in their power to prevent court materials from being released to the public?

    The fact this woman was allowed to plead guilty without allocating in court to this crime is very odd, and I have to wonder if she refused to allocate in order to protect other's who were involved in this murder.
    "I realize this may sound harsh, but as a father and former lawman, I really don't care if it's by lethal injection, by the electric chair, firing squad, hanging, the guillotine or being fed to the lions."
    - Oklahoma Rep. Mike Christian

    "There are some people who just do not deserve to live,"
    - Rev. Richard Hawke

    “There are lots of extremely smug and self-satisfied people in what would be deemed lower down in society, who also deserve to be pulled up. In a proper free society, you should be allowed to make jokes about absolutely anything.”
    - Rowan Atkinson

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