Arrest, Guilty Plea and Sentence
Archer was later arrested and charged with the murders of the four crew members during the hijacking of the "Joe Cool" charter boat. Prosecutors alleged that Archer hijacked the boat and headed for Cuba to escape the intensifying child molestation and theft investigations in Arkansas. In July 2008, Archer pleaded guilty to first-degree murder, robbery, kidnapping and hijacking. By pleading guilty, Archer avoided a possible death sentence. On October 14, 2008, Archer was sentenced to five consecutive life terms in prison.
Archer's co-defendant, Guillermo Zarabozo, was tried on the same charges of murder, robbery, kidnapping, hijacking, and weapons charges, and was initially found guilty of firearms violations. However, the jury deadlocked on the piracy and murder counts, with some jury members believing Zarabozo's claims that the hijacking and murders had been planned and initiated by Archer, without Zarabozo's knowledge. At his retrial, Zarabozo was found guilty on 4 murder charges, and he was also given five life sentences.
Read more about this topic: Kirby Logan Archer
Famous quotes containing the words guilty, plea and/or sentence:
“An innocent man, if accused, can be acquitted; a guilty man, unless accused, cannot be condemned. It is, however, more advantageous to absolve an innocent than not to prosecute a guilty man.”
—Marcus Tullius Cicero (106–43 B.C.)
“I understand that it is a maxim of law, that a poor plea may be a good plea to a bad declaration.”
—Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865)
“There is then creative reading as well as creative writing. When the mind is braced by labor and invention, the page of whatever book we read becomes luminous with manifold allusion. Every sentence is doubly significant, and the sense of our author is as broad as the world.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)