Cassell v. State

George Rose Smith, Justice.

In the early morning hours of Sunday, December 21, 1975, a Springdale police officer, John Tillman Hussey, was murdered in a wooded area west of Fayetteville. The crime was particularly contemptible in that Hussey was shot four times in the back of the head with his own pistol while he was helpless, his wrists handcuffed behind him. Nearby a Travel-All van-type vehicle was set on fire and was still smoking when it was fortuitously discovered during the morning by a man who happened to be in the woods with his wife and children.

At about 3:49 that morning Officer…