Judge weighs the right of a free press against the right of a fair trial in case of Erwin Simants, who admitted to gunning down six people in 1975

As crimes go, this one looked like a short cut to the electric chair. On Oct. 18, 1975, in the tiny western Nebraska village of Sutherland, population around 900, police entered the home of the Kellie family and found six people with gunshot wounds to the head. Dead were retired farmer, Henry Kellie, 66, his wife, Marie, 57, and three of their grandchildren, Florence, 10, Deanna, 7, and Daniel, 5. Clinging to life was David, 32, the couple’s son and father of the two younger children. He died later at the hospital. It didn’t take long to identify a suspect.

Erwin Simants, 29, an unemployed laborer and town drunk, had confessed to his father, Amos. Dad at first did not believe his son’s words, so he made an anonymous call directing police to the Kellie home. Once the worst was confirmed, Amos admitted that his son was their man. By then, the killer had vanished. Police immediately contacted KNOP-TV in North Platte, and told them to broadcast a warning to the community to lock all doors and windows. “There’s a sniper loose with a shotgun and he’s killing people.”

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/mass-killing-case-free-press-article-1.1238976