Ronald Gene Simmons History

The story of Ronald Gene Simmons. On the 22nd of December, 1987 the worst mass murder in Arkansas history took place. A man by the name of Ronald Gene Simmons went on a killing spree. He started off by killing his wife, kids, and his three year old granddaughter, but it didn’t stop there. He killed his family and quite a few harmless townspeople because he went insane, because why else would you kill harmless people?

Ronald Gene Simmons was born in Chicago, Illinois on July 15th, 1940, to Loretta and William Simmons. Ronald’s father passed away on January 31st, 1943, just five months and a few days prior to his son's third birthday. His mother married not to long after to a man named William D. Griffen, who was a civil engineer for the U.S

Simmons picked up the gifts and then drove home to wait out the weekend. On Monday, December 28th, 1987 Simmons drove to Walmart in a car that had once belonged to his son, so that he could purchase a second gun. After he purchased the second gun he proceeded in killing his old coworkers, bosses, and acquaintances, or whom he referred to as “everyone who wanted to hurt me”, he then turned himself over to the Russellville police after they arrived. Simmons was then sent to the “Arkansas State Hospital” in Little Rock where he was given a competency evaluation by the staff psychiatrist Dr. Irving Kuo. Kuo stated that Simmons was sane and capable of standing trial. Simmons first trial lasted six hours and he was convicted May 12, 1988. On May 16, 1988 the judge sentenced Simmons to death by “lethal injection” , plus 147 years. Simmons was found guilty of fourteen counts of murder in the deaths of his family. After questioning followed with some evidence Simmons lashed out at a man by the name of Bayum, punching him in the face, and struggling to get a deputy’s handgun. Simmons was dragged out of the courtroom in chains and on May 16, 1988 Simmons was sentenced to death by lethal injection, Simmons began to waive all his rights to appeal. A series of reports and interviews were done on and with Simmons, he was known to waive his rights to appeal his conviction. The Supreme Court justices threw out his appeals with a 7 > 2 vote. Governor Bill Clinton signed Simmons second execution warrant for June 25th, 1990. Simmons last words were “justice delayed finally be done is justifiable homicide,” Simmons was buried in a paupers’ plot at Lincoln’s Memorial Lawn in Varner (Lincoln