Slayer of three in home gets life

21-year-old says motive was theft

ARKADELPHIA -- Quivering, her head barely visible above the witness stand, Anna Galbraith drew deep breaths. She spoke slowly. She sobbed.

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"A lot has changed since all this happened," she said in Clark County Circuit Court on Friday morning.

Galbraith paused, dabbing her eyes with crumpled tissues.

"I went from a house full of chaos and noise, which sometimes stressed me out, to wanting to hear that again. Not only did I lose my kids, I lost my best friend. I struggle with the idea that if I don't have them, I don't know who I am."

Galbraith spoke shortly after Riakos Lizana, 21, pleaded guilty to the December 2012 slayings of her two daughters, Marley Crutchfield, 4, Adiele Crutchfield, 6, and her husband, Bobby Jean Galbraith, 40.

Lizana will spend the rest of his life behind bars. He will serve four consecutive life terms without parole for three counts of capital murder and one count of aggravated residential burglary. Lizana entered an innocent plea in January 2013 and previously faced the death penalty.

The Friday morning proceedings were originally scheduled as a pretrial hearing to determine what evidence would be admissible in a jury trial.

Before it began, Public Defender Robby Golden put his arm around Lizana. He offered Lizana water, and the defendant declined.

When Judge Robert McCallum commenced court around 9:30 a.m., he announced the change of plea.

Lizana, wearing an orange jumpsuit, shuffled up to a central lectern, arms and legs in chains, to confirm the plea agreement.

McCallum posed a number of questions to Lizana -- Was that his signature on the document? Does he understand that he has waived his right to appeal? Is he satisfied with his legal services? -- to ensure that Lizana understood the agreement.

To each question, Lizana answered a monosyllabic "yes" or "no." Then he made a statement.

"My actions on December 6, 2012, caused the death -- deaths -- of Bobby Galbraith, of Marley Crutchfield, and Adiele Crutchfield," he said softly. "I entered the residence of Bobby Galbraith with the intent to commit a theft. And serious physical injury occurred."

Clark County Prosecuting Attorney Blake Batson said in court Friday that the plea agreement was offered with the consent of Galbraith, the victims' paternal and maternal grandparents, the Clark County sheriff, and Arkansas State Police investigators.

"This family deserves closure, this family deserves for this case to end today without reliving this horrific crime at a trial and the appeals that would result from it," Batson wrote in a news release.

He said he recalled the late December night when he visited the crime scene, a home at 1032 South 11th St. in Arkadelphia.

Galbraith had called 911 after she discovered her daughter dead, and while on the phone with dispatch, found her husband dead in another room. When officers arrived, they found the other dead child under a bed and a 6-month-old baby unharmed in a nearby crib. Two days later, on Dec. 8, 2012, a confidential report was made to police and officers matched a bloody palm print left at the scene to Lizana.

"This case has been a continuous part of my thoughts and prayers since that night," Batson said. "This family, these officers, me, my staff nor this community will ever be the same."

On the stand, Galbraith said Lizana's punishment, whether the death penalty or life in prison, isn't good enough.

"What I feel like needs to be done can't be done, but they are in a good place now," she said of her family.

"You ripped the heart out of my chest, too."

The proceeding took 10 minutes. As officers ushered Lizana out of the courtroom, a victim's relative stood up.

"What you are is a coward," the man screamed at Lizana. "You're not a human!"

Officers rushed to restrain the relative, who kicked and pounded at the courtroom doors. He wailed as he left the courtroom.

Other relatives huddled around Galbraith as she sat in the front row of the gallery. Slowly, they all trickled out.

Metro on 08/09/2014

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