A drifter faces a possible death penalty following his surprise confession to the mutilation murders of five college students.
"We know now what happened. We are about to embark on a process to show how it happened," State Attorney Rod Smith said.Prosecutors seeking the death penalty for Danny Harold Rolling, 39, plan to introduce details of how Rolling targeted his female victims, bound them with tape, raped them, stabbed them and arranged their bodies in lewd poses.
Jury selection for the penalty phase of the trial was to begin Wednesday.
Rolling, a drifter from Shreveport, La., pleaded guilty Tuesday to five counts of first-degree murder and three each of sexual battery and armed burglary.
He is already serving three life terms for burglary and robbery, and now faces another life term or death in the electric chair.
Rolling's lawyer, Rick Parker, said he will argue that his client was mentally ill when he killed the students and should not be executed.
"This evidence will be helpful in understanding how the same person can rape and murder, then later regret these acts and feel compassion for the living loved ones surviving his violence," Parker said.
Rolling told Circuit Judge Stan Morris, "I have been running from first one thing and then another all my life. Whether from problems at home or with the law, or from myself. But there are some things that you just can't run from."