The man who confessed to killing a 25-year-old Jackson County woman in 2020 will serve a life sentence in prison without the chance of parole after pleading guilty Friday to capital murder and rape.
Quake Lewellyn, 29, of Jonesboro gave his plea in Jackson County Circuit Court in front of the family of Sydney Sutherland. He had already told the Arkansas State Police that he raped and killed her, according to court documents.
The plea deal means Lewellyn will not face a jury trial, which could have resulted in the death penalty. Prosecutors had previously said they would seek the death penalty for Lewellyn if a jury convicted him of murder.
Lewellyn's defense attorneys recently approached the prosecution with the option of a guilty plea, and the prosecutors "sat down and talked it over extensively with the Sutherland family" before agreeing to the deal, Jackson County deputy prosecutor John Pettie told the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
"Considering the jeopardy he was going to be in [if there were] a trial, this was a result that we could live with and that the state could also live with," said Jeff Rosenzweig, one of Lewellyn's defense attorneys.
Co-defense attorney Bill James said he was grateful to Sutherland's family "for the mercy they showed under the circumstances."
Sutherland, a Tuckerman High School graduate, was a registered nurse at Unity Health-Harris Medical Center. She had passed her exams to become a registered nurse only a few months before her death.
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Her body was found on Aug. 21, 2020, two days after she was declared missing. She was last seen going for a a jog near Arkansas 18 between Newport and her residence in Grubbs.
An overpass on U.S. 67, near where Sutherland was found, was named in her honor in May. A sign in each direction was placed on the Jackson County Road 42 overpass, northeast of Newport.
Shortly after authorities began investigating Sutherland's death, they identified Lewellyn as a suspect, and he confessed that he ran her over with his vehicle, raped her and buried her body, according to court documents.
Before the plea deal, Lewellyn also faced charges of kidnapping and abuse of a corpse.
James filed a motion in November 2020 for an evaluation of Lewellyn's mental health in case he could be considered unfit to stand trial.
Lewellyn was considered fit to understand the case against him in February 2021, according to court records.
Most of the seats in the courtroom on Friday were occupied by Sutherland's family members, many of whom wore pink, her favorite color. Some wore T-shirts in her honor that said "Maggy's Girl," referring to Sutherland's mother, the last of several relatives to give victim impact statements after Lewellyn's guilty plea.
During her statement, Maggy Sutherland asked Lewellyn to look her directly in the eyes, and he did.
Pettie later said it was "a powerful moment" and a display of "true strength" from Maggy Sutherland.
She later thanked the justice system and expressed her continued grief during a brief statement to news reporters outside the courthouse after the hearing.
"True justice for Sydney, my daughter, would be for her to be here," Maggy Sutherland said.