The governor also made one of the more unusual pleas for sanity, imploring lawmakers to "think of the lobbyists," explaining that they had worked hard "to persuade legislative leaders and legislators of issues".
The highly unusual public plea from a serving official painted a picture strikingly similar to the situation that led up to the fall of the northern city of Kunduz in late September, when Taliban fighters seized and held on to for several days before government troops regained control.
Although it is a little unusual for a plea to be discussed before a person is indicted, it is not necessarily a sign that anything is askew in this case.
The American Immigration Lawyers Association protested that the workers had been denied meetings with immigration lawyers and that their claims under immigration law had been swept aside in unusual and speedy plea agreements.
Last summer Mr. Echols, now 37, and his two cohorts in what became known as the West Memphis Three, Jason Baldwin and Jessie Misskelley Jr., were freed on an Alford plea, an unusual technicality whereby the defendants were released but not vindicated.
