Leahy said. “Why don’t you tell your lawyers?”
“I can’t tell them,” Burkhart said.
Leahy looked at Burkhart, not sure if the impending confession
was yet another trick. But Burkhart looked sincere. The death of
his daughter, the haunting face of his wife each day at the trial, the
realization that the evidence against him was piling up—it was too
much to withstand. “I’m absolutely helpless,” Burkhart said. He
beseeched Leahy to ask Flint Moss, an attorney whom Burkhart
knew, to come see him.
Leahy agreed, and on June 9 Burkhart returned to the
courtroom after having spoken to Moss. This time, Burkhart did
not sit at the defense table with Hale’s team of attorneys. He
walked to the bench and whispered something to the judge. Then
he stepped back, breathing loudly, and said, “I wish to discharge
the defense attorneys. Mr. Moss will now represent me.”
There were protests from the defense, but the judge agreed to
the request. Moss stood beside Ernest and pronounced, “Mr.
Burkhart wishes to withdraw his plea of not guilty and enter a plea
of guilty.”
Gasps filled the courtroom. “Is this your desire, Mr. Burkhart?”
the judge asked.
“It is.”
“Have state or federal officials offered you immunity or
clemency if you changed your plea?”
“No.”
He had decided to throw himself at the mercy of the court,
having earlier told Moss, “I’m sick and tired of all this....I want to
admit exactly what I did.”
Burkhart now read a statement admitting that he’d delivered a
message from Hale to Ramsey, saying to let Kirby know it was