After 26 years of protesting his innocence in a case that tainted nearly everyone who touched it, Reginald Clemons on Monday copped a plea. The big top has finally come down on what a family member of his victims once called "the Reggie Clemons circus."

Forty-six-year-old Clemons pleaded guilty to two counts of second-degree murder in the April 4, 1991, killings of Julie and Robin Kerry, sisters who were raped and thrown into the Mississippi River from the deck below the old Chain of Rocks Bridge in one of the most notorious crimes in the city's history. The body of 20-year-old Julie Kerry was found weeks later 307 miles downriver near Caruthersville. The body of 19-year-old Robin Kerry was never found.

Of the four suspects in the killings, Clemons, who was 19 at the time, and Marlin Gray, who was 24, were adults. Antonio Richardson, who was 16, and Daniel Winfrey, who was 15, were tried as adults. Gray, Clemons and Richardson were given the death penalty. Gray was executed in 2005. Richardson later had his sentence commuted to life without parole because of his age. Winfrey testified against the other three in exchange for a 30-year sentence and has since been paroled.

On Monday, Clemons also pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of first-degree robbery. In all, he'll serve five consecutive 30-year terms.

Over the years, he repeatedly denied any role in the killings and rapes. Handsome and eloquent, he attracted an international group of supporters, including the American Civil Liberties Union and Amnesty International, which sold green "Justice for Reggie" T-shirts.

Clemons attracted sympathy after he claimed — and a judge later confirmed — that St. Louis police had beaten a confession out of him. The late Nels Moss, the assistant circuit attorney who prosecuted him in 1993, withheld evidence of the beating and was repeatedly allowed to inflame the jury. Clemons' lawyers, a husband-and-wife team who were going through a divorce, weren't fully invested in his defense.

Two decades later, a special master appointed by the Missouri Supreme Court found trial errors, and the high court ordered a new trial, which was set to begin Jan. 8. The Missouri attorney general was seeking the death penalty (the circuit attorney's office said it couldn't afford a death penalty case) but instead settled for the plea deal.

With five 30-year sentences running consecutively, Clemons is unlikely to ever be paroled. He could have gotten life without parole 24 years ago. The death sentence accomplished nothing. By playing the victim for a quarter of a century, Clemons strung out the grief for the Kerry family and cast doubt on defendants in other cases who might truly be falsely accused. His sideshow antics helped detour the course of justice, but at least justice is finally served.

REPRINTED FROM THE ST. LOUIS POST-DISPATCH