John Wayne Gacy “The Clown That Killed”

1. John Wayne Gacy“The Clown That Killed” Maria Rusiniak

2. Introduction • John Wayne Gacy, Jr. was an American serial killer, who was also know as the “Killer Clown.” • Gacy was greatly admired and liked by most people who knew him. • Gacy was a sharp businessman, who spent his free time hosting elaborate street parties for friends and neighbours, he also dressed as “Pogo the Clown” and entertaining children at local hospitals.

3. Background of the Defendant and Respondent • John Wayne Gacy, Jr • Charged with 33 counts of first-degree murder. His targeted victims were young males. • Judge Louis Garrippo

4. Crimes Committed • Gacy was convicted of the torture, rape and murder of 33 males between 1972 and 1978. • Twenty-six of the victims had been buried in a crawlspace under Gacy’s home, and three others on other parts of his property, with four more victims being discarded in a nearby river.

5. He had been sentenced to death for 12 of the murders (12 had been proven to have occurred after Illinois passed post-Furman death penalty), and to natural life in prison for the other murders.

6. At the request of Gacy defense counsel, he had spent over 300 hours with doctors at the Menard Correctional Center undergoing psychological test to determine whether he was mentally competent to stand trail. • Gacy had tried to convince the doctors that he was suffering from a multiple personality disorder. • His lawyers opted to plead not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges put against him.

7. Testimonies • Three psychiatric experts appeared for the defense at Gacy’s trail had testified him to be a paranoid schizophrenic suffering from a multiple personality disorder. "Clowns can get away with murder." - John Wayne Gacy

8. Prosecution Evidence • The prosecution’s case was that Gacy was sane, and fully in control of his actions. • Producing several witnesses to testify to the premeditation of Gacy’s actions and efforts he used to escape detection. • Doctors who refuted the defense doctors’ claims of multiple personality and insanity. • Two of the witnesses who testified had confessed that Gacy had made them dig trenches in the crawl space under his home.

9. Witness, Michael Rossi, testified that on August 1977, Gacy marked a location in the crawl space with sticks and told him to dig a drainage trench. • He also testified that Gacy would periodically look into the crawl space to make sure Gacy’s other employees did not deviate from the precise locations he had marked for digging. • After Gacy’s arrest, he had testified himself that he had employees dig trenched so that he would “have graves available.”

10. Defence Presented • During the third week of the trial Gacy’s defense team tried to raise the possibility that all 33 murders were accidental erotic asphyxia deaths. The Cook County Coroner countered this with evidence that Gacy’s claim was impossible.

11. February 29th, 1967, one of the youth that Gacy had sexually assaulted, Donald Voorhees, testified to his ordeal at the hands of Gacy. Gacy had paid another youth to beat him and spray mace in his face so that he would not testify against him. The youth felt unable to testify, attempted to briefly before being asked to step down. • Donnelly, another young male, was distressed as he tried to recall all the abuse he encountered by Gacy, he came close to breaking down several times. Gacy repeatedly laughed at Donnelly’s expense as he testified against him.

12. The defense tried to discredit Donnelly’s testimony, but Donnelly refused to refute his testimony. • On the fifth week of the trail Gacy wrote a letter to Judge Garrippo requesting a mistrial. • Gacy claimed he was against the defense’s insanity plea, and that his defense team had not called enough witnesses; he was denied the opportunity to testify, and the statements given by police after his arrest were false, “self-serving” statements used by the prosecution.

13. Final Deliberations • March 11th to the 12th, prosecution’s Terry Sullivan spoke first; outlining Gacy’s history of abusing youths and his efforts to avoid detection. Describing his surviving victims (Voorhees and Donnelly) as “living dead.” • Defenses Sam Amirante refuted the prosecution doctors’ testimony, attempting to portray Gacy as a “man driven by compulsions he was unable to control.” Amirante argued Gacy’s psychology should be studied.

14. Jury deliberated for less than two hours, finding Gacy guilty of each murder. • The following day both the prosecution and defense made alternate pleas for the sentence the jury should decide. • Prosecution requested, death sentence for each murder committed (after the Illinois statute on capital punishment came into effect, June of 1977). • Defense requested, life imprisonment. • Jury’s final decided after two hours to sentence Gacy to death.

15. Last words • Gacy was a diagnosed psychopath, in published reports he expressed no remorse for his crimes. • His last words said to his lawyer prior to his execution were to the effect that killing him would not bring anyone back, and it was reported that his final spoken words before entering the execution chamber were “kiss my ass.” • Executed May 10th, 1994 at 12:58 p.m. by lethal injection in Illiinois.

16. Work Cited “John Wayne Gacy.” Clark Prosecutor. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. <http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/‌html/‌death/‌US/‌gacy237.htm>. “JOHN WAYNE GACY, JR.” TruTv. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. <http://www.trutv.com/‌library/‌crime/‌serial_killers/‌notorious/‌gacy/‌gacy_1.html>. Montaldo, Charles. “John Wayne Gacy the ‘Killer Clown.’” About. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Apr. 2011. <http://crime.about.com/‌od/‌serial/‌p/‌gacy.htm>.