Pogo the Killer Clown

Abstract

During my research I found that John Wayne Gacy had a very poor defense for Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) but it was all he was able to plead based on a plethora of other factors. To begin my paper, I researched many different sites in order to find different points of view involved in the case only ended up utilizing a few comprehensive websites that described John’s entire life, from childhood to his death by lethal injection.  I then researched the different diseases and disorders that John and others had claimed him to be defected by in order to learn the prevalence, comorbidity, signs and symptoms.  NGRI was John’s only choice because as soon as he was arrested he waived his Miranda rights, confessed to the 33 murders and drew a detailed map of the burial sites for the police officers. In court, he pled NGRI based on his childhood abuse manifesting as dissociative identity disorder and 300 hours of psychological testing prior to the trial.  The prosecution was ready for his plea and stacked 60 witnesses in their corner all calling attention to John’s motives, thought process, mental capacity and generally normal behavior.

Keywords: John Wayne Gacy, Pogo the Clown, Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity

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John Wayne Gacy was a friendly, outgoing and public serving family man that everyone who knew him enjoyed having around (Taylor, 2003).  He was a devoted Catholic, an intelligent businessman who owned a construction company and a Democratic Party precinct captain (Taylor, 2003). Outside of his career choices, John was well known for hosting street parties in which he would dress up and entertain as “Pogo the Clown” (Blanco, n.d.)  He attended a business college and graduated promptly (Blanco, n.d.).  He wed and had two kids and was nothing but caring until about two years into the marriage (Taylor, 2003).

In 1968 John began his troubled career in the eyes of the law when he was convicted and sentenced to a 10 year stint in Iowa State Reformatory for a charge of sodomy (Taylor, 2003).  Upon sentencing his wife filed for divorce and custody of their two kids (Blanco, n.d.).  John served only a year and a half of his ten year sentence after which he moved home to Chicago (Blanco, n.d.).  He eventually re-married to a mother of two who knew of the prior prison sentence but believed that he was a changed man (Taylor, 2003).  Gacy’s wife constantly complained about the rancid smell throughout the house and repeatedly asked John to check for a dead animal beneath the house (Taylor, 2003).  It is possible that her belief, in the new person the Gacy was thought to have become, blinded her to the fact that the smell was something far worse than a dead animal. On December 22, 1978, three years after his second divorce, Gacy confessed to the rape and murder of 33 young men; 28 of which were buried in shallow graves beneath his house (Cahill, 1987). A little over a year later on February 6, 1980, Gacy’s trial began (Taylor, 2003).

After his confession, Gacy pleaded Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity.  Prior to the case being heard in court he stated, “There are four Johns… John the contractor, John the clown and John the politician. The fourth person went by the name of Jack Hanley. Jack was the killer and did all the evil things. (Blanco, n.d.)” It seems here that John was attempting to claim Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID) and there are clearly different identities that could be proven to think as separate people without knowledge of the others. While most host identities do not know the names and roles of the others it is possible, meaning that this does not detract from the possibility of the disorder. DID typically manifests in childhood though an avoidant attachment with the probability of either sexual or physical abuse.  Gacy’s beatings as a child were so severe that he often suffered from blackouts and seizures that ended with him lying in a hospital (Taylor, 2003).

Gacy and his lawyer went to trial in order to claim not guilty by reason of insanity based on hours of psychological tests at the Menard Correctional Center (Mull, 1998).  During trial, doctors from Gacy’s past came to testify to his DID, and medical expert even claimed that he was a borderline schizophrenic who was also suffering from DID (Mull, 1998).  Should John the contractor, clown and politician have existed, one would have to be the host.  John had always had a connection to clowns, played a clown at community events and used his time in any holding cell and while on death row to draw fully detailed clowns, therefore John the clown is most likely his host identity.  While John the clown is able to recognize the existence of Jack Hanley there is no reason to say, especially with countless hours of testing, that he was able to comprehend what behaviors Jack was exhibiting. Under the diagnosis of DID, John Gacy would not have been able to understand what he was doing during the act of rape and murder because it was committed by a different identity.

If the jury was not willing to accept the argument for Gacy’s DID, they should have accepted the argument that he was unable to control his actions or the Irresistible Impulse clause.  Based on the Alabama Supreme Court ruling in Parsons v. State (1887), while non-binding, the Illinois court should have seen that the sheer number of murders indicate Gacy’s lack of control over his own actions.  To further back this claim, the M’Naghten rule has a stipulation that forces the defense to prove that the defendant was not just acting “insane” as a result of voluntary intoxication by either drugs or alcohol, neither of which were in Gacy’s system at the times of the murders (Gaskell, n.d.).

To all of these claims there are, of course, opposing arguments.  While the trial was a surprise to the prosecution after Gacy had already pled guilty, when they announced their plea of Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity, they were well prepared (Taylor, 2003).

While Gacy may have been raised in an environment that was capable of raising a child with DID, he was not one of the victims of this extremely rare if not made up disorder.  At a young age, Gacy was diagnosed with Anti-Social Personality Disorder (ASPD) (Blanco, n.d.).  This can be seen throughout his life as his marriages were broken apart, his aggressive mannerisms to those who he felt had wronged him and his general lack of empathy and positive feelings.  After his first marriage ended as a result of his sodomy charge, once he learned of his now ex-wife’s decision to leave, John immediately told her that she and their kids were dead to him (Blanco, n.d.). Not only does ASPD create a solid foundation for a stone cold killer such as Gacy, but it is not known to be comorbid with DID.  This means that it may not be possible to be diagnosed with both ASPD and DID at the same time.

Even without ASPD, the claim that Gacy had DID was completely fabricated by someone without solid knowledge as to how the disorder works.  While he may have several different identities that arise from the type of childhood he experienced, they do not manifest along the same lines as your careers.  Someone suffering from DID cannot switch personalities as they are moving from the construction site to the Democratic Party headquarters.  Instead of having different identities for different careers, DID patients have identities that identify as the mother, the protector, the friend and the host.

The prosecution called around 60 witnesses to the stand in order to testify to Gacy’s mental health and to demonstrate the truly demented crimes that he had committed (Taylor, 2003). The defense brought another 40 witnesses adding to around a 100 witness trial.  The entire process lasted weeks (Taylor, 2003).  The defense finally rested their case after they had concluded at all of their medical professionals deemed Gacy to be insane.  In the end, the jury had to decide which was more probable; ASPD or DID.  After a historically long trial, the jury spent only two and a half hours debating the case (Taylor, 2003).  I believe that the jury came to the right decision when they deemed Gacy guilty on all 33 counts of first degree murder. On May 9, 1994 John Wayne Gacy was put to death by lethal injection.

References

Angeli, E., Wagner, J., Lawrick, E., Moore, K., Anderson, M., Soderlund, L., & Brizee, A. (2010, May 5). General format.

Blanco, J. I. (n.d.). John Wayne Gacy | Murderpedia, the encyclopedia of murderers. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://murderpedia.org/male.G/g1/gacy-john-wayne.htm

Cahill, T., & Ewing, R. (1986). Buried dreams: Inside the mind of a serial killer [INSIDE THE DEMENTED MIND OF JOHN WAYNE GACY, JR.]. Retrieved February 01, 2016.

Gaskell, S. (n.d.). Criminal Responsibility & Sanity at the Time of Offense. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://psycholegalassessments.com/areas-of-expertise/criminal-responsibility-or-sanity-at-the-time-of-the-offense/

Mull, J. (1998). John Wayne Gacy #237. Retrieved February 02, 2016, from http://www.clarkprosecutor.org/html/death/US/gacy237.htm

Taylor, T. (2003). JOHN WAYNE GACY — THE CLOWN THAT KILLED. Retrieved February 01, 2016, from http://www.prairieghosts.com/gacy.html