Editing Ted Bundy (section)

== Subsequent trials, marriage ==
[[File:TedBundyincustody.JPG|thumb|upright|alt=A smiling Bundy holds a sheaf of papers and enters a vehicle. He is escorted by two police officers.|Bundy departing a preliminary hearing, Miami, 1979]]
In May 1978, a Florida [[grand jury]] indicted Bundy on charges of [[Murder in United States law#Degrees|first-degree murder]], [[attempted murder|attempted first-degree murder]] and burglary for the Chi Omega killings and assaults. He stood trial in June 1979 in the [[Circuit court (Florida)|Florida Circuit Court]] for [[Miami-Dade County, Florida|Dade County]], with judge [[Edward Cowart]] presiding.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=274}} The trial was covered by 250 reporters from five continents and was the first to be televised nationally in the United States.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=10}} Despite the presence of five [[court-appointed attorney]]s, Bundy again handled much of his own [[defense (law)|defense]]. From the beginning, he "sabotaged the entire defense effort out of spite, distrust, and grandiose delusion," Nelson later wrote. "Ted [was] facing murder charges, with a possible [[Capital punishment in Florida|death sentence]], and all that mattered to him apparently was that he be in charge."{{sfn|Nelson|1994|pp=87, 91}}

According to Mike Minerva, a Tallahassee public defender and member of the defense team, a pre-trial [[plea bargain]] was negotiated in which Bundy would plead guilty to killing Levy, Bowman and Leach in exchange for a firm 75-year prison sentence. Prosecutors were amenable to a deal, by one account, because "prospects of losing at trial were very good."{{sfn|Dekle|2011|p=124}} Bundy, on the other hand, saw the plea bargain not only as a means of avoiding the death penalty, but also as a "tactical move": he could enter his plea, then wait a few years for evidence to disintegrate or become lost and for witnesses to die, move on or retract their testimony. Once the case against him had deteriorated beyond repair, he could file a post-conviction motion to set aside the plea and secure an acquittal.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=271–272; attorney Millard Farmer devised this strategy as a means of "selling" Bundy on the plea deal, according to this account}}{{sfn|Dekle|2011|p=125}} At the last minute, however, Bundy refused the deal. "It made him realize he was going to have to stand up in front of the whole world and say he was guilty," Minerva said. "He just couldn't do it."<ref name="Word1999-01-24" />

[[File:Dental evidence ted bundy.jpeg|thumb|upright|left|alt=Souviron is seen in the courtroom. Several enlargements of dental x-rays have been pinned up, and he is holding one in his hand.|Odontologist Richard Souviron explaining bite mark evidence at the Chi Omega trial in May 1979.]]
At trial, crucial testimony came from Chi Omega sorority members Connie Hastings, who placed Bundy in the vicinity of the sorority house that evening,{{sfn|Dekle|2011|pp=154–155}} and Nita Neary, who saw him leaving the house clutching the murder weapon.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=227, 283}}<ref name="St.Petersburg1" /> Incriminating physical evidence included impressions of the bite wounds Bundy had inflicted on Levy's left buttock, which forensic [[odontologist]]s Richard Souviron and Lowell Levine matched to [[casting]]s of Bundy's teeth.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=230, 283–285}}{{sfn|Dekle|2011|p=156}} The jury was also allowed to hear details of DaRonch's previous kidnapping, and finally deliberated for less than seven hours before convicting Bundy on July 24, 1979, of the Bowman and Levy murders, three counts of attempted first-degree murder for the assaults on Kleiner, Chandler and Thomas and two counts of burglary. Trial judge Edward Cowart imposed death sentences for the murder convictions.<ref>
{{cite web |date=May 9, 1985 |title=Bundy v. State of Florida |url=http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/59128/op-59128.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120916105323/http://www.law.fsu.edu/library/flsupct/59128/op-59128.pdf |archive-date=September 16, 2012 |access-date=May 23, 2022 |website=Florida State University College of Law}}
</ref><ref>
[http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/808/808.F2d.1410.86-5509.html Bundy v. Wainwright, 808 F.2d 1410 (Fla. 1987)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120407031445/http://ftp.resource.org/courts.gov/c/F2/808/808.F2d.1410.86-5509.html |date=April 7, 2012 }} . Retrieved July 21, 2011.
</ref> Bundy appealed his conviction and death sentence to the [[Supreme Court of Florida]], but it affirmed them.

Six months later, a second trial took place in [[Orlando, Florida|Orlando]] for the abduction and murder of Leach.<ref name="Bell-KimberlyLeach" /> Bundy was found guilty once again, after less than eight hours' deliberation, due principally to the testimony of an eyewitness who saw him leading Leach from the schoolyard to his stolen van.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=303}} Important material evidence included clothing fibers with an unusual manufacturing error, found in the van and on Leach's body, which matched fibers from the jacket Bundy was wearing when he was arrested.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=306–107}}

During the [[penalty phase]] of the Leach trial, Bundy took advantage of an obscure Florida law providing that a marriage declaration in court, in the presence of a judge, constituted a legal marriage. As he was questioning Boone—who had moved to Florida to be near Bundy, had testified on his behalf during both trials and was again testifying on his behalf as a character witness—he asked her to marry him. She accepted, and Bundy declared to the court that they were legally married.{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|pp=308–310}}<ref name="AP1981-09-30wife-pregnant" />

On February 10, 1980, Bundy was sentenced for a third time to death.<ref>
Hagood, Dick (February 10, 1980). "Bundy Jury: Death" [http://search.jacksonville.com/ ''Florida Times Union'' archive] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100628211058/http://search.jacksonville.com/ |date=June 28, 2010 }}. Retrieved August 30, 2011.
</ref> As the sentence was announced, he reportedly stood and shouted, "Tell the jury they were wrong!"{{sfn|Foreman|1992|p=42}} This third death sentence would be the one ultimately carried out nearly nine years later. Only Louise would appear before the court to beg for mercy.{{sfn|Nelson|1994|p=7}} On October 24, 1981, Boone gave birth to a daughter, Rose Bundy.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/1989/01/24/courtroom-wife-fades-out-of-sight-not-a-recent-visitor/|title=Courtroom Wife Fades Out of Sight, Not A Recent Visitor|first=Bob|last=Levenson|work=Orlando Sentinel|date=January 24, 1989|access-date=January 25, 2019|archive-date=March 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190307011311/http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/1989-01-24/news/8901240571_1_bundy-boone-marry|url-status=live}}</ref>{{sfn|Rule|2009|p=xxxiv}}{{sfn|Nelson|1994|p=56}} While [[conjugal visit]]s were not allowed at the [[Florida State Prison]] in [[Raiford, Florida|Raiford]], where Bundy was incarcerated, inmates were known to pool their money in order to [[bribery|bribe]] guards to allow them intimate time alone with their female visitors.{{sfn|Rule|2009|p=xxxiv}}{{sfn|Michaud|Aynesworth|1999|p=272; Bundy, Boone and a prison guard all told this source that the couple "took advantage on at least one visit together to consummate their relationship"}}