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==Trial== Gacy was brought to trial on February 6, 1980, charged with 33 murders.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4zogAAAAIBAJ&pg=6515,4117798|title=Speedup Sought In Gacy Trial|newspaper=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]|date=November 23, 1979|agency=AP|page=6|via=Google News|access-date=July 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006152807/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=4zogAAAAIBAJ&pg=6515%2C4117798|archive-date=October 6, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref> He was tried in Cook County, Illinois, before [[Louis B. Garippo|Judge Louis Garippo]]; the [[voir dire|jury was selected]] from [[Rockford, Illinois|Rockford]] because of extensive press coverage in Cook County.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=241β242}} At the request of his defense counsel, Gacy spent over three hundred hours with doctors at the Menard Correctional Center in [[Chester, Illinois|Chester]] in the year before his trial. He underwent a variety of psychological tests to determine whether he was mentally [[competent to stand trial]].{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=253β262}} Gacy attempted to convince the doctors that he had [[Dissociative identity disorder|multiple personality disorder]].{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=312β323}} He claimed to have four personalities: the hard-working, civic-minded contractor, the clown, the active politician, and a policeman called Jack Hanley, whom he referred to as "Bad Jack". When Gacy had confessed to police, he claimed to be relaying the crimes of Jack, who detested homosexuality and viewed male prostitutes as "weak, stupid and degraded scum".{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=150β158}} His lawyers opted to have Gacy plead [[not guilty by reason of insanity]].{{sfn|Linedecker|1980|p=223}} In his [[opening statement]], one of Gacy's defense attorneys, Robert Motta, remarked: "The insanity defense has been looked [upon] as an escape; a defense of last resort. The defense of insanity is valid and it is the only defense that we could use here, because that is where the truth lies ... because if [Gacy] is normal, then our concept of normality is totally distorted."{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|p=299}} Presenting Gacy as a [[Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (character)|Jekyll-and-Hyde]] character, the defense produced several psychiatric experts who had examined Gacy;{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=312β323}}{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=356β364}} three testified they found him to be a [[paranoid schizophrenic]] with multiple personalities.{{sfn|Stone|2019|pp=196β203}}{{sfn|Amirante|2011|p=301}} The prosecutors argued that Gacy was sane and in full control of his actions.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=241β250}} They produced several witnesses to testify to his premeditation and the efforts he took to escape detection. Those doctors refuted the defense doctors' claims of multiple personalities and insanity. Cram and Rossi testified that Gacy had made them dig drainage trenches and spread bags of lime in his crawl space. Both said Gacy looked periodically into the crawl space to ensure they and other employees they supervised did not deviate from the precise locations he had marked.<ref name=Cram/>{{sfn|Cahill|1986|p=181}} On February 18, Robert Stein testified that all the bodies recovered from Gacy's property were "markedly decomposed [and] putrefied, skeletalized remains", and that of all the autopsies he performed, thirteen victims had died of asphyxiation, six of ligature strangulation, one of multiple stab wounds to the chest and ten in undetermined ways.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=101β102}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VHVkAAAAIBAJ&pg=2366,5212913|title=Mother Cries at Description of Son's Grave|newspaper=[[The Calgary Herald]]|date=February 19, 1980|via=Google News|access-date=October 24, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201006153243/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=VHVkAAAAIBAJ&pg=2366%2C5212913|archive-date=October 6, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref>{{efn|Stein performed autopsies on each victim recovered at Gacy's property and on the body of Robert Piest. He did not perform autopsies on the three other victims recovered from the Des Plaines River.<ref name=level/>}} When Gacy's defense team suggested that all 33 deaths were caused by accidental [[erotic asphyxia]], Stein called this highly improbable.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=205β233}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=321β325}} Jeffrey Rignall testified for the defense on February 21.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=321β325}} Rignall wept repeatedly while describing Gacy's torture of him in March 1978.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|p=290}} During specific cross-examination relating to the torture, Rignall vomited and was excused from further testimony.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|p=300}} On February 29, Donald Voorhees testified to his ordeal at Gacy's hands and his assault at Gacy's behest. Voorhees felt unable to testify but did briefly attempt to do so before being asked to step down.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=340β345}} Robert Donnelly testified the week after Voorhees, recounting his ordeal at Gacy's hands in December 1977. Donnelly was visibly distressed as he recalled the abuse.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=331β334}} During the fifth week of the trial, Gacy wrote a personal letter to Judge Garippo requesting a [[mistrial]] for reasons including that he did not approve of his lawyers' insanity plea; that his lawyers had not allowed him to take the witness stand (as he had wanted to do); that his defense had not called enough medical witnesses, and that the police were lying with regard to verbal statements he had allegedly made to detectives after his arrest and that, in any event, the statements were "self-serving" for use by the prosecution.{{sfn|Cahill|1986|pp=342β351}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=350β354}} Judge Garippo informed Gacy that both counsels had not been denied the opportunity or funds to summon expert witnesses to testify, and that, under the law, he had the choice whether he wished to testify, and was free to indicate as much to the judge.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=309β312}} ===Closing arguments=== On March 11, final arguments by both prosecution and defense attorneys began. Prosecuting attorney Terry Sullivan outlined Gacy's history of abusing youths, the testimony of his efforts to avoid detection and describing his surviving victimsβVoorhees and Donnellyβas "living dead". Referring to Gacy as the "worst of all murderers", Sullivan stated, "John Gacy has accounted for more human devastation than many earthly catastrophes... I tremble when thinking about just how close he came to getting away with it all."{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=320β326}}{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=360β374}} After the state's four-hour closing, counsel Sam Amirante spoke for the defense. Amirante accused Sullivan of scarcely referring to the evidence in his own closing argument, and of arousing hatred against his client. He attempted to portray Gacy as "driven by compulsions he was unable to control", contending the State had not met their [[Burden of proof (law)|burden]] of proving Gacy sane beyond a reasonable doubt.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=360β374}} Amirante then urged the jury to put aside any prejudice they held against his client and asked they deliver a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity, adding that Gacy was a danger to both himself and to others, and that studying his psychology and behavior would be of benefit to science.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=356β364}} On the morning of March 12, William Kunkle continued to argue for the prosecution.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=356β364}} Kunkle referred to the defense's contention of insanity as "a sham", arguing that the facts of the case demonstrated Gacy's ability to think logically and control his actions. Kunkle also referred to the testimony of one of the doctors who had examined Gacy in 1968 and had concluded he was an antisocial personality, stating that had the recommendations of this doctor been heeded, Gacy would not have been freed.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=360β374}} At the close of his argument, Kunkle removed photos of Gacy's 22 identified victims from a display board and asked the jury not to show sympathy but to "show justice".{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=360β374}} The jury deliberated for one hour and fifty minutes.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|p=381}} Gacy was found guilty of 33 charges of murder; he was also found guilty of sexual assault and taking indecent liberties with a child, both in reference to Robert Piest.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|pp=360β374}}<ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pp8rAAAAIBAJ&pg=2750,2719769|title=Gacy Sentenced to Die; Readies Appeals|newspaper=[[Nashua Telegraph]]|via=Google News|date=March 14, 1980|access-date=September 26, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929110035/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=pp8rAAAAIBAJ&pg=2750%2C2719769|archive-date=September 29, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IbZBAAAAIBAJ&pg=6852,3893550|title=Court Refuses to Hear Mass Murderer Case|newspaper=[[The Harlan Daily Enterprise]]|via=Google News|date=March 1, 1985|access-date=March 14, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201004170530/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=IbZBAAAAIBAJ&pg=6852%2C3893550|archive-date=October 4, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref> At the time, his conviction for 33 murders was the most for which any person in U.S. history had been convicted.<ref name="safe">{{cite news|last=Lee|first=William|date=December 16, 2018|title=John Wayne Gacy was Arrested 40 Years Ago in a Killing Spree that Claimed 33 Victims and Shattered the Illusion of the Safe Suburban Community|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|url=http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/john-wayne-gacy-murders-40-years-later/index.html|access-date=March 4, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181216184859/http://graphics.chicagotribune.com/john-wayne-gacy-murders-40-years-later/index.html|archive-date=December 16, 2018|url-status=dead}} {{Open access}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Rossi|first=Rosalind A.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZLYcAAAAIBAJ&pg=5140,7396894|title=Gacy Sentenced To Die For 33 Deaths|newspaper=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]|date=March 14, 1980|via=Google News|agency=UPI|page=7|access-date=July 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929100753/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=ZLYcAAAAIBAJ&pg=5140%2C7396894|archive-date=September 29, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref> In the [[Sentence (law)|sentencing phase]] of the trial, the jury deliberated for more than two hours before sentencing Gacy to death for each murder committed after the Illinois statute on capital punishment came into effect in June 1977.{{sfn|Sullivan|2000|p=374}}<ref>{{cite news|last=Rossi|first=Rosalind A.|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zk80AAAAIBAJ&pg=6679,3103134|title=Mothers Tell Gacy Jury Of Last Time They Saw Sons|newspaper=[[Sarasota Herald-Tribune]]|date=February 8, 1980|agency=UPI|via=Google News|page=6|access-date=July 20, 2010|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200929100525/https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Zk80AAAAIBAJ&pg=6679%2C3103134|archive-date=September 29, 2020}} {{Open access}}</ref> His execution was set for June 2, 1980.{{sfn|Amirante|2011|pp=387β388}}
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