01x03 - The Intruders on Trial

[bunniefuu]

Reporter: In Holcomb, Kansas,
just west of Garden City,

this is the house in which the
Herbert Clutter family lived,

and the house in which
they were m*rder*d.

Edwards:
How could I tell my mother

that her brother and his family
were dead?

This can't be real.

Man: It was quickly turned over

to the Kansas Bureau
of Investigation.

Man #2: The key evidence were
boot marks in the blood.

Investigator: We were able
to see a boot print

that one could not observe
with the naked eye.

They knew that there was the
potential of a second suspect.

Man #3: We didn't know
who did it or why.

Everybody was on edge.

Tedrow: It truly
made a different community.

There was fear
for the first time.

Craig: The murders
would have been

the only subject people
were talking about.

This was national news.

Man #5: Eventually, they got
a huge break in the case.

Man #6: When d*ck got
out of prison,

he was going to get
with his buddy, Perry Smith,

and go rob the Clutters.

Man #7: "After the Clutter deal,
nobody will be able to say

d*ck Hickock never did
anything worthwhile."

Once you get beyond 72 hours,
it goes advantage criminal,

and in this case,
six days had passed.

Law enforcement in Las Vegas

had received an attempt
to locate from the KBI.

The car did have the boots
that Perry Smith was wearing

on the night of the murders.

Man #8:
The case is not over yet.

You haven't yet convicted

the guilty, lying, thieving SOB.

That will come.

**

**

[Whirring]

[Police radio chatter]

**

I remember a sense of relief

when we knew that the two men
had been arrested...

[Police radio chatter]

...and that there was
not a doubt that

they had done it.

**

Shields: While the men
are coming back from Las Vegas,

there was a tremendous feeling
of suspense

in Garden City.

**

West: I have no idea
or what time I do not know

because I don't know
what Mr. Dewey has planned.

I don't know how --
what the thing --

how far along it is
as far as he's concerned.

[Sighs heavily]

Tedrow: The day that
they brought the people back,

my husband was a reporter
for the newspaper.

[Police sirens wail]

And he said it was just eerie,

the feeling of the crowd.

Penick: There was
a mob mentality.

The community wanted
to hang him,

but law enforcement --
they did maintain peace.

Shields: There was
almost a parade feel

in that the courthouse lawn

was filled with adolescents
chasing and teasing,

with people
who knew the Clutters,

with just curious people,
as well.

Welch: They were
all around the courthouse,

all trying to see what

Perry Smith and Richard Hickock
looked like.

Shields: For hours, they'd been
anticipating "the K*llers."

They wanted to see
evil incarnate.

But it turned out all they saw
were two sort of roustabouts.

**

Don: It was Sunday morning,
early 1960,

and as was my custom,

I was sitting in the living room
reading Time magazine.

And I came across this article

about this m*rder in Kansas,

and it didn't mean
that much to me,

but then I saw
two tiny pictures,

and I was taken aback.

I mean, I was shocked when I saw
one of them was Perry Smith,

my Army buddy.

I could not believe it.

How could he end up like this?

And I said, I've got
to write him a letter.

And I wrote the letter.

Shortly after that,

I had a telephone call
from his lawyer

who asked me if I could come out

and be a character witness
for Perry Smith.

I felt this is a man
who really needed help

and maybe this is something

I could do and should do.

Lorraine: I wasn't terribly
happy that he was going.

He and this man had
m*rder*d that whole family,

and I could not imagine
telling people about it,

and they'd think
he was kind of crazy

to do something
like that.

It wasn't something
that most people would find

acceptable...
or difficult --

certainly difficult
to understand.

That's for sure.
Mm.

And so I flew out to Garden City
to see Perry.

**

**

Man:
You keep them separated?

That's right.

**

It was about 7:00 in the morning
in Garden City,

and I was met by Perry's lawyer,

and we drove to the courthouse.

Brought me up and told me that

I could talk to Perry,

so he unlocked the door,
and I went inside,

and he locked it behind me

so the two of us were
locked together.

We then sat down,

and we started to talk,

and he told me exactly,
step-by-step,

what had happened.

He said they drove
to this place far away.

You know, Kansas is a big state.

It's a long drive because
they were driving for hours

before they got there.

Man: "I had never heard of this
little town of Holcomb.

I was unfamiliar with the area.

d*ck kept mumbling to himself,

and he was saying,
this is supposed to be here,

this is supposed to be here.

And, all of a sudden,
he brightened up and he said,

'This is it.

This is it.'"

**

"I was getting a little chit
in my blood, as they say,

so I was determined
to talk d*ck out of it.

Then he shut the lights off.

He said,
'This guy ain't got money?

Just look at the set up.

I know damn well
he's got a safe in there.'

I could see right away...

he had his mind set."

[Train whistle blares
in distance]

Nye: d*ck...

**

Don: The Clutters did not

lock their doors at night.

They trusted their neighbors.

They didn't expect evil

to come to their door.

[Floorboards creak]

**

**

There was nothing,

but Perry said they found

Mr. Clutter downstairs...

**

...and he said,
"We asked him for the money,"

and he said "There's
no money in this house,"

but d*ck, he didn't believe it.

**

Man: "I thought
d*ck was going to hit him.

d*ck said, 'Bullshit.

You got a safe in this house.

I know it.'"

Bascue: d*ck Hickock was
just insistent that

the money existed
and that Mr. Clutter was lying.

And at that point, I still think
that Perry Smith did not think

that there was going to be
any violence

that was going to occur
that evening.

**

Man: "Mr. Clutter --

he had such an honest look
on his face.

I knew he was telling the truth
about the safe.

I looked at d*ck.

d*ck says to me,

'Better take care
of that phone.'"

**

**

"I pointed upstairs
and asked who was up there.

He said his wife and children
were up there."

**

**

**

"Mr. Clutter said,
'Honey, don't be scared.

These two men --
they want some money.'

The missus said,
'My husband told you the truth.

We have no safe here.'

d*ck asked Mrs. Clutter
where her purse was.

**

I think d*ck found
a few dollars.

From there,
we went to the boy's room."

**

**

**

**

[Door creaking]

"The daughter was already awake.

She asks,
'What do you fellows want?'

d*ck told her
it's none of her business.

At the time,
I was thoroughly disgusted,

especially with d*ck's attitude.

d*ck was still persistent
that there was a safe."

**

**

**

**

And then Perry said
we decided to separate them.

Man: "I was the one
that tied them up.

We had to go one by one."

Don: So they put Mrs. C.

over to her bedroom

and tied her up,

and then took the girl...

and tied her up in her room

and then he took the boy --

and notice,
he never used their names.

It was always Mrs. C. or Mr. C.

or the girl or the boy.

Never the names,
even though he knew them.

They took Mr. Clutter
and his son

down into the cellar,

in separate rooms.

[Duct tape rips]

**

He said he continued to ask
Mr. Clutter about money,

and he said,
"There's no money in this house.

If there was,
I would give it to you."

So then Perry said,

he looked over at d*ck and said,

"What do we do now?"

**

Man: "d*ck said,
'Like I said before,

if we are identified,

you know what it means.

I'm in favor
of getting rid of them.'"

**

Bascue: That night
at the Clutter home,

d*ck Hickock, his sole reason

for enlisting the help
of Perry Smith

is that he thought
Perry Smith was a k*ller.

If something like that
needed to happen,

he had the guy who could do it.

But the fact is
that neither one of them

had the ability to carry out
a m*rder by themselves.

You know,
people ask a lot,

"Do you think Hickock
would have k*lled them
had he done it alone?"

I don't think he'd have entered
the house if he was alone.

I think it took
the second person

to give him the courage
to be there.

Bascue: And so I think

when you put these
two individuals together,

it created an atmosphere
where their minds went

to a different place,
and, for whatever reason,

their interactions caused them

to k*ll four innocent people.

**

Man: "We were standing there,

debating about who was
going to start it.

So I told him,
'Well, I'll do it.'

I had this big hunting knife."

Don: Perry said that d*ck was
not contributing at all.

Perry was really getting
furious at this point.

He said he was so angry
at the situation --

fruitless --

and he said he had the knife,

and he said he shoved the knife

right into the throat
of Mr. Clutter.

He said almost like it was --
"I was doing it to d*ck."

**

**

**

He said, "Now it's your turn.

You do your part."

So he handed the knife to d*ck,

and d*ck stuck the knife
in his throat,

and Perry told me, he said,

"I think he probably just put it
in the same hole I did

because it continued that way."

Man: "So I says...

'd*ck, the man is suffering.'"

[Shotgun c*ck]

"I raised the shotgun

and pulled the trigger."

**

And he said, "One thing
I will always remember --

his expression,"

pitch black,
just the flashlights were on,

and he said,
"As I pulled the trigger,"

he said, "There was
a flash of blue light,

and I could see
his head split apart."

My God. My God.

How horrible.

**

Man: "I walked up to the boy.

I couldn't see the boy's head
too well,

but I aimed the g*n to where

I thought his head was...
[Shotgun c*ck]

...and shot him."

**

[Shotgun c*ck]

**

[Shotgun c*ck]

**

Man: "To me, it seemed like
we was in the house

just about an hour.

It seemed like that."

**

When we finished talking,
I remember he snickered,

and he immediately said, "Oh."

He said, "It's a terrible thing
to be laughing about this."

He said, "But I had
no feelings of anything.

No feelings for them."

**

And I found that
most shocking of all.

[Sighs heavily]

It was hard to take.

It was hard to take.

**

The guilt about the m*rder
was established both

by admissions
and by physical evidence.

So the attorneys
who were representing them

could only hope to keep them
from being ex*cuted.

So they decided
the insanity defense

would be the only way
they could think to go.

And so that's how I got
involved.

**

So the deputy took me up

and locked me in the cell
with Hickock.

**

d*ck Hickock was sociopathic,

but there was some real remorse

about having done the crime

and having gotten caught,
certainly.

He said, you know,

if somebody had done that
to my family,

I'd go after them and k*ll them,
blah, blah, blah.

**

Troutner: The reaction
from the community of Edgarton

after it was discovered that

Richard Hickock was involved
in the k*lling of the Clutters

was one of total shock,
surprise, disbelief.

They all knew Richard as

a petty thief, a liar,
a con man,

but I don't think anybody here
really ever thought that

he would do something
that terrible.

But he was a complex person

with a lot of sides to him.

Jones: He was impulsive,

and a lot of the impulsivity
seems to have developed

after he had
the automobile accident

when he was 19 years old.

[Police radio chatter,
sirens wail]

Troutner: The accident --

this terrible car accident
he was in was in 1950,

and there are friends and family
that later swore that --

that he changed then because
he had a terrible brain injury

and the doctors didn't really
take care of it

or weren't aware of it
or ignored it.

LeBert-Corbello:
His first wife, Carol --

she said after that accident
in the car,

that he -- he changed.

He changed into someone that
she did not recognize.

Man: "I, myself,
had a little sickness.

I think this was caused
from the car wreck that I had.

I had spells of passing out,

and sometimes I would hemorrhage
out the nose and left ear.

Between the first and last one,

I believe
I've had about 10 of these."

Jones:
So, an unanswered question is,

did he have some slight degree
of actual physical brain damage?

**

Jones: Perry Smith --

when I got in the cell with him,

he was very interested
in talking.

He told me, he said, "Well...

I've always wanted to talk
to a psychiatrist,"

because he was interested
in his mind,

and he was interested in
what in the world made him tick.

And many times, he said,
"There's something wrong with me

or I wouldn't have
k*lled those people."

Smith, he had a strong
paranoid mind-set,

and he had a fantasy life that
bordered on delusion.

Of course, the delusions
and hallucinations

are indicative

of a psychotic mind state,

and he was deeply bitter

about some
of his early experiences.

James: When I was about 5,

Perry was my dad's friend.

I remember he was so messed up,

emotionally and psychologically.

I think it had a lot to do
with his anger

towards his father and mother.

Jones: And was given to sudden,
uncontrolled rages

in which he'd attack people,
including family members.

He'd fought with his father
many times.

James: You've got a real
traumatized individual

that can quickly turn violent.

Jones: To get additional
background information,

you can ask a patient to write

an autobiographical statement,

particularly
if you're pressed for time,

which I was,
and needed some background.

So they did that.

Man: "Dear Mr. Jones,

please find enclosed
somewhat of an autobiography.

I was constantly in trouble.

I got into many fights at school

and was expelled.

I blamed many people
for my lack of education.

This only added
to the many other

hatreds and bitterness
I held for others."

Jones: Those
autobiographical statements

which was very helpful,
very complete, very honest.

In fact,
in Hickock's autobiography,

he talked about

his attraction to younger girls.

**

Man: "One afternoon,

I went to the store
or someplace,

and an 8- or 12-year-old girl
wanted to go with me.

I don't know why I did it.

I asked her if she knew
where babies come from,

and I tried to show her.

I won't go into detail
with the rest of the times.

There was one, I believe,

as recently as
a few months ago."

Troutner: d*ck --
he liked teenage girls

and Carol, for instance,

his first wife, was only 16
when she had the boys.

And he got another girl pregnant
while he was married to Carol.

So, yeah,
even around in Edgarton,

he had an attraction
for young girls.

Jones: d*ck was ashamed of that
and hadn't told anybody that.

In fact, he told me
that night in Holcomb,

he had designs on
the teenage girl in the house.

**

Man: "One thing
I never told you

about this Clutter deal
is this --

before I ever went
to their house,

I knew there would be
a girl there.

I think that's the main reason
I went there.

**

It was not to rob them,

but to r*pe the girl.

**

I thought a lot about it.

It's the one reason why
I never wanted to turn back,

even when I saw
there was no safe.

I did make some advances
toward the Clutter girl

when I was there.

I would've gone through with it,

but Perry never gave me
the chance."

Smith had become
enraged at Hickock.

Man: "d*ck mentioned
the possibility --

how do I put this --
the r*pe of Nancy.

He said that night,

'I sure would like to bust that
little girl's box out,

the way she's built.'

He says, 'After I do it,
you can do it.'

And I said, 'Jesus Christ, d*ck.

Nothing like that. That's out.

That's completely out.'

In fact,
I was ready to fight him.

This is where
all hell broke out."

Jones: Perry Smith's rages
were partly fueled

by the bitterness
and paranoid quality

to his thinking they already had

and partly,
just by loss of control --

you know,
that once he lost control,

there was no stopping him.

**

[Creaking]

[Footsteps]

[Shotgun c*ck]

[g*nsh*t]

[Footsteps]

[Door creaking]

[Shotgun c*ck]

[g*nsh*t]

[Door creaking]

[Shotgun c*ck]

[g*nsh*t]

[Footsteps]

[Door creaking]

[Shotgun c*ck]

[g*nsh*t]

**

Man: "There were other things I
should have told you,

'cause I'm more ashamed
of these things I did

than hanging
or going to the penitentiary.

My lawyer said I should
be truthful with you

as you can help me...

and I need help, as you know."

**

Man: "...would like
to speak with you again.

There's much I haven't said
that may interest you.

Or that should be known."

**

Craig: People in Holcomb still
don't like to talk about this.

Have you experienced that any?

They don't want to talk
about it.

They don't think it's something

that needs
to be discussed a lot,

but I grew up here,
in the courthouse,

and having this case
in the background

of where I lived was normal,

something that
I've always accepted.

My name's Jon Craig.

My dad was sheriff here
for almost 30 years,

and we moved into the courthouse

in the spring of '64.

So, yes, I knew all about it
by the time I was in 4th grade,

all of the people that
were involved,

I knew most of them growing up.

The courtroom looks like it did.

This trial would have been
the only subject

people were talking about.

You probably wouldn't have been
able to go anywhere here

and talk about anything else,
but also remember,

Garden City was flooded
with reporters

when that trial happened.

People were going to know
all about it.

This was national news.

[Tapping]

**

Shields: Al Dewey offered

Truman Capote
and Nelle Harper Lee

the opportunity
to interview the men separately,

and they were going to get,
in essence,

an audience with the K*llers.

d*ck came in,

bummed a couple of smokes
off Nelle Harper Lee,

and just waxed lyrical about
good-old d*ck Hickock --

what a regular guy he was

and how he liked smokes
and steak,

and d*ck just had the world
on a string.

Perry, on the other hand,

was very wary
of what was going on

and was not willing
to be put on display.

**

Clarke: At one point,
Perry said to him,

you know, I could...

I could k*ll you.

I could k*ll you right now,
if I wanted to.

Of course, he didn't k*ll Truman

and he was --
he was fascinated by Truman.

Truman, of course,
was very short

and Perry was short --

only an inch taller.

Shields: And Truman found that
vastly endearing,

that this
very, very dangerous man

was not a big man,

but someone who was, in essence,
too small for the world.

Clarke: When Truman saw Perry,

he saw himself.

The trouble was, for Truman,

was that Perry was a k*ller.

He was a man who had
m*rder*d people.

**

Jones: The case, by that time,

had really become well known.

You know,
this is a couple months

after the guys were caught.

So there was tremendous
public interest for the trial.

[Camera lenses clicking]

Welch: There were
a couple hundred people

in the county courthouse.

Emotions were high,
and the people there --

they felt that justice
would be two guilty verdicts.

**

Don: As we approached
the courtroom,

there were a lot of people
who just couldn't get in

because the place was
absolutely packed.

There was not
an empty seat anywhere,

and there were people standing
on both sides.

Perry's lawyer brought me
right up to the bailiff

and said, "This is a friend
of Perry Smith's.

Let him sit beside him."

He took me in,

and we sat beside each other

for the whole trial.

**

Man: "Mass m*rder
was the theme of the trial.

The county attorney read

eight charges of m*rder
in the first degree.

He read the names of each
victim...

**

...twice --

one for each of the two accused.

Hickock chewed gum vigorously
during the reading.

Smith, face blank,

looked straight ahead.

Frack: I got a lot
of gray hairs that year,

'cause it does affect
your system,

And of course we went
to the trial every day.

I went to the restroom

and Hickock's mother and sister
were in there,

and of course they were
just as upset as anybody was.

We saw those guys sit up there,

and my dad, this nice man,

but he said,
"I could pull that rope,"

'cause they did it.

Well, they were just so guilty,
you know,

that really the only thing was,

were they going to get hung?

**

Man: "If it pleases the court,

I, Duane E. West,
county attorney,

come here and give the court
to understand

the magnitude of this crime

we believe warrants
the maximum penalty

for both of these defendants."

**

Don: Prosecution spent
something like four days,

and they were, really, clearly,
dragging it out because

it was their moment in the sun,
so to speak,

and they already had
written confessions

from both of them,

so it was overkill.

Reporter: Spectators filled
the seats of the courtroom early

as they have all through
the sensational trial.

Man: "Our trial was more like a
circus than anything else."

West: I have answered
that question before.

I have no idea.

I didn't have an opportunity

to visit with these fellows
at all.

Man: "I never did think much

of the Finney County attorney.

He kept pointing his finger
at me

and telling the jury
how no good I was.

My mom was crying.

It was worse on her
than anybody.

Every time he pointed
that finger at me,

I wanted to hit him."

**

Calihan: It was a funny feeling

to be in the same room
with murderers.

I don't think they were sorry.

They didn't act
like they were sorry.

That bothered me.

James: I'm not sure that
Perry Smith was really

what they would call
a sociopath,

but his actions branded him
as a sociopath.

He had to really
be able to disconnect

with what you'd done.

It had to be unreal to you,

and it had to have
no social impact

upon you as a person...

**

...cold-hearted k*ller.

Reporter: In Garden City,

I hear no one,
not even the accused themselves,

suggest that they are innocent.

The question will be,
how guilty?

Guilty enough to hang?

What can the defense do?

Jones: In cases like this,

what the defense attorney does

is present testimony that
convinces the jury

that these men were guilty
but insane

so that there's some mitigation
of punishment.

You know, Perry Smith's
borderline psychotic mind state,

and with Hickock --
you had his head injury.

So these are what I would think
of as mitigating factors.

So I went in and took the stand

and before I even testified,
the judge said,

"Doctor, you can only answer
one question.

Yes or no to the question,

did this person know
right from wrong

at the time
they committed the crime?"

I answered "Yes" for Hickock.

For Smith, he said,
"Have you reached an opinion?"

and I said "No."

Then the defense attorney
jumped up and said the doctor

didn't have an opinion,
and the judge dismissed me.

There will be
a five-minute recess.

Don: When I was called
to the witness stand,

I started off by saying that
I had known Perry.

We had served in
the United States Army

and that he was
a very likable fellow,

and that's about as far
as I got.

"Objection!"

It was objected to as not
pertaining to the case.

Hardly a moment went by
and the judge said "Sustained.

The witness may sit down."

And I was dismissed.

I was quite shocked, frankly,
when he said that,

but what else
are you going to do?

**

Man: "On March 28th,
a week after the trial began,

the defense pleaded
for life in prison.

It was no contest.

Logan Greene, a small man,

became a giant before the jury."

Jones: Logan Greene, yes.
Logan Greene --

The state hired him to help
with the prosecution

because it was
such an important case.

In fact, attorneys
from all over Kansas

came to hear
Logan Greene's performance

because he was that good.

Greene: "I say to you gentlemen,

these were not ordinary murders.

Four of your fellow citizens,

without an enemy in the world,

have been brutally slain

as a pen of slaughtered hogs.

These were cold, calculated,

pre-meditated,
useless murders for money,

and how cheaply those lives
were bought

at $80 worth of loot.

That is $20 a piece
for each of these lives."

It took the jury
less than a half an hour

to come to a complete decision.

All hands voting
for death by hanging.

[Indistinct chatter]

I was able to see him
one last time.

Perry had this big grin
on his face,

said, "Well...

I guess I better start
my neck-stretching exercises."

And the grin disappeared,

his head dropped

and mine dropped.

We reached.

We were holding each other's
hands through the grate.

And then I think
we both cried at that point

and said goodbye.

And then I went downstairs

and caught my bus.

That was the last time
I saw Perry Smith.

**

We were so happy the verdicts,

and we all wanted them
to be hung...

because death wouldn't have
been bad enough

for what they did.

**

Man: This is a state prison.

This is where it begins.

Collins:
There's very few pictures

of the old death house.

They always said it looked like
the shape of a coffin.

You know, this right here,
but that's the old death row.

My name is Jerry Collins,

and I worked at the death row
at the Kansas State Penitentiary

from 1963 to 1965.

Hours is midnight to 8:00,
and I was very young.

I was 23 at the time.

Of course, I had read
about Hickock and Smith,

and it was kind of a shock
when I first saw them.

I said here, I'd been reading
about them all the time,

and there they are.

Didn't look like
a couple monsters to me,

but...

that was a horrible,
horrible thing they did

out there in Holcomb.

After they arrived in 1960,

they had an execution date
set up within 90 days.

**

The date of Friday,
May 13, 1960,

was given as the date
of execution --

Friday the 13th, oddly enough.

**

Collins:
When I worked death row,

we got to know Hickock and Smith

and get to visiting with them

and didn't think
about crimes they committed.

We got close to them,
joking and laughing,

and then when it comes down
to the executions,

"Oh, we hate to see
these guys ex*cuted,"

like they's friends,
and that somewhat affected me.

Jones: Even though the date
for the execution was set,

once you're sentenced to death
anywhere,

the appeal process
goes on and on and on.

**

Troutner: They had several
stays of execution.

Basically d*ck did a lot
of letter writing in prison

to officials,
politicians, judges.

Collins: There was so many
stays of executions,

we didn't think Richard Hickock
and Perry Smith would hang.

Frack: We had that fear
that they wouldn't be, you know?

But I guess we were just glad
they were caught,

and they weren't going
to go anywhere.

**

LeBert-Corbello:
The Hickock family went

into a desperate shift
of survival

because it was
so notorious a crime.

Everyone knew about it,

and you were just
ordinary people

in the midst of this storm

of hatred and judgment,

and that's when the spiraling of
their whole life was downward.

David: I can tell you that
our lives were never the same.

We died a little every day

as we tried to survive
the aftermath.

Crable: The family wasn't seen
in public much any longer,

that they really tried
to maintain a low profile,

and that there was a great deal
of shame that they felt.

These were two very good people.

Walt and Eunice Hickock were

these salt-of-the-earth
Edgarton residents,

but they never really
fully recovered

from that stigma.

Troutner: Mr. Hickock --
d*ck's father was very sick.

He had cancer,

and he actually died
in June of 1960,

which was a few months
after the trial.

LeBert-Corbello:
He could not fight.

You know, I think
he gave up in his fight

because he was just
so burdened and so hurt

by what his son had done.

**

**

**

**