Crime Charged: Murder
Chief Defense Lawyers: T. Clement Gaughan, William F. Matschullat, John McArthur
Chief Prosecutors: Elmer Scheele, Dale Fahrnbruch
Judge: Harry A. Spencer
Place: Lincoln, Nebraska
Dates of Trials: Starkweather: May 5-23, 1958; Fugate: October 27-November 21, 1958
Verdict: Guilty
Sentence: Starkweather: death; Fugate: life imprisonment
SIGNIFICANCE: Can a dysfunctional upbringing ever excuse homicide? That was the question facing jurors in this remarkable saga that changed forever the face of murder in America.
Although he had murdered a few weeks before, Charlie Starkweather, a diminutive 19-year-old garbage truck driver from Lincoln, Nebraska, didn't begin killing in earnest until January 21, 1958. This was the day when he visited the home of his girlfriend, Caril Fugate, aged 14. While awaiting her return, Starkweather got into an argument with Fugate's mother. When she tried to slap him, he grabbed a rifle and shot her. Seconds later, Fugate's stepfather was similarly dispatched. Minutes later Fugate arrived home, at which point Starkweather stabbed her 2-year-old half-sister to death.
Then, after pinning up a notice in the window that read "Every Body is Sick with the Flu," the couple hunkered down for the next six days, watching television, having sex, gorging themselves on fast food. In that time various people visited the house and met the two teenagers. No one noticed anything out of the ordinary.
One week later, alerted by an anxious relative, police officers called at the house and uncovered the massacre. But there was no sign of the wanted couple.
Another week passed before they were captured. In that time they had gone on a killing binge across Nebraska, littering the highway with bodies, until their final tally reached 11 victims. When eventually arrested, Starkweather mugged for the cameras like some psychotic James Dean, cigarette drooping from his mouth—America's first rock 'n' roll killer had just been born. By this time Fugate had already washed her hands of him.
They were tried separately, Starkweather first. He swaggered into court on May 5, 1958, before Judge Harry Spencer, to face a single count of murder, that of Robert Jensen. The facts were not in dispute, and neither was Starkweather's culpability; at issue was his mental state.
Earlier Starkweather had pointedly refused to cooperate with attempts to save his life through a plea of insanity, sneering, "Nobody remembers a crazy man." Now, when his chief counsel, T. Clement Gaughan, told the jury that Starkweather's IQ was "only a point or two above an idiot," the defendant's knuckles whitened as he gripped the desk in rage. Starkweather, it seemed, would rather die in the electric chair than be classified as mentally subnormal.
Charlie Starkweather and Card Ann Fugate.
User Comments Add a comment…
2 months ago
ok the guy whos comment is at the top fo this page is crazy... literally insane. i feel abd for him. starkweather got what he deserved and what was right and just.
10 months ago
Starkweather, what an amateur. If the wannabe had any brains he could have easily tripled his score. And, why did he drag that hussy Fugate along. Typical female, self-centered to the point she advocates the killing of others as long as her vacuous needs and wants are fulfilled. Appears the Starkweather bloke did have a rough upbringing and not-so-desirable interactions with udder bipedal primates. However, others have had negative experiences akin to his without resorting to amassing a body count. Perhaps instead of killing these folks we should lock them up for life so the "experts" can study them. Do you think killing Starkweather was a punishment? HAH!!! We ALL die eventually, so what punishment is that. But to spend an entire life in a noisy smelly dangerous prison infested with scum bags and always having to watch out for someone who wants to beat you or rape you or shove a shank into your bowells? To heck with that!!! I would view execution as a release!!! As for the Fugate hussy. If she had been a male accompanying Starkweather is there any doubt that there would have been two executions? Nice double standard those addle-minded illogical emotion-laden vapid self-centered "little princesses" are allowed to possess. On one hand the litte hissy-fit girls can stamp their little feet in protest about so many imagined wrongs society and men throw at them. But, do you ever hear the little girls whine about the common double-standard when they receive lesser criminal sentences for the crimes they commit when compared to a male's sentence? NO!!!!! How about not having to register for the draft? So many things that work in the girl's favor yet the delicate simpleton females keep on whining. Sheeesh. Back to Starkweather. Should have kept the cretin alive so psychologists, criminologists, a whole flock of -ologists could have studied the phreak, perhaps allowing, in the future, the ability to espy certain behavors in weirdos and attempt to intervene and assist those in some way who show inclinations to anti-social behavior. Heck, the professionals may have amassed the knowledge that would have allowed intervention with that idiotic GW Bush who seemingly achieves some form of sexual release by sending so many of the commoner class to bleed, die, become maimed overseas while allowing MILLIONS of illegal alien invaders to waltz into the USA and inflict an enormous amount of harm upon American citizens.
about 1 year ago
what pushed charls stark wether over the ege and made him kill 11 people whay is every one so scard of him i think he could be a god person in side. these are some question how old was charls when the murded the first victemand and where was the last murder taken place