Rule of Law
When police searched John Wayne Gacy's house on December 13, 1978 they were completely unprepared for the horrors they would uncover. Although police executed a search warrant that they hoped would provide further insight into the mysterious disappearance of fifteen-year-old Robert Piest, they would soon come to discover evidence that would connect Gacy to at least 32 other murders and disappearances. On December 22, 1978, Gacy freely confessed to killing at least thirty boys and men and burying their remains on his property or dumping them in the river nearby (Bell & Bardsley, n.d.). During the course of the investigation, Gacy confessed that he would occasionally murder more than one person in the same day. What flabbergasted investigators, however, was Gacy's nonchalant explanation as to why the bodies were buried so close together in the crawlspace under his house: he "was running out of room and needed to converse space" (Bell & Bardsley, n.d.).
By February 1979, police investigators would recover and remove 27 bodies from Gacy's house and in April, investigators finally recovered the remains of Robert Piest, the missing boy who launched an investigation into Gacy. While the majority of the bodies recovered were found in the crawlspace underneath Gacy's house, remains were also recovered buried in Gacy's garage underneath concrete, as well as under his porch, also encased in concrete. The bodies dumped in rivers were recovered from the Des Plaines River and the Illinois River. Given that many of Gacy's victims were found to have his underwear lodged in his throat, it has been surmised that Gacy's victims died due to asphyxiation (Bell & Bardsley, n.d.).
The identification of Gacy's victims would prove to be a daunting task especially since this was one of the largest crime scenes in
Through forensic analysis, it was determined that the bodies recovered from Gacy's home were males between the ages of fourteen and into their mid-twenties, (The Bones Under Gacy's House, n.d.). While several of Gacy's victims were identified using dental records, by the end of January 1979, only ten of his victims had been positively identified. Furthermore, reluctant parents that could not accept the possibility that their sons had drifted into a lifestyle that they did not approve of hindered the identification of victims. With the aide of forensic anthropologist Clyde Snow and forensic sculptor Betty Pat Gatliff, all but nine victims were identified by the end of 1979 (Smithsonian Institute, n.d.). Identifying the remains of these nine unknown victims is an ongoing process as DNA analysis has helped to identify victims as recently as 2011.
For his crimes, Gacy was ultimately charged with 33 counts of murder of which he was sentenced to death for 12 of them and to natural life in prison for the remaining 19 counts (Office of Clark County Prosecuting Attorney, n.d.). Furthermore, investigators concluded that 12 of the murders that Gacy committed took place before the landmark Supreme Court case Furman v. Georgia in which it was determined that a set of consistent parameters be established in the application of the death penalty. Under Illinois Law (720 ILCS 5/9-1), a person can be found guilty of First Degree Murder when: (a) they kill and individual without lawful justification if, in performing the acts which cause the death: (1)…
Further, these writs, once issued, could be reused, and did not expire until the death of the reigning monarch (Knappman, 33). In Massachusetts, a group of colonial merchants, represented by James Otis, petitioned the Superior Court to refuse any new applications of writ following the death of George II. Otis, using the phrase "A man's house is his castle," argued in the case that the writs were a direct violation
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That is one of the 'reliefs' of having an ethical code -- a counselor does not have to engage in soul-searching as to whether his or her personal beliefs about John's actions are impinging upon his or her judgment. The counselor can refer to the law and to the code of ethics for the profession, and know that informing upon John is correct, given that someone's life is at
John Gotti -- the Teflon Don John Gotti, whose reputation for evading long prison sentences notwithstanding his mob-related crimes (including implication in the murders of a number of people), was finally convicted of thirteen crimes on April 2, 1992. His story is a fascinating one as he ascended from a lowly street criminal to the head of the Gambino crime family; this paper provides some biographical details of Gotti but in
This essay provides a brief overview of several of the key factors in conflict of laws, including the areas where choice of law is likely to be at issue. Domicile Domicile is one of the key factors in choice of law. Domicile is not the same as location. Instead, domicile is a legal fiction connecting a person to a location for a specific purpose. Domicile impacts jurisdiction and choice of law.
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