Killer Stories with Harvey Guillén - "Chairman of the Forces of Evil" William Henry Hance

Episode Date: January 9, 2023

While the Stocking Strangler terrorized a Georgia suburb, another killer stalked military bases in the state. William Henry Hance was an army officer with an eruptive temper who was charged with the m...urders of three women. Police caught onto his crimes in part because Hance wrote them letters blaming the attacks on an evil cabal named the Forces of Evil. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Due to the graphic nature of this killer's crimes, listener discretion is advised. This episode includes discussions of murder, assault, and domestic violence. We advise extreme caution for children under 13. The bar was quiet. Even by the standards of rural Georgia on a Wednesday night, Irene cast her gaze around the place as she slowly sipped her beer, trying to make it last as long as she could. This was a popular watering hole for soldiers at Fort Benning.
Starting point is 00:00:37 and she usually found it easy to pick up men here. She liked the clientele, being so close to the base none of these guys ever wanted to start any trouble. It felt safer here than the streets. But tonight, she might be out of luck. It was already past nine, and the place was still almost empty. After draining her glass, Irene got to her feet and headed for the parking lot. Maybe she could hitch a ride to the Sand Hill Bar and Grill,
Starting point is 00:01:04 where there was usually more action. But just before she reached the door, she made eye contact with a man who was sitting alone. He was a young black soldier, maybe mid-20s, and he looked familiar. A regular at the bar, she kissed. He beckoned her over, and Irene approached with a coy smile. He asked something like, leaving so soon? She told him she was heading to another bar nearby. Then, noting the disappointment on his face, she suggested he could give her a ride.
Starting point is 00:01:34 There was a nervous energy about him, but he seemed harmless and a little shy. A few moments later, they left the bar together, and as Irene climbed into William Henry Hans' passenger seat, she had no idea just how much danger she was in. Hi, I'm Greg Poulson. This is Serial Killers, a Spotify original from Parkast. Every episode, we dive into the minds and madness of serial killers. Today we're discussing the troubling case of William Henry Hans. I'm here with my co-host, Vanessa Richardson. Hi, everyone. You can find episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify. Hans was given the death penalty after killing three women in
Starting point is 00:02:29 1970s, Georgia, where he was stationed as an army officer. But the circumstances around his trial and execution were controversial. Questions were raised about the validity of Hans' confession, his mental state at the time of his crimes, and the role of racial bias in his treatment. And though Hans himself has been dead for almost three decades, many of those questions remain unresolved to this day. We've got all that and more coming up. Stay with us. This episode is brought to you by ZipRecruiter.
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Starting point is 00:04:05 And now you can try it for free. at ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. That's ZipRecruiter.com slash killers. Meet your match on ZipRecruiter. This episode is brought to you by Shopify. Bonnie and Clyde, the Lonely Hearts Killers, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. These are infamous criminal duels.
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Starting point is 00:05:32 But William Henry Hans is a more mysterious murderer than most. Much of what we know about Hans begins with his short, strange killing spree, which he tried passing off as the work of a shadowy cabal named the forces of evil. Hans is most notorious, not for his crimes, but for the haunting questions that his case raised about the role of capital punishment. Plenty of people fought against his execution, including journalists, a member of the jury at his trial, and judges at the U.S. Court of Appeals. But before we explain how his life ended, we're going to talk about where he started. He was born in November, 1951 in Lexington, Virginia. At the time, Lexington was a small
Starting point is 00:06:16 city with a population of just under 6,000. As far as we know, Hans' childhood was ordinary. According to relatives, he was a quiet, happy-go-lucky boy, who had an especially close bond with his mother, Mary. He also had plenty of friends and never caused trouble or got involved in fights. Hans dreamed of becoming a pilot, and though they didn't want to discourage him, his teachers reportedly knew he was unlikely to accomplish this dream. From an early age, Hans showed signs of having learning differences. Psychiatrists later indicated that he may have had brain damage, an intellectual disability, or possibly both. Since details of Hans's early life are so scarce, it's not clear exactly what symptoms he had, or how a potential brain injury might have occurred. We don't even know
Starting point is 00:07:03 if this injury happened at all. The only clue we do, have as an incident that took place in 1968, shortly before he turned 18. That September, according to a police report, Hans attacked a woman in his hometown, beating her with an iron pipe. There's little information about this attack, which is often omitted in coverage of Hans' crimes. We do know he was caught and charged with, quote, malicious and felonious wounding with intent to maim. This appeared to be Hans' first violent episode, so to say he was,
Starting point is 00:07:36 went from zero to 100 as an understatement. And that in itself might be a clue. Vanessa is going to take over in the psychology here and throughout the episode. Please note, Vanessa is not a licensed psychologist or psychiatrist, but we have done a lot of research for this show. Thanks, Greg. Hans's sudden eruption of rage could lend credence to the theory that he experienced a physical brain injury at some point.
Starting point is 00:08:00 To reiterate, this theory comes from later speculation by psychiatrists, and there isn't any tangible evidence that had happened. But it's worth discussing in a broader context because sometimes brain trauma can impair emotional regulation. According to a 2022 study at Bangor University, this kind of impairment could cause uncontrollable anger. This is especially likely if the prefrontal cortex is damaged, since this region of the brain is responsible for impulse control.
Starting point is 00:08:28 Whatever the cause, Hans seemed to have gone from promising young man to violent predator in the blink of an eye. And though he was still a juvenile at the time, the court opted to classify him as an adult. In the end, the district attorney decided not to prosecute and instead placed him on indefinite probation. Hans remained under the government's watch throughout high school
Starting point is 00:08:51 until he graduated at the age of 20. Though he knew he'd fallen behind academically, he was determined to make something of himself. He briefly thought about continuing his studies, or he could start working. His father, David, was a custodian at a local college and encouraged his son to consider higher education. But Hans had another path in mind, the military.
Starting point is 00:09:15 It's possible that during his teenage years, he'd come to terms with the fact that he would never be a pilot. But at least this would tick a lot of the same boxes, the uniforms, the discipline, the sense of authority and glory. In 1971, Hans left everything in his hometown behind. including his beloved mother and joined the Marines. He threw himself into basic training and seemed to thrive on the structure and routine that the Corps provided. Whatever anger issues had emerged back in Lexington seemed to be under control.
Starting point is 00:09:47 In fact, Hans performed his duties so well that during this time, he was on his way to becoming a sergeant. But in 1972, the unthinkable happened. An unknown assailant violently attacked Hans' mother, Mary. He raped and beat her so badly that she never fully recovered. For months after the attack, she was wheelchair-bound, and she ultimately died later that year. Her death devastated Hans. He had always been devoted to his mother, and at just 21 years old, he wasn't prepared to lose her. The vicious circumstances of her death made it even harder for him to process.
Starting point is 00:10:25 He couldn't stop thinking about his mother's attacker, who had never been caught. It made him sick. The death of a parent is always a traumatic event, particularly when it happens at a young age, but losing someone in a violent way makes the grieving process much more complicated. In an early 2000's meta-analysis, researchers at Georgetown and Columbia universities found that a violent death was significantly more likely to cause symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in those left behind compared to non-violent deaths. But at first, Hans seemed to cope with the loss.
Starting point is 00:11:01 He doubled down on his commitment to the Marines and also began building a family of his own. At some point during the early 1970s, Hans married a young woman named Wanda. In 1974, the couple had a daughter together. On the surface, Hans seemed to have everything a young man could want. But underneath, danger simmered. All those years ago, something had driven him to attack a woman with an iron pipe. And now, perhaps the mounting unresolved trauma of his mother's death led to the return of his rage tenfold. His wife bore the brunt of it.
Starting point is 00:11:36 According to Wanda, Hans beat her on several occasions after they were married. She lived in fear of his violent temper, which could erupt at any moment. Hans kept up appearances outside of the home. The couple's friends knew him as a quiet, mild-mannered guy. While his marine colleagues saw him as diligent and reliable, when he rose to the rank of sergeant, nobody was surprised. But over the next few years, his marriage disintegrated. Wanda turned a blind eye to his affairs and to the fact that he visited sex workers,
Starting point is 00:12:09 but she couldn't ignore the fear she felt whenever he came home. In 1976, Hans left the Marines to join the army and was sent to Fort Sill, Oklahoma, for advanced individual training. While he was gone, Wanda saw firsthand just how much better she and her daughter's lives would be without him. And by the following spring, she was ready to take action. She told Hans she was leaving him. She filed for divorce and moved back to her hometown of Williamsburg,
Starting point is 00:12:38 200 miles away, taking their daughter with her. At first, Hans was heartbroken. He repeatedly called Wanda, begging her to take him back. Soon, his sadness gave way to rage. Five years after losing his mother, he'd lost his wife, too. But Wanda's abandonment seemed like a betrayal to him. He carried on with his two main social outlets, his career and working out. At 25, he took up boxing, but it's not clear if it helped ease his anger.
Starting point is 00:13:08 He became focused on revenge, and he knew he couldn't get that in the ring. Another upheaval came just a few months after the divorce. That summer, Hans was transferred to Fort Benning in Columbus, Georgia, where he was assigned to the 197th Infantry Brigade as an ammunition handler. For Hans, this move was the final straw that pushed him over the edge. Coming up, we'll discuss how Hans became chairman of the forces of evil. Greed, revenge, lust. Murder investigations often pinpoint why someone has been killed,
Starting point is 00:13:48 but not necessarily who did the killing. Every Tuesday on Unsolved Murders meet the victims, suspects, and investigators of the most notorious criminal cases in history. Part traumatic podcast, part old-time radio show. Unsolved murders transports you to the scene of a crime. It's ensuing investigation and every attempt to solve the case. You'll soon discover that the murder isn't always the most shocking part of the story. Follow the Spotify original from Parcast.
Starting point is 00:14:23 Unsolved Murders. Listen free only on Spotify. Snoring, gasping during sleep, feeling fatigue, ask your doctor about Zepbound, terseptite. The first and only FDA approved prescription medicine for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and adults with obesity. Zepbound is a prescription medicine used with a reduced calorie diet and increased physical activity to help adults with moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea, OSA, and obesity to improve their OSA. Zepbound is approved as a 2.5, 5, 7.5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 milligram injection. Zepound contains terseptitide and should not be used with other terseptide containing products
Starting point is 00:15:05 or any GLP1 receptor agonist medicines. It is not known if Zepound is safe and effective for use in children. Don't share needles or pins or reuse needles. Don't take if allergic to it, or if you or someone in your family had medullary thyroid cancer, or if you've had multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2. Tell your doctor if you get a lump or swelling in your neck. Stop Zepbound and call your doctor if you have severe stomach. pain or a serious allergic reaction.
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Starting point is 00:16:00 In early September 1977, 25-year-old William Henry Hanse headed out to a bar near his army base in Columbus, Georgia. It was a popular hangout for soldiers looking to decompress during their downtime. At the bar, he struck up a conversation with a 24-year-old army private named Karen Hickman. The details of what happened next aren't clear. But based on the police's estimations at the time, it might have gone something like this. After a few drinks, Hans and Karen left the bar together, according to witnesses, though we're not sure if she left willingly. Once he got her alone, Hans beat Karen unconscious with some kind of blunt instrument.
Starting point is 00:16:45 Then he threw her to the ground, got in her car, and rev the engine. He struck Karen with the vehicle several times, until he knew for sure she was dead. At this horrific point in Hans' story, it's worth taking a beat to remember that just five years earlier, his mother had been killed in a violent attack. We don't know a lot of details about her assault, or how closely it resembled what Hans did to Karen, but in light of what happened, Hans' eventual spree becomes even more disturbing. He seemed to target lone women, which makes his crimes eerily reminiscent of the attack that ended his mom's life. Right after killing Karen, Hans moved her body back to the base. He left her lifeless form in a
Starting point is 00:17:30 occluded spot, close to the women's barracks. That was where soldiers found her on September 6th. From the autopsy, the authorities could tell that she'd been killed elsewhere, then transported to the scene. But that wasn't much to go on, and the Columbus police were quickly distracted by another killer who also began his spree that September. Over the next few months, nine elderly white women were raped, robbed, and beaten in Columbus, and seven of them were murdered by a killer who became known as the Stocking Strangler. It's possible that the police erroneously counted Karen among the Strangler's victims.
Starting point is 00:18:07 But it seems more likely that her murder was eclipsed by that more pressing spree. At some point during the investigation, the cops announced that they suspected the Stalking Strangler was a black man targeting white victims. This added fuel to the deeply entrenched racism that already existed in 1970s, Georgia, where the Ku Klux Klan was undergoing a research
Starting point is 00:18:30 Georgia police were under intense pressure to catch the strangler, and by early 1978, they mounted a statewide manhunt. If Hans was aware of this, it didn't keep him from striking again. In late February, Hans headed out to the Sand Hill Bar and Grill, another local haunt, a short drive from the base. According to his confession, here's what happened next. Gail Jackson, a 21-year-old sex worker, approached Hans and propositioned him. The pair agreed on a price of $20 and left the bar together after finishing their drinks. Gail got into Hans's car and directed him to a secluded spot in the woods nearby. But once they arrived and Gail began taking off her clothes, Hans became upset.
Starting point is 00:19:16 According to Hans' retelling, seeing Gail disrobe made him snap. Suddenly furious, he grabbed hold of her and as she tried to escape, he hit her across the forehead. After she crumpled against the passenger door, disoriented, Hansd dragged Gail out into the darkened woods and threw her to the ground. He grabbed a Jack Handler from his car and hit Gail in the head with it again and again until she stopped breathing. His force was so excessive that it created a depression in the ground behind her head. The sudden deadly fury had seemed to come out of nowhere, and perhaps for no reason other than the fact that Gail participated in the sex trade. Hans would later admit to his hatred for sex workers and that being propositioned by them enraged him. He didn't offer any explanation
Starting point is 00:20:03 for why he hated them. It's possible that he saw sex workers as an easy target and that his anger came from a deeper misogyny. After all, his first victim, Karen, wasn't a sex worker, and as far as we know, neither was the woman he attacked when he was 17. Remember that according to Hans's ex-wife Wanda, she believed he paid for sex during their marriage. So his hatred of sex workers seems hypocritical. But it's not surprising. A 2015 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence indicated men who pay for sex have less empathy for women in the sex trade and are more likely to have a history of sexually aggressive acts. Hans buried Gale in a shallow grave, then disposed of the murder weapon and her clothing. Finally, he drove back to the base before daybreak.
Starting point is 00:20:52 But during that drive, Hans grew nervous. He knew the police were crawling all of over the area, thanks to the ongoing search for the stalking strangler, he also knew they were looking for a black suspect. In addition to the two murders he'd actually committed, Hans thought he was now in danger of being wrongly implicated in the strangler spray. And so, likely in an attempt to avert suspicion, Hans wrote letters to the Columbus police on Army Stationary, no less. In his first letter dated March 3rd, Hans claimed that he worked for an organization that had taken Gail Jackson hostage. He warned them that if a strangler wasn't apprehended soon, Gail would be executed. From Jack the Ripper in the 1800s to the BTK killer,
Starting point is 00:21:37 Dennis Rader, as recently as 2005, there's a long history of serial killers writing letters to the media and law enforcement. Many times they're either seeking to insert themselves into the investigation or to taunt the authorities for failing to catch them. But Hans did it for a different reason. He tried using the letter to distinguish Gail from the Strangler's victims and to imply that her disappearance was actually a hate crime. He suggested that the organization was a group of white vigilantes, writing, since that coroner said the Strangler is black, we decided to come here and try to catch him or put more pressure on you. Hans ended the letter by threatening to kidnap more black women in Georgia unless the authorities caught the Strangler. He said,
Starting point is 00:22:25 find the letter, the chairman of the forces of evil. In a second letter later that month, Hans demanded that either the strangler be apprehended or that the authorities pay a ransom of $10,000 in exchange for Gail's safe return. The police were likely baffled by the letter, but when they looked into the name Gail, they discovered that a woman by that name
Starting point is 00:22:48 had gone missing from a bar in Sand Hill. It's not clear whether her disappearance had been investigated. It's possible it hadn't been. Violent crimes against sex workers are statistically less likely to be a priority for police. A 2014 study by a University of Alaska graduate student surveyed 41 sex workers out of Alaska, where, quote, 52% of participants had tried to report being the victim of a crime while working. But only 44% of these reports were filed. Gale was also a black woman.
Starting point is 00:23:21 According to a Yale University review, sex workers of color are even more vulnerable to prejudice from law enforcement. And even after the anonymous letter had brought Gail to the police's attention, her body still wasn't found. At this point, Hans' actions suggest that he grew frustrated by the lack of development in the case. One night, Hans drove out to the spot where he buried Gail and deliberately placed an army cap on the ground nearby. He made sure to use a hat that bore a different insignia from his own unit. It seems that Hans wanted Gail to be found, possibly to lend credence to his forces of evil fabrication. Hans's plan didn't work. The days dragged on and police didn't find Gail.
Starting point is 00:24:05 They still had their hands full with a strangler, who had just claimed another victim a few weeks before Gail's disappearance. By mid-March, just a couple of weeks after he'd sent the first letter, Hans' patience ran out. He may have decided that he couldn't restrain himself any longer and needed to kill again. Or maybe Hans felt he had to follow through on the threat to kidnap more women, so that his letters would be taken seriously. Either way, he apparently decided it was time to find another victim. One night in March, Hans went to another local watering hole. There he met 32-year-old sex worker, Irene Thurkeld. Irene asked Hans if he could give her a ride to the San Hill Bar and Grill. Little did she know this was the very same bar where Hans had lured Gail to her
Starting point is 00:24:55 death, and she was about to fall into the same trap. Hans said he'd be happy to give Irene a ride. As they drove, Irene propositioned him, suggesting that he pull over into a clearing. According to Hans' version of events, as Irene started removing her clothes, he became enraged once again. He dragged Irene out of the car and beat her to death. Once he knew she'd stopped breathing, Hans hid her body. But he was far less careful this time. He didn't even bother digging a grave. Instead, he dragged Irene behind a pile of logs and left her there.
Starting point is 00:25:33 Again, he disposed of the murder weapon nearby. After all, he wanted her to be found. Just not right away. He needed time to weave her into his forces of evil narrative. A few weeks after killing Irene, Hans made a phone call to the military police. police and told them the exact location of Gail's body. Officers went to the scene, discovered the shallow grave, and recovered her remains that afternoon. In Hans' mind, the authorities now had proof that the forces of evil were serious. Whatever he wrote next, they were sure
Starting point is 00:26:08 to sit up and pay attention. In his following letter to the Columbus chief of police, Hans described the precise manner in which Gail had been killed, proving that the so-called forces of evil were responsible for her death. He also wrote that a woman named Irene had been abducted. He threatened that she'd be killed on June 1st, a little over two months away, unless the police caught the strangler before then. But in early April, Hans made another anonymous call to the military police
Starting point is 00:26:38 and told them where to find Irene. They recovered her body later that same day. At this point, Hans' logic becomes difficult to follow. If you wanted the authorities to believe that the forces of evil were taking hostages, it doesn't make sense to give them proof that Irene had already been killed months before the June 1st deadline. If all this was an effort to distinguish his own crimes from the stalking stranglers, then it backfired. Hans had only drawn attention to himself and given the cops plenty of material with which to identify him. It didn't take long for authorities to confirm that Irene had indeed gone missing earlier that month,
Starting point is 00:27:17 and that she'd last been seen in the company of 26-year-old William Henry Hans, an ammunition handler stationed at Fort Benning. As soon as they had a name, police approached Hans and read him his Miranda rights. They were taking him in for questioning. Despite his efforts to distance himself from the crimes of another killer, Hans had inadvertently sealed his own fate. And justice would be swift. Up next, we'll explore why Hans' conviction
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Starting point is 00:28:34 Off campus, L, every year after, the love hypothesis, Sterling Point, and more. Slow burns, second chances, chemistry you can feel through the screen. Your next obsession is waiting. Watch only on Prime. Now back to the story. In April 1978, the police questioned William Henry Hans in regards to the death of Irene Thurkeld at the headquarters of Fort Benning's Army Criminal Investigation Division. Police told him that according to other patrons at the bar that night, he was the last person seen with Irene before her disappearance.
Starting point is 00:29:15 At first, the authorities thought they might have killed two birds with one stone, although they hadn't found any evidence tying Hans to the stalking Strangler crime. crime scenes. They may have hoped to uncover it once they interrogated him. During an 18-hour interview, Hans admitted to writing the letters and making the anonymous calls, but claimed he'd been pressured to do so by the forces of evil organization. That was good enough for the police. The next day, they charged 26-year-old Hans with murder and theft by extortion. During a second interrogation, he confessed to killing Gail Jackson and Irene Thurkeld. He told the police, least exactly where he'd disposed of the murder weapons and the victim's clothes.
Starting point is 00:29:57 And there was more evidence on its way. Handwriting and fingerprint analysis confirmed that Hans had penned the letters. But it soon became apparent that the stalking strangler was still at large. While Hans was in custody, the strangler claimed his seventh victim. Hans was cleared of those crimes, though it would be several more years before the police brought the actual culprit, Carlton Gary, to justice. In the meantime, the case against Hans became more complicated. During his two-day interrogation,
Starting point is 00:30:28 Hans reportedly waived his right to an attorney on several occasions and voluntarily signed a confession to the two murders. However, Hans later stated the confession was inaccurate, claiming his innocence. Then, for unknown reasons, a judge permitted Hans to serve as his own co-counsel. This was allowed, despite a psychologist finding Hans' incapable of aiding his own defense in, quote, an appropriate, rational way. Bob Herbert, a New York Times columnist who covered Hans's case extensively, called this, quote, comparable to placing a blind man on the shoulder of a super highway
Starting point is 00:31:06 and telling him to walk to the other side. When Hans's trial for the murder of Gail Jackson began in December of 1978, he claimed that one of the arresting officers had pulled a pistol on him and forced him to sign the confession at gunpoint. The police detective and army officer who had questioned Hans both testified he'd signed the confession voluntarily. And given that Hans had been identified as both the author of the letters and the voice of the anonymous calls, the prosecution had a lot of corroborating evidence tying him to the crimes. After a week-long trial, a jury convicted Hans of Gail Jackson's murder.
Starting point is 00:31:45 Shortly after, he was given the death penalty. That initial sentence ended up being reversed, because, of prosecutorial misconduct. This meant that the prosecutor broke either a law or a code of professional ethics in the course of the prosecution. However, that only affected the sentencing. Since Hans was found guilty, he still had to go to jail to await a new sentencing trial. While he waited, in the summer of 1979, he was tried and convicted by an army-based court
Starting point is 00:32:16 marshal for the murders of Karen and Irene. Then, after six years behind bars, Hans was finally. finally awarded a new sentencing trial for Gail's murder, but once again, the jurors voted for the death penalty. At least that was the official decision. A decade later, the lone black member of the otherwise all-white jury came forward to dispute it. The juror, Gail Lewis Daniels, said that she had argued against execution for Hans because
Starting point is 00:32:46 she didn't believe he was in his right mind when he carried out the murders. She alleged that the other jurors had tried to pressure her into changing her mind. and that she'd refused to take part in the final vote. But when the jurors were asked to confirm their votes back in the courtroom, Daniels said she was terrified that she'd get into trouble for abstaining. So reluctantly, she went along with the so-called unanimous sentence. A second juror, Patricia LeMay, later came forward to confirm Daniel's version of events. LeMay also painted a troubling picture of a jury room steeped in racism,
Starting point is 00:33:20 where jurors repeatedly used racial slurs to refer to Hans. This made some question if Hans' death sentence had been motivated by racism. His lawyer, Gary Parker, seemed to think so. He described the case as, quote, first cousin to a lynching. This falls right in line with history. A 2005 meta-analysis in law and human behavior notes that various studies have demonstrated black defendants are treated more harshly by juries than their white counterparts. given longer sentences for the same crimes, and sentenced to death more often.
Starting point is 00:33:55 In the analysis, researchers examined the role of racial bias in jury decision-making and concluded that it showed a small but reliable effect across multiple studies. The Constitution guarantees all defendants the right to a trial by an impartial jury, which is generally interpreted to mean a jury that reflects the community where the crimes occurred. In 1978, the black population of Muskogee County, Georgia, was just under 30%. So a representative jury of 12 should have had three to four black participants. Hans's jury had just one. But at the time, no one questioned the verdict.
Starting point is 00:34:35 So all Hans's legal team could do was appeal in an effort to have his death sentence vacated. In addition to the allegations of racism by juror members, his lawyers also focused on his intellectual capacity. Remember that according to some reports, Hans showed signs of learning differences from a young age, though the details are vague. In a 1984 evaluation, psychiatrists determined that Hans had an IQ of 76, which would put him right at the cusp of disability. However, another evaluation three years later showed his IQ to be 91, which is within an average range. In any case, neither of these results were low enough to qualify Hans as being intellectually disabled in legal terms. And even if it had, the validity of these tests have become increasingly
Starting point is 00:35:22 controversial over the years. Hans's team also called into question his mental health. Clinical psychologist Lewis R. Lieberman testified that Hans had a personality disorder, though it seems the diagnosis wasn't specified. According to court documents, Lieberman concluded that Hans's symptoms included an inability to accept blame, a lack of empathy, and impasseh. impaired judgment. We don't know exactly what behavior he based this diagnosis on, but Hans' long history of violent attacks certainly suggests a lack of empathy. His letter writing campaign speaks to his poor judgment and perhaps to his impulse to avoid taking responsibility for his actions.
Starting point is 00:36:05 But Lieberman also admitted that Hans wasn't so impaired that he didn't know the difference between right and wrong. And ultimately, none of the questions raised about his mental capacity made a difference. In 1994, 16 years after his original conviction, Hans' case reached the Supreme Court of the United States. Justice Harry Blackman was one of three justices who favored granting a stay of execution. He noted that in addition to the evidence that Hans was, quote, mentally ill, there was also, quote, reason to believe that his trial and sentencing proceedings were infected with racial prejudice. But in a six-three opinion, the court decided against taking on the case. And just a few hours later, the state put Hans to death.
Starting point is 00:36:55 In a seven-minute statement given just before his execution, Hans maintained his innocence, asking the court, why are you executing an innocent man? Why? Why? Why? To many, Hans' story is troubling. Not because of the facts of his case, but because of how the judge. justice system operated in response. There was enough evidence to indicate Hans was guilty of murdering Karen Hickman, Gail Jackson, and Irene Thirke killed.
Starting point is 00:37:24 But given his mental state and possible racial bias in the justice system, there are still a lot of unanswered questions, such as, did Hans truly understand the gravity of his crimes, would he have been treated differently if he were white, and was capital punishment the answer? Thanks again for tuning in to serial killers. We'll be back soon with another episode. You can find all episodes of serial killers and all other Spotify originals from Parcast for free on Spotify.
Starting point is 00:38:07 We'll see you next time. Stay safe out there. Serial Killers is a Spotify original from Parcast. Executive produced by Max Cutler, our head of programming is Julian Boarro. Our supervising sound designer is Russell Nash with Nick Johnson as our head of production and quality control by Spencer Howard.
Starting point is 00:38:28 Stacey Nemick is our supervising editor and Derek Jennings is our writing lead. This episode of serial killers was written by Emma Dibdin, edited by Robert Tyler Walker and Kate Murdoch, fact-checked by Kevin Johnson, researched by Brian Petrus and Chelsea Wood, produced by Joshua Kern and sound design by Michael Motion. Our hosts are Greg Polson and me, Vanessa Richardson. Lack of evidence, poor police work, clever criminals, whatever the reason, some murders remain unsolved. Every Tuesday, unsolved murders explores the facts of a real-life cold case, part dramatic podcast, part old-time radio show. Join the ensemble cast of actors as they take you on an exhilarating journey through the crime scene and its ensuing investigation.
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