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Court Case
In the District Court of Finney County, Kansas, Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith were tried for the murders of Herb Clutter, Bonnie Mae Clutter, Nancy Mae Clutter, and Kenyon Neal Clutter. Arthur Fleming and Harrison Smith were the chief defense lawyers for this case. The chief prosecutors were Logan Greene and Duane West. The presiding judge over this case was Roland H. Tate.

On February 9, 1960, the defendants accompanied by their respective attorneys were brought before the court and each defendant chose to stand mute, immediately after which the court entered pleas of not guilty on behalf of each defendant on each of the counts.

A defense motion that would have Smith and Hickock undergo comprehensive psychological testing before the trial, was denied by Judge Tate. Instead, he appointed three local general practitioners to examine the men. Doctors John O. Austin, M.D., R.J. Maxfield, M.D., and Gust H. Nelson, M.D. performed the examinations using the M’Naghten rules to determine whether or not they were sane at the time of the crime. The doctors determined that the two men were not insane and were capable of being tried after only a short interview. The M’Naghten Test was applied strictly throughout this trial. Because of this, defense lawyers sought after the opinion of an experienced psychiatrist from the state’s local mental hospital. This psychiatrist diagnosed definite signs of mental illness in Perry Smith and felt that previous injuries to Richard Hickock’s head could have affected his behavior. This diagnosis was never heard in this case, though. According to Kansas law, the psychiatrist was allowed to only give his opinion about the defendant’s sanity at the time of the murders in the Clutter house. After a review of the defendants, the psychiatrist answered “yes” when he was asked about Hickock being sane during that time, but the M'Naghten definition and “no” when asked the same for Perry Smith. The defendants argued that although they were sane at the time of the trial, but were “temporarily insane” when they committed the crime. A court case regarding Lawrence Lee Andrews became the basis for a legal and medical crusade. Andrews had violently murdered his family, but pleaded innocent by reason of insanity. The defense tried to substitute the Durham Rule for the M’Naghten Rule, which would have sentenced him not to death, but to life confinement in the State Hospital for the Criminally Insane, because of his schizophrenic condition.

The prosecution brought Chief Investigator Richard G. Rohleder to the stand. He took the pictures that, when developed, revealed Hickock’s dusty footprints in the Clutter cellar, prints only the camera could discern. The point of his testimony was to establish the fact of his having made these pictures, which the prosecution proposed to put into evidence. The prosecution brought Chief Investigator Richard G. Rohleder to the stand. He took the pictures that, when developed, revealed Hickock’s dusty footprints in the Clutter cellar, prints only the camera could discern. The point of his testimony was to establish the fact of his having made these pictures, which the prosecution proposed to put into evidence. Floyd Wells, Hickock’s former cellmate, and the man who had given the information that led to the arrest, was allowed to testify at the trial. The prosecution had laboratory technicians study the physical evidence, such as footprints, blood samples, rope and tape, cartridge shells, and each of them certified their validity. They also used the confessions of both men as part of their evidence, which proved to be one of the most damning pieces of evidence.

The defense waived cross examination and declined to testify on their own behalf. Both Hickock and Smith adopted a courtroom attitude that was simultaneously uninterested and disinterested𑁋they would chew gum and tap their feet with impatience.

The jury deliberated for only 40 minutes before returning a guilty verdict. On March 29, 1960, a jury of all men determined that Richard Eugene Hickock and Perry Edward Smith were guilty of all four counts charged. The jurors felt as if there was enough evidence against Hickock and Perry that would deem them guilty. They were convicted of murder in the first degree and Judge Roland Tate sentenced them to death by hanging. [1] When this verdict came out and the men were walking to the door, Smith said to Hickock, “No chicken-hearted jurors, they!” This made them both laugh loudly. For the next five years they lived on death row at the federal prison in Leavenworth, Kansas.

The fairness of the trial was disputed in an appeal from the defendants. They made several complaints regarding the court case. Among the most prominent of these complaints were that they were unfairly ruled sane, and that the media coverage of the trial and crime were overly biased, affecting the opinion of the jury. It was said that there was mishandling of the case by the defense lawyers, failure to move the trail venue outside Finney County, and the acceptance of a juror who had made questionable statements about capital punishment opened the way for four appeals and postponements of the death sentence. With these arguments, Joseph P. Jenkins and Robert Bingham succeeded in carrying the case three times to the United States Supreme Court. Jenkins and Bingham filed numerous appeals to the Federal court system, avoiding three execution dates for Hickock and Perry. On each occasion the court denied the appeals by refusing to grant to writs of certiorari that would have entitled the appellants to a full hearing before the court. All cases of appeals were affirmed.

Richard E. Hickock and Perry E. Smith were hanged at the Kansas State Penitentiary on April 14, 1965, just fives years after their conviction. Hickock died at 12:41 a.m. and Smith at 1:19 a.m.

Reception
During the first few months of the trail and after, the case of Richard Hickock and Perry Smith generally went unnoticed by most Americans. It was not until just months before their execution that they became “two of the most famous murderers in history.” Even Times Magazine published a story about the murders in the year 1960. Truman Capote wrote and published a book titled In Cold Blood that detailed the crime and trial. The murders and subsequent trial brought lasting effects to the small Kansas town. The author became so famous and related to trials that he was called to help the Senate in an examination of the court case.

The trial brought into light a discussion about the death penalty and mental illness to the nation. Capote expressed that after completing the book and interviewing Hickock and Smith, he was against the death penalty. This trial has also been cited as an example of “the limitations of the of the M’Naghten Test." The M’Naghten rules are used to determine if a criminal was sane at the time of their crime and therefore incapable of being tried fairly. Authors such as Karl Menninger strongly criticized the M’Naghten test, calling it absurd. Many “lawyers, judges, and psychiatrists” have sought to “get around” the M’Naghten rules. In Intention - Law and Society, James Marshall further criticizes the M’Naghten rules, calling into question the psychological principles upon which the rules are based. He stated that “the M’Naghten rules... are founded on an erroneous hypothesis that behavior is based exclusively on intellectual activity and capacity.”

Due to the brutality and severity of the crimes, the trial was covered all over the nation, even getting some coverage internationally. In 2009, the Huffington Post asked citizens about the effects of the trial and their opinions on the book and subsequent movie and television series about the events. Many people said that they began to lose their trust in others. They stated that, “doors were locked. Strangers eyed with suspicion.” Many still felt greatly effected, and felt that Capote had in a way taken advantage of their “great tragedy." An article in the New York Times states that in the small Kansas community of Holcomb “neighborliness evaporated. The natural order seemed suspended. Chaos poised to rush in.”