Different path to justice for Starkweather today

While Charles Starkweather tore through Lancaster County in 1958, leaving a trail of 10 bodies, law enforcement trampled over crime scenes and welcomed a horde of men to join the manhunt.

After Starkweather and his girlfriend, Caril Fugate, were captured following an 11th killing and a wild police chase in Wyoming, neither suspect spoke to an attorney until well after giving investigators damaging statements. Their families couldn't afford it, and the government didn't provide attorneys until more than a month later.

If the killings had happened today — 50 years after Starkweather's execution — the case would follow a different path to justice than it did in 1958, given modern law enforcement techniques and advances in criminal law.

The couple likely would have been caught sooner, before all 11 deaths had occurred.

Starkweather avoided detection after his first killing of a Lincoln gas station attendant, more than a month earlier than the rest, by repainting his car and changing the tires. A regular customer, he returned to the station with Caril in the following weeks to remove suspicion.

Convenience stores today are equipped with digital surveillance cameras. Though Starkweather covered his face and red hair during the robbery, would a friend have called police after recognizing his bowlegged gait in video footage?

After authorities identified Starkweather as a suspect in the second, third and fourth killings, they could have used his cell phone signal (who doesn't own a cell phone in 2009?) to triangulate his location. Police scanning country roads from helicopters might have spotted his car stuck in the mud outside his fifth victim's farmhouse.

Once caught, Starkweather could have been shot dead as he surrendered in Wyoming, when he suspiciously ducked into his stolen car before giving up.

Starkweather's case certainly would have taken longer, given the dramatic expansion of criminal defendants' civil rights in the 1960s. He was convicted just four months after his arrest and was executed 13 months after that — far faster than similar cases take today.

Authorities are more conscious of the rights of the accused and investigators collect evidence with precision. But it was 1958.

Consider these differences between then and now.

Crime scene

Then: One newspaper photo from 1958 shows investigators and news reporters rubbernecking for a view inside the storm cellar where Carol King and Robert Jensen were killed. Others show a friend identifying King's body and police removing the two bodies.

Now: At homicides, officers quickly set up crime scene tape, pushing onlookers across the street or even blocks away.

“The only people you want inside the tape are not just police officers, but those officers that have a job to do at the scene,” said David Klinger, an expert at the University of Missouri St. Louis on law enforcement policies and practices.

Simply kicking a shell casing or leaving a single fingerprint contaminates the crime scene, he said, causing difficulties for investigators or giving defendants an out.

Forensics

Then: Investigators searched for fingerprints and found blood spattered in the home where Caril's mother, stepfather and half sister were killed. The FBI found blood on a bedsheet but decided it wasn't substantial enough to test.

Now: DNA testing, which emerged in the late 1980s, can detect skin cells, semen and minute traces of blood.

Public help

Then: After C. Lauer and Clara Ward and their deaf housekeeper were discovered dead inside the Wards' Lincoln home, Lancaster County Sheriff Merle Karnopp spoke on television and radio, asking his “posse” to meet him at the courthouse.

Karnopp performed a mass deputization of more than 100 men. Officers were handing out guns when a clerk got up on a counter and announced: “He's been caught. You can all go home.”

Now: “I would be shocked if today a sheriff would actually do that,” Klinger said. If more manpower is needed, he said, a police chief would call other area law enforcement agencies before making a public plea.

Police chase

Then: In Wyoming, a sheriff's deputy came across Starkweather and another man struggling beside a highway. Caril ran to the deputy, screaming that Starkweather had just killed a man. Starkweather drove off, leading a sheriff and police chief on a chase that reached speeds of 115 mph.

The sheriff fired at Starkweather's tires as the pursuit blared through Douglas, Wyo. Outside the town, the sheriff shot through Starkweather's back window and into the trunk.

Now: Officers most likely wouldn't shoot under such circumstances. A stray bullet could hit a bystander or strike the vehicle or driver, sending the car careening out of control. In a crowded area, Klinger said, “we don't want that.”

Starkweather's arrest

Then: Starkweather stopped the car after glass from a shattered car window nicked his ear. As he exited, he hesitated, then leaned back into the vehicle.

“We didn't know what he was going to do for a second, but then he straightened up and it was all right,” Police Chief Robert Ainslie said at the time. An empty revolver and hunting knife were left on the car seat.

Now: Knowing that Starkweather had just killed a man and might still have a weapon, the officers might have shot him as he reached back into the vehicle. Officers threatened with deadly force are trained to shoot to stop the threat, Klinger said.

That doesn't mean Starkweather would have been killed at the scene. “Generally, more people who are shot by the police survive than die,” Klinger said.

Attorneys

Then: Authorities told Starkweather and Caril that friends or family had to find them attorneys. Neither family could afford one. Caril told investigators she doubted any attorney would want to take her case.

Volunteer attorneys from the Legal Aid Bureau stepped in, but the two already had given damaging statements. Lawyers were appointed when the cases reached district court, more than a month after the arrests.

Now: A judge will appoint an attorney for an indigent defendant at a person's first court appearance, typically within days of an arrest.

A 1963 U.S. Supreme Court decision found that the government must provide an attorney in criminal cases if a person cannot afford one, said Raneta Mack, a professor at Creighton University specializing in criminal law.

“You have the right …”

Then: Starkweather and Caril gave long statements to law enforcement. Her attorney later contended her statements were involuntary, but the courts ruled that she gave authorities the proper level of consent under the law. At the time, law enforcement didn't have to tell suspects about their rights or could cajole a person into not having an attorney, Mack said. “The main goal was to get a confession,” she said.

Now: “As soon as (suspects) give what is an unambiguous request for an attorney, the interrogation must stop,” Mack said. In 1966, the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Miranda v. Arizona required authorities to inform suspects of their rights before beginning an interrogation.

Recorded statements

Then: A Lincoln police lieutenant questioned Starkweather for two hours, yet made no written statement or recording. “I think I've got him cocked and primed so I can get a full statement from him. I think he's going along with us on all 10 (murders) in Lancaster County,” the lieutenant told reporters.

Now: A 2008 state law requires law enforcement to electronically record interrogations of suspects in serious felonies.

Sex

Then: Caril Fugate told investigators she and Starkweather had a sexual relationship.

Now: Starkweather would be prosecuted for sexual assault. In Nebraska, it is a felony for anyone 19 or older to have sex with someone 16 or younger.

Speedy trial

Then: Starkweather's murder trial began three months after his arrest. Caril's trial began about 10 months after her arrest.

Now: Trials can be delayed for years while defense attorneys file motions to make sure prosecutors and police are handling the case properly, another result of the Warren Court, Mack said. In Nebraska, defendants have the right to be brought to trial within six months — the speedy trial rule — but most people waive that right.

Attorneys also have larger caseloads than years ago, she said, and DNA and other scientific evidence takes a long time to process.

Mental health

Then: Psychologists and psychiatrists testified at Starkweather's trial because he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He was described as antisocial, immature, paranoid and prone to grandiose thoughts. The jury concluded he was sane.

Now: Although psychologists and criminologists still would consider Starkweather sane, he would be labeled a psychopath, said Robbin S. Ogle, a criminologist at the University of Nebraska at Omaha who is an expert on Starkweather. Psychopaths tend to be glib and superficial with few, if any, emotions, who lie their way through life, she said. They are egocentric and grandiose despite their general status as nobodies — all characteristics shown by Starkweather.

Death penalty

Then: Starkweather was executed a year and a half after his arrest. Evidence of his IQ was presented at trial to determine his competency but was not a factor in his execution.

Now: Death penalty cases can take more than two decades to reach an execution date. Defendants with an IQ below 70 cannot be executed, but it is debatable whether this would have affected Starkweather. Conflicting testimony from expert witnesses estimated his IQ anywhere from 70 to 110.

Contact the writer:

444-1083, lynn.safranek@owh.com