CONVICTED SPREE KILLER CARIL ANN FUGATE'S PARDON DENIED AGAIN

NetNebraska: The Nebraska Pardons Board will hear the case of Caril Ann Fugate Tuesday. At the age of 14 years old, Fugate was convicted of felony murder along with Charles Starkweather, a man who murdered seven people in Nebraska and Wyoming in the late 1950s. Fugate, who was Starkweather’s girlfriend, is seeking a pardon in the case.

*UPDATE*

Without hearing any testimony, Nebraska's three-member pardons board rejected a request from Caril Ann Clair, formerly Caril Ann Fugate for a hearing to clear her name.

It was Fugate's second and final request for a pardon since she and Charles Starkweather were convicted of killing 11 people in a murder spree that ended in Wyoming in 1958.

The vote came as a relief to Dave Ellis. Starkweather killed his cousin, Carol King, and her boyfriend near Bennet. READ MORE HERE

Liza Ward, granddaughter of murder victims C. Lauer Ward and Clara Ward, along with Fugate's attorney spoke with reporters Monday. She says she wants to see Fugate pardoned because of inconsistencies in her original trial, including that Starkweather changed his testimony multiple times before taking the stand.

Caril Ann Fugate with Charlie Starkweather

“We are inclined to hear his [Starkweather’s] story while the girl's is swallowed. That is something that is unconscionable to me. And it’s disrespectful not only to women everywhere, but it is disrespectful to the victims who were killed by him,” Ward said.

Ward hopes to be able to speak before the pardoning board along with Fugate’s attorney, John Stevens Berry, Sr.

Stevens Berry says Fugate would have been treated as a victim-witness in today’s legal system, and pardoning her is simply the right thing to do given the lack of evidence against her.

“I’m going to say this—do it because it’s the right thing. From Liza’s point of view, that includes mercy and understanding. You know what my point of view is? She [Fugate] was railroaded and she was innocent. But I agree with Liza, they should do it because it’s the right thing to do,” Stevens Berry said.

a recent photo of Caril (Fugate) Clair

Tuesday’s hearing is the second attempt by Fugate to be pardoned. The first attempt was in 1996 when she was denied a pardon. She was paroled in 1976 after spending 17 years in prison.

Read More on RK

MICHIGAN SPREE KILLER BILLY E HARDESTY CAPTURED BY POLICE 10-19-1978

William Edward "Billy" Hardesty

This case was huge in Ypsilanti, Michigan back in 1978-1981. Though I was living in Ann Arbor at the time, my friends were right in the thick of it.  The Look band was playing at Abigail's that night and escaped without harm. One of good friends was a bouncer there but happened to be off work that night (whew).  We had friends in the Sheriff's Dept as well. Then in 1981, I was in the jury pool for the Hardesty trial. Wasn't picked due to all my police family members. 

Here is what happened:

William Edward "Billy" Hardesty killed seven people and wounded two others in Ypsilanti, Michigan, between October 3 and October 19, 1978. After an hour-long standoff with police, he was shot twice and captured.

On October 3, Hardesty killed his roommate Lawrence Leon Gordon in his home and hung the body from the doorknob. He afterward went to the home of another roommate of his, Willie Dunn, and on October 4 killed him by stabbing and hacking him more than 50 times with a machete. (!)

On the evening of October 18, Hardesty shot and killed his parents, Ronald and Jeannette Hardesty, at their home on Martz Rd in rural Wayne County.

He hid the body of his father in a freezer chest on the porch of the house and waited for his mother to come home. When she did, he killed her with a shot to the head. He even strangled their cat!!

Later that night, he shot and killed Troy Curry and Timothy Schofield outside Abigail's Bar in Ypsilanti. The same night, he went to Stiles-Wood Building, a machine shop in Ypsilanti Township, Washtenaw County, and shot and killed Daniel Wood, the brother of his former wife. He also shot Tommy Lee Brown, a witness to the Wood killing.

He later returned to Stiles-Wood and shot Bobby Joe Baker as he fled after discovering the dead and wounded men at the machine shop.

The following day, on October 19, at about 2 am, Hardesty entered Abigail's (Bimbos) the Ypsilanti bar. (forever known to locals as Stab-igails) bar,

After an altercation inside the bar, Hardesty went into the parking lot, where he killed Troy Curry and Timothy Schofield. At 6 am, he arrived at Therm-o-Fil a tool and die company off Huron River Dr, owned by his ex-father-in-law, where he first shot dead his ex-wife's brother, Daniel Wood, and wounded Tommy Lee Brown.

Hardesty being carried to an ambulance shortly after the shooting.

Hardesty then returned to his parent's home and fired the 22 rifle and a shotgun at State police, Washtenaw County Sheriffs and Van Buren officers who tried to arrest him. After an hour-long siege, Hardesty was shot and wounded in the shoulder and stomach and finally taken into custody.

click above to enlarge

Victims
Lawrence Leon Gordon, 46
Willie Dunn, 35
Ronald Hardesty, 43, his father
Jeanette Hardesty, 40, his mother
Troy Curry, 28
Timothy Schofield, 21
Daniel Wood, 38, ex-wife's brother
Wounded
Bobby Joe Baker, 23
Tommy Lee Brown, 31

After 3 years of mental competency hearings, Hardesty was found guilty of four counts of first-degree murder, one count of second-degree murder, and two counts of assault with intent to murder, but mentally ill.

He was sentenced to life terms for the five murders, and terms of 100 to 200 years and 150 to 300 years on the assaults. He is currently incarcerated in Richard A Handlon Correctional Facility in Ionia Michigan.

Read More

https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=iIBGAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ni0NAAAAIBAJ&pg=1296%2C3045183

http://mdocweb.state.mi.us/OTIS2/otis2profile.aspx?mdocNumber=163996

https://www.leagle.com/decision/1984263139michapp1241246

SPREE KILLERS CHARLES STARKWEATHER AND CARIL FUGATE

On this day in 1958, Charles Starkweather, a 19-year-old high-school dropout from Lincoln, Nebraska, and his 14-year-old girlfriend, Caril Ann Fugate, kill a Lincoln businessman, his wife and their maid, as part of a murderous crime spree that began a week earlier and would ultimately leave 10 people dead.

The killer couple’s deadly road trip, which generated enormous media attention and a massive manhunt, came to an end the following day when Starkweather and Fugate were arrested near Douglas, Wyoming.

The crimes later inspired a slew of books, movies and music, including Terence Malick’s 1973 film “Badlands,” starring Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek, and Bruce Springsteen’s 1982 song “Nebraska.”

Martin Sheen and Sissy Spacek in Badlands

Growing up, Charles Starkweather (1938-1959) was bullied and did poorly in school. He later idolized James Dean and identified with the actor’s rebellious, outsider image.

Starkweather committed his first murder on December 1,1957, when he robbed a gas station and killed the attendant. Reportedly, an attendant at the station had previously refused Starkweather’s attempt to buy a present for Fugate (1943- ) on credit.

Starkweather turned serial killer on January 21, 1958, when he shot Fugate’s stepfather and mother after arguing with them at their home, and strangled Fugate’s two-and-a-half-year-old sister.

Starkweather and Fugate remained holed up at the scene of the crime for several days, before taking off in Starkweather’s car and murdering three more people–a farmer and two teenagers–on January 27.

On January 28, the couple killed another three people–the Lincoln businessman, his wife and their maid. Starkweather and Fugate’s final victim, a shoe salesman, was killed on January 29; the couple was captured later that day.

Starkweather and Fugate were convicted of murder. He was given the death penalty and died in the electric chair on June 25, 1959. Fugate was sentenced to life in prison but was paroled in 1976. Read More