Apr 20, 2022 · That was the case with Sam Amirante, who defended John Wayne Gacy, the famed “Killer Clown,” at his trial. Despite his desire to protect the serial killer, he considered Gacy to be a “monster.” In the 1970s, Gacy murdered at least 33 young men and boys while maintaining a somewhat influential role in his suburban Chicago community.
Apr 16, 2021 · He published a memoir of his time as Gacy's lawyer, “John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster” in 2011, along with co-author and lawyer Danny Broderick. The book paints a humanistic and often pathetic account of the killer. Amirante is still a criminal lawyer in Illinois. He is the head lawyer at Sam L. Amirante and Associates, P.C. Amirante.
John Wayne Gacy Trial: 1980. Defendant: John Wayne Gacy, Jr. Crimes Charged: Murder, murder during the commission of a felony, aggravated kidnapping, deviate sexual assault, indecent liberties with a minor. Chief Defense Lawyers: Sam Amirante, Robert Morra. Chief Prosecutors: William Kunkle, Robert Egan, Terry Sullivan.
Mar 26, 2021 · John Wayne Gacy’s lawyer, Sam L. Amirante, had just started his own private practice when he took on Gacy’s case. Gacy was an acquaintance and asked for help, not explaining the breadth of the case Amirante was about to enter into. Since then, Amirante has worked to progress his career and is now still reportedly a lawyer.
Aug 10, 2011 · August 10, 2011 / 10:15 PM / CBS Chicago CHICAGO (CBS) -- It's been 17 years since he was executed for killing 33 young men, but the name John Wayne Gacy still sends shivers up the spine. Now,...
SIGNIFICANCE: John Wayne Gacy was convicted of more murders than any other serial killer. His case focussed attention on the vexing question of the sanity or mental state of sadistic serial killers. John Wayne Gacy was arrested on December 22, 1978 in connection with the disappearance of a 15-year old boy, Robert Piest.
He was sentenced to 10 years in prison, but was released on parole in June 1970 and soon returned to the Chicago area where he had grown up. In February 1971 he was arrested after a teenage boy charged that Gacy had forced him to commit sexual acts, but the charges were dropped after the boy failed to appear in court.
Gacy was 36 years old, twice divorced, and living in a modest suburban home in Des Plaines, Illinois. He was quite well known in his community, liked by his neighbors, and remembered for his performances in clown costume at children's parties.
They deliberated for less than two hours before returning a verdict of guilty. The following day the same jury was asked to consider the sentence, and after deliberating for two and a quarter hours they sentenced John Wayne Gacy to death.
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John Wayne Gacy’s lawyer, Sam L. Amirante, had just started his own private practice when he took on Gacy’s case. Gacy was an acquaintance and asked for help, not explaining the breadth of the case Amirante was about to enter into. Since then, Amirante has worked to progress his career and is now still reportedly a lawyer.
In 2012, Sam Amirante wrote a book titled John Wayne Gacy: Defending a Monster to give us an inside look into what that experience was like. He felt it was important to share but wanted to wait long enough that it wouldn’t impede on Gacy’s case.
Over the course of only six years, John Wayne Gacy, aka the Killer Clown, brutally murdered at least 33 young men, no one older than 21 years old.
"Gacy" redirects here. For other uses, see Gacy (disambiguation). John Wayne Gacy (March 17, 1942 – May 10, 1994) was an American serial killer and sex offender known as the Killer Clown who assaulted and murdered at least 33 young men and boys. Gacy regularly performed at children's hospitals and charitable events as "Pogo ...
John Wayne Gacy was born in Chicago on March 17, 1942, the second child and only son of John Stanley Gacy (June 20, 1900 – December 25, 1969) and Marion Elaine Robison (May 4, 1908 – December 6, 1989). His father was an auto repair machinist and World War I veteran, and his mother was a homemaker.
In Waterloo, Gacy joined the local Jaycees chapter, regularly offering extended hours to the organization in addition to the 12- and 14-hour days he worked managing three KFCs. At meetings, Gacy often provided fried chicken and insisted on being called " Colonel ". Although Gacy was considered ambitious and something of a braggart, the other Jaycees held him in high regard for his fund-raising work, and in 1967 named him "outstanding vice-president" of the Waterloo Jaycees. The same year, Gacy served on the board of directors. Gacy and other Waterloo Jaycees were also deeply involved in wife swapping, prostitution, pornography, and drug use.
Gacy murdered at least 33 young men and boys, and buried 26 of them in the crawl space of his house. Gacy usually lured a lone victim to his house, although on more than one occasion Gacy also had what he called "doubles"—two victims killed in the same evening. Several victims were lured with the promise of a job with PDM, others with an offer of drink, drugs, or money for sex. His victims included people he knew and random individuals lured from Chicago's Greyhound Bus station, Bughouse Square, or simply off the streets. Some victims were grabbed by force, others conned into believing Gacy (who often carried a sheriff's badge and had spotlights on his black Oldsmobile) was a policeman.
With financial assistance from his mother, Gacy bought a ranch house near the village of Norridge in Norwood Park Township, an unincorporated area of Cook County, a part of metropolitan Chicago. The address, 8213 West Summerdale Avenue, is where he resided until his arrest in December 1978 and where, according to Gacy, he committed all his murders.
In 1971, Gacy established a part-time construction business, PDM Contractors. The initials "PDM" were for "Painting, Decorating, and Maintenance". With the approval of his probation officer, he worked evenings on his construction contracts while working as a cook during the day. Initially, Gacy undertook minor repair work, such as sign-writing, pouring concrete and redecorating, but he later expanded to include projects such as interior design, remodeling, installation, assembly and landscaping. In mid-1973, Gacy quit his job as a cook so he could commit fully to his construction business.
On July 31, 1975 , another of Gacy's employees, John Butkovich, an 18-year-old from Lombard, disappeared. Butkovich's car was found parked near the corner of Sheridan and Lawrence with his jacket and wallet inside and the keys still in the ignition.