CHAPTER 41

Monday, June 5, 1967—11 A.M. The Peoria County Courthouse

It was a beautiful day in late spring. Outside, in the courtyard plaza, trees and fountains sparkled in the morning sun. Inside, Courtroom A was crowded with the news media, police, and families of the nurses, as everyone awaited the final act in the dark drama of Richard Franklin Speck.

Unsmiling, Judge Paschen ascended the bench. He would remain unsmiling when he left—only minutes later. The clerk called the case, and Paschen asked, “Is there anything counsel wishes to add before I pronounce sentence?”

Gerry Getty stood, his eyes betraying how tired he was from the ordeal that had begun eleven months earlier. He said stiffly, “On my behalf and on behalf of the defendant, there is nothing more that we can say and there are no further motions at this time. I have also conferred this morning with the defendant, Richard Speck, and he advised me that he has nothing to say himself personally.” Richard Speck, the master of barroom braggadocio, was never to utter a single word in the courtroom.

His voice raspy but polite, Judge Paschen said, “Very well. Will you bring the prisoner before the bench, please?”

Getty curtly told Speck, “Step up.” Speck’s face betrayed no emotion as he stood and shuffled up to the front of the bench, standing next to Getty. Paschen looked away from Speck to the typed sheets in front of him and declared that he was about to read the judgment and execution order. He coughed and began. Although his voice was steady, he read the archaic language in a monotone that was hurried enough to suggest that he wanted this case over and done with. He read:

“And now neither the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, nor his counsel, having anything further to say why judgment and sentence should not be pronounced, thereupon, it is the order and judgment of the Court that the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, upon the verdicts of the jury as aforesaid is guilty of the crimes of the murders of Pamela Lee Wilkening, Suzanne Bridget Farris, Mary Ann Jordan, Nina Jo Schmale, Valentina P. Pasion, Merlita Gargullo, Patricia Ann Matusek, and Gloria Jean Davy, in the manner and form charged in the indictments.”

Paschen paused to adjust his dark-rimmed glasses before reading the last dramatic words:

“Therefore, it is ordered and adjudged by the Court that the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, be and he is hereby committed to the custody of the Sheriff of Peoria County, Illinois, to be taken from the bar of this court to the common jail of Peoria County from whence he came and from thence by the Sheriff of Peoria County forthwith to the Illinois State Penitentiary and be delivered to the Warden or keeper of said penitentiary, and the said Warden or keeper is hereby required and commanded to take the body of the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, from and after the delivery thereof and confine him in safe and secure custody until the 1st day of September, 1967, and that the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, be on that day, at the Illinois State Penitentiary, put to death by causing to pass through the body of the defendant, Richard Franklin Speck, a current of electricity of sufficient intensity to cause death, and the application and continuance of such current through the body of the defendant until such defendant is dead….”

Like a giant balloon, the word “dead” hung suspended in the air. Motioning toward Richard Franklin Speck, who had stared ahead in icy silence throughout the brief proceeding, Paschen told the bailiff:

“Take him away. Court is adjourned.”