7 
Crocodile Tears
The grandiosity and pomposity of some psychopaths often emerges in dramatic fashion in the courtroom.
—Robert D. Hare, Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us
At a hearing in the Julie Winningham murder case in Vancouver, Washington, Keith continued to show his contempt for authority. Addressing the bearded judge, Robert Harris, the confessed serial murderer said, “Your Honor, I was kinda hoping for a week’s furlough for Christmas. But I don’t believe Santa Claus will give it to me.” He grinned at the judge and added, “Well, Santa, reach into your bag of goodies and give me what I’ve got coming, sir.”
Judge Harris sentenced him to thirty-four years and four months.
Julie Winningham’s sister, Joanie Faria, told reporters that she would try to withhold tears for her sister until the killer was put to death. “No matter what my sister did in life, there was no reason for what he did. This monster makes a joke out of murdering somebody. He shows no remorse.”
After the “monster” was sentenced to life without parole in the other murder cases, the Wall Street Journal observed that he spoke in the “anodyne voice of an accountant” and suggested that hell would be “an appropriate place for him.” Once again psychologists pointed out that such flat affect and failure to feel remorse were the classical signs of antisocial personality disorder, also known as ASPD, psychopathy or sociopathy. To professionals in the field of behaviorism, Keith had never been much of a mystery.
Ever protective of his image, the lady-killer offered a different spin. “Of course I feel remorse. But victims’ families don’t want to hear about it. Remorse isn’t gonna bring anybody back. What good does it do to apologize? It’s a waste of everybody’s time.”
In jail awaiting transport to the state penitentiary, he continued to play the lead role in his own dramatic production, autographing shirts with a Happy Face, sitting for self-important interviews, firing broadsides to the media and offering generous legal advice to his fellow inmates.
On the day that John Sosnovske and Laverne Pavlinac were freed for good, he described his reaction to the Associated Press: “I started crying. I couldn’t help myself for about ten minutes. I lost total composure. I was just very overjoyed. Basically my feeling is God bless them.”
He didn’t explain why he’d allowed them to serve four years for his crimes.8
The Happy Face Killer was scheduled to began serving his stacked-up sentences in February 1996 as inmate number 11620304. His file showed him to be forty years old and in good physical health. He was rated a “moderate” escape risk with anger, aggression and cognition problems. He would become eligible for parole on March 1, 2063, a month before his 108th birthday.