Free Serial Killer's Soul by Herman Martin Page A

clothing, with inmates furnishing detergent.
    Instead of school and work assignments on Sundays, many inmates attended church and afternoon Bible study classes.
    Unit 2 at Columbia housed the gang unit. It was high security with inmates ranging in age from eighteen to thirty-five. About 75 percent of the inmates were African American, 20 percent Caucasian, and 5 percent Hispanic. Inmates often came to prison, already members of a gang.
    Because Dahmer’s victims were minorities, he wouldn’t have survived a week in Unit 2. But the rest of us … we survived. Truth be told, life at Columbia wasn’t all that bad. If you took advantage of the education offered, the self-help programs, the Bible study classes, and the recreation, the days went by quickly.
    Besides, we had a monumental trial to look forward to, thanks to the minute-by-minute media coverage surrounding anything related to the State of Wisconsin versus Jeffrey L. Dahmer.

Seven
Dahmer’s Day in Court
    Sigh and groan before the people, son of dust, in your bitter anguish; sigh with grief and broken heart. When they ask you why, tell them: Because of the fearsome news that God has given me. When it comes true, the boldest heart will melt with fear; all strength will disappear. Every spirit will faint; strong knees will tremble and become weak as water. And the Lord God says: Your doom is on the way; my judgments will be fulfilled! (Ezekiel 21:6-7
, TLB)
    Monday, January 27, 1992, was Dahmer’s big day. He arrived in the courtroom wearing a brown sport coat and pants, a beige shirt, neat haircut, and glasses. To the world, he looked like a normal guy, not the monster we had envisioned him to be.
    Family members, friends, and neighbors of Dahmer’s victims packed the courtroom. The media and a few spectators who could squeeze in filled the rest of the seats. A special eight-foot-high, bullet-proof glass booth was installed behind the defense and prosecution tables to protect Dahmer from angry spectators. So many people were interested in seeing the trial that courthouse security readied other rooms with television hookups for spectators. Every person who entered the courtroom was searched for weapons and dogs randomly checked the courtroom itself for possible bombs or incendiary devices.
    Jury selection spanned the first three days. The judge and attorneys interviewed potential jurors in the judge’s chambers, away from the media and the spectators. The presiding judge was Laurence Gram Jr., from Milwaukee Circuit Court, Branch 33.
    By Wednesday, attorneys selected twelve jurors and two alternates: six Caucasian men, seven Caucasian women and one African-American man. Family members of the victims were upset that the jury contained only one minority. Dahmer’s victims had been mostly minorities.
    When the trial began on January 30, security increased drastically in and around the courthouse. Defense Attorney Gerald Boyle described the evidencethat would be presented along with testimony about the acts of necrophilia and cannibalism performed on the corpses.
    District Attorney E. Michael McCann, the highest-ranking attorney in Milwaukee County government, represented the state of Wisconsin as the head prosecutor likely on the most important case in his career. That McCann handled the case himself, and not one of his assistants, demonstrated the magnitude of the case.
    From the moment the trial began, it was an emotional roller coaster for the victims’ families. Many cried at the reading of the charges against Dahmer and, frequently, as the trial proceeded.
    Boyle tried to prove that Dahmer was mentally insane and suffered from a sexual disorder that precipitated the crimes.
    McCann, conversely, tried to prove that Dahmer was sane when he drugged and killed his victims.
    Boyle’s lead psychiatrist in Dahmer’s defense was Dr. Frederick Berlin, an expert on sexual disorders at Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore. Judith Becker, a clinical psychologist and