Richard Kiefer

I have a little time on my hands so I thought I would throw together a few cases that are short and less complicated than most. This case qualifies because there is little information available due to the time era. In fact, the only reasons I was able to obtain as much information as I did was because a) Richard Kiefer was executed by the state of Indiana and; b) he was the last person in the state to be executed before they were deemed unconstitutional by the United States Supreme Court in 1972.

In 1957 Richard Kiefer lived in Fort Wayne Indiana with his wife, Pearl and their five year old daughter Dorothy. It is said that Richard and Pearl were in the basement of their home allegedly having an argument. Richard would claim that he was “tired” of Pearl criticizing him about his fishing and drinking habit. Further details indicate that Pearl was upset at the money that was being spent for these things, but to be fair the only details available are those provided by Richard. During the argument Dorothy had gone downstairs to stop her parents from arguing. Richard picked up a hammer and by the time he left the home he had bludgeoned both his wife and daughter to death, and then “hacked” the bodies with a knife.

Richard then left and headed to Chicago with a few dollars he found in Pearl's purse and some money out of Dorothy's “piggy bank.” He returned the following day in the middle of the night and went to a police station where he confessed to the murders. While prosecutors charged Richard in both murders he was only put on trial for the murder of his wife. I found this to be odd considering the fact that it would have seemed more likely to garner a conviction in the death of a child than a spouse, even in 1957. He pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity but was convicted in 1958 and sentenced to die. However, that same year the courts overturned his conviction saying pictures of the victims after their deaths had likely inflamed the jury. A second trial was conducted with the same result.

In a 1960 appeal the defense argued that his confession, which had been told to the jury, should not have been admitted into the court because it included his confession to killing Dorothy as well, a charge that he was not being tried for at that point. The courts disagreed with this argument stating that when a defendant pleads “not guilty by reason of insanity” the jury is allowed to hear of other crimes committed. I have to say there is a part of me that while agrees with the concept of the law and why it was likely enacted, I have to disagree with the courts using it here. It is likely that when the law was passed it was meant to show a jury a persons criminal past and that the crime in which they were pleading insanity was not an isolated incident. The reason I disagree with the courts imposing this position in this case is that there seemed to be little argument that the murders of both Pearl and Dorothy occurred at the same time. This does not mean that I agreed with the defense that the confession, including the parts pertaining to Dorothy, should not have been told to the jury. I am simply speaking about the decision made by the courts and their reasonings.

On June 14, 1961 Richard Kiefer was put to death in Indiana in the electric chair. He was the first person executed since 1951 and he would be the last until 1981 when the state executed Steven Judy, using the same electric chair. In Kiefer's case it was said that it took “6 jolts of electricity” to put him to death which seemed, then and even in later times to be a bit extreme.