Evansville Serial Killer Made US Supreme Court History
Leslie Irvin, the Evansville serial killer who terrorized Southern Indiana and Northern Kentucky from December 1954 to March 1955 leaving a trail of at least 6 victims, set a precedent for every trial after his, that still stands strong to this day.
Here is the story....
Read an article from the Henderson, KY, Gleaner about some of his victims.
According to the NY Times, Leslie Irvin's conviction, for a 1954 murder, prompted a landmark United States Supreme Court ruling on the issue of pretrial publicity. Associate Justice Tom C. Clark wrote.....
''Here the buildup of prejudice is clear and convincing, with his life at stake, it is not requiring too much'' that the defendant ''be tried in an atmosphere undisturbed by so huge a wave of public passion and by a jury other than one in which two-thirds of the members admit, before hearing any testimony, to possessing a belief in his guilt.''
Irvin's Supreme Court case set a precedent for ensuring a fair trial for defendants even in the wake of a great deal of pretrial publicity. basically, because of his case, there is a motion of change of venue that can be filed in a high profile court case.