Killer Priest: The Crimes, Trials, and Execution of Father Hans Schmidt Mark Gado PRAEGER KILLER PRIEST RecentTitles in Crime, Media, and Popular Culture Media RepresentationsofSeptember 11 Steven Chermak, Frankie Y.Bailey, and Michelle Brown,editors Black Demons: The Media’s Depictionofthe African American Male Criminal Stereotype Dennis Rome Famous AmericanCrimes and Trials,Volumes 1–5 Frankie Y.Bailey and Steven Chermak, editors KILLER PRIEST The Crimes, Trials, and Execution of Father Hans Schmidt Mark Gado Crime, Media, and Popular Culture Frankie Y. Bailey and Steven Chermak, Series Editors LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-Publication Data Gado,Mark, 1948– Killer priest : thecrimes, trial, and execution ofFatherHansSchmidt / Mark Gado. p. cm.—(Crime, media,andpopularculture, ISSN 1549–196X) Includes bibliographical referencesand index. ISBN 0–275–98553–9 (alk. paper) 1. Schmidt, Hans, d. 1916. 2. Schmidt, Hans, d.1916—Trials, litigation, etc. 3. Murder—New York(State)—New York—History—Case studies. 4. Trials (Murder)—New York (State)—New York—History—Case studies. 5. Catholiccriminals—NewYork(State)—NewYork. 6. Murderin mass media. I. Title. II. Series. HV6534.N5G34 2006 364.152'3097471—dc22 2005034799 British LibraryCataloguing in Publication Dataisavailable. Copyright # 2006 byMark Gado All rights reserved. Noportion ofthis bookmay be reproduced, by any process or technique,withoutthe express written consentofthe publisher. Library ofCongressCatalogCard Number: 2005034799 ISBN: 0–275–98553–9 ISSN:1549–196X First publishedin2006 PraegerPublishers, 88PostRoad West, Westport, CT 06881 Animprint ofGreenwoodPublishing Group, Inc. www.praeger.com Printedinthe United States ofAmerica The paper used inthis book complies with the PermanentPaperStandardissuedby theNational Information StandardsOrganization (Z39.48–1984). 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 ‘‘For all sorts of cruelty, piety is the mask.’’ William James, American psychologist and philosopher (1842–1910) For Jill and our sons, Mark and Chris Contents Series Foreword ix Acknowledgments xi Introduction xiii 1 The Chapel 1 2 The Sixth 5 3 Alma 19 4 Into the Cellar 25 5 The Pursuit 33 6 At Dawn 43 7 Cliffside Park 49 8 Weehawken 55 9 Faurot 61 viii (cid:1) Contents 10 The Rectory 71 11 Muret 79 12 Stigmata 89 13 Bellevue 99 14 In the Tombs 107 15 Trial 121 16 Close Union 131 17 Jeliffe 141 18 Zech 151 19 The Sacrifice 161 20 Sing Sing 169 21 Death Row 181 22 Appeal 191 23 Execution 197 24 Freedom 205 Notes 209 Bibliography 225 Index 231 Series Foreword This volume is part of an exciting interdisciplinary series on Crime, Media, andPopularCulturefromPraegerPublishers.Becauseofthepervasivenessof mediainourlivesandthesalienceofcrimeandcriminaljusticeissues,wefeel it is especially important to provide a home for scholars who are engaged in innovative and thoughtful research on important crime and mass media issues. This series will focus on process issues (such as the social construction of crime and moral panics), presentation issues (such as the images of victims, offenders, and criminal justice figures in news and popular culture), and effects(suchastheinfluenceofthemediaoncriminalbehaviorandcriminal justice administration). Withregardtothislatterissue—effectsofmedia/popularculture—asthis foreword was being written the Los Angeles Times and other media outlets reported that two young half-brothers (ages 20 and 15) in Riverside, Cali- fornia,hadconfessedtostranglingtheirmotheranddisposingofherbodyin a ravine. The story was attracting particular attention because the brothers told police they had gotten the idea of cutting off her head and hands to prevent identification from an episode of the award-winning HBO series, The Sopranos. As the Los Angeles Times noted, this again brought into the