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| Jeffrey Dahmer showed no
emotion throughout the court proceedings |
| 1992: Cannibal killer jailed for
life |
England have
Serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer has been sentenced to life in prison by a
court in Wisconsin for murdering and dismembering 15 young men and boys.
Dahmer, 31, was unable to convince the jury that his cannibalism and
necrophilia were the result of
madness.
He was given 15 consecutive life sentences and will never be eligible
for parole.
Dahmer's trial, which ended in Milwaukee on Saturday night (15
February), included some of the most gruesome evidence ever heard in a US
courtroom.
It also became a test case of the insanity defence seldom used in
America.
He has escaped the death sentence because Wisconsin is one of the few
states which does not have capital punishment.
After sentence was passed, Dahmer read a statement to the court. In a
calm voice he said: "I never wanted freedom. Frankly, I wanted death for
myself. I knew I was sick or evil or both.
"Doctors have told me about my sickness and now I have some peace. I
know how much harm I have caused. I feel so bad for what I did to those
poor families."
Victims' families were in court and some lashed out at the bullet-proof
screen, which was all that separated them from the man described by his
own lawyer as "a steamrolling, killing machine".
Rita Isbell, sister of victim Errol Lindsey, lunged at Dahmer
screaming: "You are Satan. I want to kill you."
Tears rolled down the face of Donald Bradehof, brother of another
victim, as he said: "We lost the baby of our family - I hope you go to
hell."
Dahmer tended to prey on young gay black men. The court was told how he
drugged them with sleeping pills and practised crude lobotomies on the
brains of three of them. Various body parts were found in his flat.
His lawyers argued he suffered from necrophilia, a compulsive desire to
have sex with corpses. But the prosecution claimed Dahmer had chosen his
victims carefully and had not intended to kill them all.
There has been criticism of the Milwaukee police for failing to realise
there was a serial killer operating in the city.
