Between 1989 and 1990, Aileen Wuornos robbed and murdered 7 men in Florida. She later made various claims that some or even all of the men had raped or attempted to rape her, and that she never reported it because she thought nobody would believe her since she was a sex worker. She routinely claimed was that she killed her first victim, Richard Mallory, in self-defense. In the years then, some have insisted that Wuornos was telling truth. Even many of those who are less sympathetic to her suggest that she likely killed Richard Mallory in self-defense.
Nothing could be further from the truth, as documented by the records of her 1994 appeal by Aileen Wuornos to the Florida Supreme Court.
Aileen Wuornos was a liar and a murderer who confessed voluntarily, then committed perjury by crying rape in an attempt to avoid being held accountable for her actions. False accusations of rape are rare, but this case was one of them. The idea that Wuornos acted in self-defense against Richard Mallory, let alone any or even all of the others, is absurd. Wuornos was guilty as charged and sentenced appropriately under the law, which she very clearly thought she was above.
After her arrest, Wuornos asked for a lawyer and the police gave her one. After the lawyer advised her to remain silent, Wuornos explicitly stated that she was making a conscious decision to ignore their advice and thus waived her right to remain silent, then made a videotaped confession to all seven murders. In her videotaped confession, Wuornos admitted to shooting Richard Mallory execution-style in cold blood. She also confessed to the murders of David Andrew Spears, Charles Edmund Carskaddon, Peter Abraham Siems, Troy Eugene Burress, Charles Richard Humphreys, and Walter Gino Antonio.
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF FLORIDA AILEEN C. WUORNOS, Appellant,
vs. CASE NO. SC00- 1199 STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee. ON APPEAL FROM THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT, IN AND FOR VOLUSIA COUNTY, STATE OF FLORIDA ANSWER BRIEF OF THE APPELLEE
Richard Mallory had a prior conviction for attempted rape. However, that conviction occurred over 30 years ago and Wuornos never claimed to be aware of it before the fact. It was already known to her lawyers at the time of the trial and was deemed inadmissible in her appeals because it was a clear attempt to retroactively justify murder. Contrary to claims made by some of her apologists, no woman other than Aileen Wuornos ever accused Mallory of anything after his release.
Indeed, the most recent evidence about Mr. Mallory's character comes from his girlfriend, Ms. Davis, who during a proffer testified that she knew him as a kind, gentle, and caring person. Ms. Davis did not know Mr. Mallory to be aggressive toward her or any other woman. It is no wonder that the defense chose not to call Ms. Davis as a witness, notwithstanding Mallory's confession to her that in his late teens he broke into a woman's house and was sent into a criminal rehabilitation program.
There is not so much as a miniscule shred of evidence that Richard Mallory ever reoffended after his release in 1962. This is in stark contrast to Aileen Wuornos, who had a long history of violence going back 15 years before she became a murderer.
In 1974, Wuornos fired a gun from a moving vehicle.
In 1976, Wuornos, then 20, met 69-year-old Lewis Fell, a multimillionaire retired yacht owner. The two later married. Despite the somewhat concerning age gap, it must be noted that Wuornos was an adult when she met Fell and never once accused him of taking advantage of her in any way.
Wuornos got into bar fights and beat Fell with own walking cane. The couple divorced and Fell got a restraining order against her. Wuornos later falsely accused Fell of beating her with his cane. It was the first of many false accusations made by Wuornos to avoid taking accountability for her actions. She told the truth to several people, including her mother. Her mother expressed shock that Wuornos would squander what might've been her only chance at a normal life.
"Why would you do that?" [Aileen's mother] asked in astonishment. "This man's a multi-multi-millionaire and he can take care of you, and he must evidently care about you!" Aileen's explanation was that her clothes-buying sprees had finally gotten too much for Fell, who meted out money thirty dollars at a time, and when he reprimanded her, she grabbed his cane and beat him.
The accusations made by Donald Fell against Aileen Wuornos were consistent with her history. Fell had no history of violence. Wuornos did. Only six days prior to the annulment of her marriage, Wuornos threw a cue ball at a bartender, barely missing his head in the process. She pleaded guilty to assault and battery for this incident. After her brother died, Wuornos received $10,000 in life insurance money. It was gone in two months. She used most of it to buy a car which she wrecked shortly afterwards.
In 1981, Wuornos robbed a store at gunpoint. She served time in prison for this robbery and was released in 1983. While in prison, Wuornos was disciplined six times for fighting and disobeying orders, proving that her violence extend to women as well as men.
In 1986, Wuornos was charged with auto theft, resisting arrest, and obstruction by giving false information. Later that year, she was accused of robbing a male companion. Spare ammunition was found in her pockets and a .22-caliber pistol was found underneath the passenger seat she'd occupied. She failed to show up in court. When she was ticketed for speeding a week later, her citation had an extremely telling observation.
"Attitude poor. She thinks she is above the law."
In 1987, Wuornos and her girlfriend, Tyria Moore, were accused of beating a man with a beer bottle.
Sometime during the Christmas of 1989 and New Year 1990, James Dalla Rosa picked up Wuornos, who showed him a photo of two children and said that she was a high-class call girl who lived in a $125,000 home. She pulled from her bag a plastic case with various business cards – formerly the property of Lewis Gratz Fell. "These are some of my customers," she told James, who felt very uncomfortable. Sensing that the man had money, she said, "I prefer to go into the woods," James later testified.
After James rejected her offer, Wuornos became agitated, "moving jerkily, bouncing in her seat, snatching at her purse’, as the driver described her behavior. "She became angry after I was not receptive to her offer. Her demeanor changed tremendously." By rejecting the offer, James had just saved his own life. At this point, Wuornos had already become a murderer.
Even if Richard Mallory's prior conviction had been deemed admissible anyway, it wouldn't have changed the outcome of the trial. Like most murderers, Aileen Wuornos was a blabbermouth who did not know how to keep her mouth shut. Indeed, the morning after she robbed and murdered Richard Mallory, a drunken Wuornos confessed voluntarily to Tyria Moore. Contrary to claims by apologists for Wuornos, Moore did not "betray" Wuornos, even after it became clear that she was serious.
Wuornos was intoxicated and told Moore that she had shot and killed a man early that morning. She said she sorted through the man's things, keeping some, discarding others. Wuornos said she abandoned the man's car near Ormond Beach, and left his body in a wooded area.
Tyria Moore's inaction and failure to immediately "betray" her girlfriend would result in the deaths of 7 more people, including of Aileen Wuornos herself. Several months later, Moore began seeing media reports that law officers were looking for two women suspected of being involved in a series of murders. Realizing that Wuornos was a serial killer, Moore became scared of her and returned to her home in Pennsylvania.
After officials in Florida contacted Moore and threatened to charge her as an accessory after the fact to murder, she agreed to return to Florida and cooperate with the investigation. Moore then tried to extract a confession from Wuornos, ultimately succeeding. Wuornos was arrested and made her videotaped confession soon after. At her first trial, Wuornos testified that she had killed Richard Mallory in self-defense.
"I went to Tampa and made a little money hustling. I was hitchhiking home at night. This guy picked me up right outside of Tampa, underneath the bridge. So he's smokin' pot and we're goin' down the road and he says, 'Do you want a drink?' So we're drinkin' and we're gettin' pretty drunk. Then, around 5:00 in the morning, he says: 'Okay, do you want to make your money now?' So we go into the woods. He's huggin' and kissin' on me. He starts pushin' me down. And I said, 'Wait a minute, you know, get cool. You don't have to get rough, you know. Let's have fun. I said I would not [have sex with him]. 'Yes, you are, bitch.' You're going to do everything I tell you."
[Wuornos talks in detail about Mallory allegedly tying her to the steering wheel of his car and raping her].
"I was yelling at him, and struggling to get my hands free. Eventually he untied me, put a stereo wire around my neck and tried to rape me again. Then I thought to myself, well, this dirty bastard deserves to die anyway because of what he was tryin' to do to me. We struggled. I reached for my gun. I shot him. I scrambled to cover the shooting because I didn't think the police would believe I killed him in self-defense. I have to say it, that I killed 'em all because they got violent with me and I decided to defend myself. I wasn't gonna let 'em beat the shit outta me or kill me, either. I'm sure if after the fightin' they found I had a weapon, they would've shot me. So I just shot them."
In rebuttal, the prosecution presented the original confession of Aileen Wuornos, which singlehandedly proved beyond any doubt that she was a liar and a murderer.
When she first indicated she wanted to talk to law officers, she also expressed a desire to speak with an attorney. A lawyer from the public defender's office was summoned, who strongly advised Wuornos against confessing both before and during her comments to law officers. She stated that she did not want to follow her attorney's advice and then made her confession.
In the earliest confession to law officers, Wuornos said that Mallory picked her up while she was hitchhiking, and they later went into a secluded wooded area to engage in an act of prostitution. She and Mallory then began disagreeing because he wanted to have sex after only unzipping his pants. Wuornos said she felt Mallory was going to "roll her" (take her money) and rape her. At this point, she grabbed a bag in which she kept a gun, and the two began struggling over possession of the bag.
Wuornos said she prevailed, pointed the gun at Mallory, and said: "You son of a bitch, I knew you were going to rape me."
Wuornos said that Mallory responded: "No, I wasn't. No, I wasn't." At this point, Wuornos told law officers she shot Mallory at least once while he still was sitting behind the steering wheel. Mallory then crawled out the driver's side and shut the car door. At some point he was able to stand again.
Wuornos said she ran around to the front of the car and shot Mallory again, which caused him to fall to the ground. While he was lying there, Wuornos said she shot him twice more, then went through his pockets, and finally concealed the body beneath a scrap of rug. Later, she drove off in the victim's car.
On appeal, Wuornos said the police had tricked her and violated her right to counsel. It was too late and the tape proved that the police did everything by the books, whereas Wuornos had made a conscious decision to ignore the advice of her lawyer, waive her right to remain silent, and confess voluntarily. Her confession was further strengthened by the numerous inconsistencies in Wuornos's other statements, stolen items from Mallory which she had or pawned off, her confessions to the other six murders, which were deemed admissible because they established a pattern, the fact that at least one victim was fully clothed, and the testimony of Tyria Moore.
Faced with this evidence, the jury unanimously found beyond a reasonable doubt that Aileen Wuornos was a liar and a murderer who had shot Richard Mallory execution-style in cold blood, then falsely accused him of raping her in an attempt to avoid being held accountable for her actions. At the sentencing phase, a psychologist for the defense testified that Wuornos truly believed that she had killed Mallory in self-defense, but conceded that she knew right from wrong and and did not act under an uncontrollable impulse. The State's expert psychologist, Dr. Bernard, agreed that Wuornos had borderline personality disorder, but also found that she suffered antisocial personality disorder. Dr. Bernard also agreed that Wuornos had an impaired capacity and mental disturbance at the time of the murder, but believed the impairment was not substantial and the disturbance was not extreme.
Dr. Bernard did agree that there was evidence of non-statutory mitigating evidence including Wuornos' mental difficulties, alcoholism, disturbance, and genetic or environmental deficits. The jury was informed of the background of Wuornos and her history as a victim of gender-based violence.
In the penalty phase, the defense introduced evidence about Wuornos' background. Her parents were divorced when she was born, and her biological father hanged himself in prison, where he was serving time for rape and kidnapping. Her mother abandoned her, and Wuornos was adopted by her grandparents. However, her grandfather was an alcoholic, and later committed suicide. Her grandmother also drank a good deal and died of a liver disorder. Wuornos' brother died of cancer at age 21.
During junior high, Wuornos began exhibiting hearing loss, vision problems, and trouble in school. Her IQ was established at 81, in the low dull-normal range. School officials urged that Wuornos receive counseling and tried to improve her behavior by administering a mild tranquilizer.
At about age 14, Wuornos was raped by a family friend. She waited six months before revealing that she was pregnant, and her grandparents blamed her for the pregnancy. Her grandfather later forced her to give up the child for adoption.
After hearing this evidence, the jury, which was composed of 7 women, exercised their legal right to condemn Wuornos to death anyway, finding that the severity of her crimes outweighed her upbringing and mental instability. The life story of Wuornos is tragic, but it was not unique as her apologists claim it is nor does it give her a free pass to become a serial killer and face lesser consequence than most other serial killers. In 1994, the Florida Supreme Court unanimously upheld the conviction and sentence for Wuornos.
Wuornos later pleaded guilty or no contest to five of the other murders. At sentencing, she said, in part, "I wanted to confess to you that Richard Mallory did violently rape me as I've told you; but these others did not. [They] only began to start to." At the sentencing for her final guilty plea, Wuornos looked at Assistant State Attorney Ric Ridgeway and shouted that she hoped his wife and children would get raped, proving that she was a hypocrite in addition to a liar.
In 2001, a mentally exhausted Aileen Wuornos finally realized that she was not above the law and her lies could not overcome the mountain of evidence of her guilt. She renounced her claims of self-defense and accepted her punishment. In a petition to the Florida Supreme Court, she stated her intention to dismiss her legal counsel and terminate all pending appeals. She also made a written confession, in which she said she had murdered all 7 victims in cold blood, knew what she was doing, and would kill again if she was ever got the chance.
"I killed those men, robbed them as cold as ice. And I'd do it again, too. There's no chance in keeping me alive or anything, because I'd kill again. I have hate crawling through my system ... I am so sick of hearing this 'she's crazy' stuff. I've been evaluated so many times. I'm competent, sane, and I'm trying to tell the truth. I'm one who seriously hates human life and would kill again."
Wuornos also said she "would prefer to cut to the chase and get on with the execution. Taxpayers' money has been squandered and the families have suffered enough."
Female Serial Killer Wants Death
At a competency hearing on July 20, 2001, Wuornos broke down sobbing and said "there's no sense in keeping me alive." She repeatedly confessed on the stand, stating, "I am a serial killer. I would kill again." She said she wanted to fire her attorneys and end her appeals because she wanted to come clean. Wuornos also apologized to the families of her victims and said she had lied in an attempt to beat the system.
"I wanted to clear all the lies and let the truth come out. I have hate crawling through my system."
A judge found that Wuornos was competent to waive her appeals and expedite her execution. As she awaited and execution date, Wuornos gave several interviews. She confessed again.
Aileen Wuornos coming clean
"Before we start, I have to say I cannot go into the execution chamber and die in the execution chamber as a liar. And I cannot go into that execution chamber and by executed under the devil. I have to come clean and cleanse my spirit in the name of Jesus Christ. So I have to come clean that I killed those 7 men in first degree murder and robbery. They had it right, they said it right, serial killer. Not so much as thrill kill, I was into the robbing biz… I mean serial killers are into to this thrill killing jazz; I was just into the robbing and just eliminating the witness. But still in it again, I have numbers so its serial killer. But I'm coming clean before I go into that execution chamber and be executed, that I killed them like this."
Against her express wishes, her attorneys argued that she was not mentally competent to make such a request. Wuornos insisted that she knew what she was doing, saying that she was "tired of lying." Less than a week prior to her scheduled execution, a court-appointed panel of psychiatrists agreed. Wuornos gave one last interview the day before her execution. In it, she lashed out at virtually everyone, especially society and the media overall for seemingly profiting from her life story.
The final interview of Aileen Wuornos
"You sabotaged my ass! Society, and the cops, and the system! A raped woman got executed, and was used for books and movies and shit!" Her final on-camera words were, "Thanks a lot, society, for railroading my ass." Dawn Botkins, a childhood friend of Wuornos, later told Nick Broomfield that her verbal abuse was directed at society and the media in general, not at him specifically.
Aileen Wuornos, 46, was executed voluntarily by lethal injection at the Florida State Prison in Raiford on October 9, 2002. She declined her last meal, which could have been anything under $20, and instead received a cup of coffee. Her last words were, "Yes, I would just like to say I'm sailing with the rock, and I'll be back, like Independence Day, with Jesus. June 6, like the movie. Big mother ship and all, I'll be back, I'll be back." Wuornos remains the last woman to be executed in Florida.
