Leslie Irvin

Leslie "Mad Dog" Irvin (1924–1983) was an American serial killer whose killing spree in the early 1950s terrorized residents of southwestern Indiana and whose Supreme Court case set a precedent for ensuring a fair trial for defendants even in the wake of a great deal of pretrial publicity. He was apprehended on April 8, 1955 after killing six people. He was eventually given the death penalty, but the sentence was overturned; he was instead given a life sentence and died in prison of lung cancer. ‘The constitutional claim arises in this way. Six murders were committed in the vicinity of Evansville, Indiana, two in December 1954, and four in March 1955. The crimes, extensively covered by news media in the locality, aroused great...