On December 22, 1978 Gacy confessed to the police that he had killed at least 30 men. His tiral began Wednesday Feburary 6, 1980 in a Chicago courtroom. Prosecuter Bob Egan's opening statement included facts about the brutal murders, and the discovery of the bodies from the crawl space under Gacy's house. Gacy's defense attorneys claimed Gacy was mentaly insane at the time of the killings, and that he did not know what he was doing. The prosecution had a feeling that he would calim insanity, but they were ready. Egan had family and friends of the victims take the stand, and testify about thier loved ones who were gruesomely murdered. However the defense had several doctors claim that Gacy was in fact insane at the time in question. The defense was doing well until they called Gacy neighbor to the stand, who claimed that Gacy was a smart and brillent man, which blew their case. After 5 weeks of the tiral and over 100 witnesses, it was time for the jury to make their decision. It took them 2 hours of deliberaton before returning with the verdict which found Gacy guilty of 33 murders. Gacy was the first in American history to be convicted of so many murders. He was sentenced to death by letal injection, and died at age 52 on May 10, 1994.
