Cellar of Horror: The Story of Gary Heidnik by Ken EngladeMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
A sickening fiend who imprisoned women a basement whole, ala Buffalo Bill, what really made this book fascinating for me was the legal wrangling. Heidnik's defense lawyer thought he was insane legally and this could not be sentenced on the first degree murder charges, for which he was ultimately executed. This book goes through sentencing, but not any appeals or the 1999 execution.) I can't go that far; there too much history of what I felt was malingering and manipulation of the system for me to be convinced he was too crazy to be guilty. However, I don't think murder one was even the appropriate charge as meant for imprisonment and rape, etc. and two deaths were incidental to these evil deeds, meaning it was second degree murder IMO. The feeling from the book is that the judge and jury got carried away with the heinous nature of the deeds and set such legal niceties aside choosing vengeance over justice. Oh well, the planet is better off without him.
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