Quiz Answer Key and Fun Facts
1. The Los Angeles District Attorney who prosecuted Charles Manson would later write a book decrying the OJ Simpson case and its outcome. What was his name?
2. OJ Simpson was found not guilty in his 1995 trial for the slayings of his wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her acquaintance Ron Goldman. This is widely perceived as being due to the feats of his defense attorneys (nicknamed "The Dream Team"), one of whom had earlier represented accused serial killer Albert de Salvo, better known as "The Boston Strangler". Who was this legendary advocate?
3. In 1971, Texas State Representative Tom Moore, Jr. introduced a resolution congratulating confessed serial killer Albert ("The Boston Strangler") de Salvo for his "unconventional techniques involving population control and applied psychology" that had "enabled the weak and lonely throughout the nation to achieve and maintain a new degree of concern for their future". The resolution passed the Texas House of Representatives unanimously.
4. Between 1982 and 2006, the state of Texas government executed the sentence of death on 379 people, by far the most of any state in the United States during that period (although much smaller Delaware actually put a larger percentage of its population to death during that span). In 1998, this number came to include confessed murderer Karla Fay Tucker, who was put to death by lethal injection. She was the first woman to be put to death in Texas since the Civil War.
5. In 1998, Karla Faye Tucker's death warrant was signed by then-Governor George W. Bush despite the appeals of many prominent figures. Which of these leaders did NOT ask Governor Bush to grant Tucker clemency?
6. One execution that then-Governor Bush did commute (or, in this case, ask the 18-member pardons board he had previously appointed to commute) was for Henry Lee Lucas, who at one time was considered to be the most prolific serial killer in United States history. Why was Lucas' sentence commuted in 1999?
7. The confessions of Henry Lee Lucas inspired a well-received low-budget film, "Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer" shot in 1986 and starring Michael Rooker as the eponymous sociopath. Another 1986 effort was the not-so-well-received movie "Psycho III", starring Anthony Perkins as the Ed Gein-derived killer Norman Bates. From what US State did Gein, the real-life "Psycho", hail?
8. Queens College professor Harold Schechter has written a number of detailed books on serial killers from history, including both Ed Gein and Chicago serial murderer H. H. Holmes, a notorious opportunist who killed boarders at his hotel near the 1893 World's Fair, ostensibly for their money. What are the respective titles of Schechter's books on Gein and Holmes?
9. H. H. Holmes would not be the only Chicago murderer accused of killing dozens of people in his dwelling. In 1980, John Wayne Gacy was convicted of killing 33 boys and young men since 1972, burying 28 of them on his property. What prominent figure had Gacy previously been photographed with, causing major political embarrassment?
10. The 1990s rock band Marilyn Manson featured musicians who had all changed their last names to those of notorious serial killers while drawing their first names from those of figures in popular culture. John Wayne Gacy and Charles Manson inspired two of these name changes. Charles Manson, of course, inspired lead singer Brian Warner to change his name to Marilyn Manson; the singer drawing his new first name from classic star Marilyn Monroe. John Wayne Gacy, on the other hand, provided the surname for the band's keyboard player, born Stephen Gregory Bier, Jr. From what pop culture icon did this keyboardist draw his first name?
Source: Author
stuthehistoryguy
This quiz was reviewed by FunTrivia editor
DakotaNorth before going online.
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