Joe Arridy’s Trials

Joe had a court appointed attorney named C. Fred Bernard who worked hard to prove his innocence. Initially a not guilty plea was entered but was withdrawn and instead he pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. Under Colorado law Joe would now have a separate trial just to determine his sanity and if he could even be tried for murder. In February 1937 the sanity trial opened before Pueblo County Judge Harry Leddy and Bernard had a strong case. At DA Taylors request Joe was examined by three state psychiatrists who all came to the conclusion that Joe was “incapable of distinguishing between right and wrong, and therefore, would be unable to perform any action with a criminal intent.” Their findings were almost word for word the legal definition of insanity. All three psychiatrists testified and told the court how they came to their conclusion.

The most interesting part of the trial was when Joe himself testified, being his benevolent self. Bernard asked Joe twenty-two simple questions to show that Joe was not sane and did not think the same as others.

Bernard asked “Do you know what an oath is?”

Joe answered “No.”

Bernard: “Who is Franklin Roosevelt?”

Joe: (No answer)

Bernard: “Do you know what the hearing is about?”

Joe: “No.”

Bernard: “Can you write?”

Joe: “Sure.”

Bernard: “Can you write anything besides your name?”

Joe: “No.”

The questions were all similar to this and Joe did not know the answer or understand most of them.

Ralph J. Neary, who took over the defense from DA Taylor, cross examined Joe and tried to ask questions that showed that Joe knew his bearings and what was going on around him. Also trying to touch on Joe’s supposed “perverse fantasies”.

Neary: “Where are you going tonight, Joe?”

Joe: “Back to Grand Junction.”

Neary: “Why are you going back to Grand Junction?”

Joe: “I like the place.”

Neary: “You want to do what you like to do, don’t you, Joe?”

Joe: “Yes.”

Neary: “Do you like Girls?”

Joe: “Pretty good (smiles).”

After Joe left the stand Neary called up four lawmen, one of them being Sheriff George Carroll. Unsurprisingly Carrolls testimony overshadowed everyone else's as he explained his experience with criminals and how he could tell that Joe understood right from wrong. After this testimony the jury deliberated and found Joe to be legally sane, therefore able to be tried for murder.

Joe’s murder trial began on April 12, 1937. Attorney Bernard asked that the first jury’s verdict be set aside and the new jury be allowed to decide Joe’s legal sanity, the judge allowed it. The prosecution still had to prove that Joe was legally sane and that he committed the crime but it was easier to prove the latter since Bernard asked to revisit the sanity subject. Neary still would not have an easy fight however as his only witness was Saul Kahn and the only physical evidence that linked joe to the crime was hair that was supposedly found at the crime scene. A Denver toxicologist said the hair was Joe’s against the odds of 250 to 1, one must remember that crime investigation was not an exact science at this time. Bernard shot holes in this evidence as he pointed out that the hair was not recovered from the crime scene until after Joe was arrested. He argued that if it was Joe’s hair then it was not hair taken from the scene of the crime but hair taken directly from Joe after his arrest.

Of course Sheriff George Carroll was the star witness, he was a showman and easily manipulated the court. Neary asked Carroll to tell about Joe’s confession, “detailing it as you can remember it”. This is where Carroll shined as he was able to recite the dialogue between Joe and him word for word. The Sheriff began, “First, I started off by saying, ‘Well, Joe, you like the girls pretty well don’t you?’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘You have had several girls during your lifetime.’ And he said, ‘Yes.’ I said, ‘If you like the girls so well, why did you hurt these two girls?’ He said, ‘I didn’t mean to.’” The recitation continued with Carroll playing both parts, even mimicking Joes limited vocabulary. Explaining details of the crime in Joe’s voice and implicating him the entire time. One of the most damning parts of his testimony went like this, “Did you have sexual intercourse?” “I don’t know what you mean.” “I says, ‘What did you do to the girls?’” “He says, ‘I screw ‘em.”

Bernard did what he could but Carrolls testimony sealed Arridy’s fate. Bernard had the three psychiatrists testify again, they had not changed their opinion from the last time. He even had a fourth, Medical Doctor Benjamin Jefferson who was the superintendent of the institution Joe had lived in. Doctor Jefferson also agreed that Joe was not sane and incapable of his actions. Neary put the lawmen up and again had them explain how Joe knew right from wrong. After this the jury left and returned after deliberating for three and a half hours. They said that Joe was sane and found him guilty of rape and murder, he was sentenced to death by gas chamber. The next day The Chieftain reported that Joe “took no notice of the pronouncement of the death verdict as delivered by the jury foreman.”