Milwaukee, Wisconsin. January 30th, 1992. 

Jeffrey Lionel Dahmer has previously pleaded guilty to the murder of 15¹ young men across a thirteen-year killing-spree characterised by necrophilia, cannibalism, attempts to create ‘living zombies’ and the preservation of body parts.

In front of the world’s media, the trial to determine whether-or-not he was guilty by reason of insanity is about to take place. If found legally insane, Dahmer will be sentenced to time in a mental institution rather than life in prison.²

Dahmer’s defence team is headed by 55-year-old, Gerald P. Boyle: a law graduate from Marquette University described by the ‘Milwaukee Journal‘ as “affable and outgoing” – and who had previously represented Dahmer at his 1989 hearing for Second Degree Sexual Assault. Mr. Boyle’s assistants, Wendy Patrickus and Ellen Ryan, sit either side of the defendant and assist with note-taking and the handling of certain witnesses.

As per regulations, counsel is not permitted to argue their case or attempt to convince the jury during the opening statement, so Boyle’s hour-long presentation is mainly one of establishing the narrative of Jeffrey Dahmer’s life and crimes, and letting the jury know what to expect over the following two weeks. 

Below follows the entire transcript of that statement as recorded by Court TV in the Winter of 1992. Some minor alterations and additions have been made for the sake of clarity and grammar, but other than that, everything that follows is in the words of Gerald Boyle unless otherwise stated. 

We Now Begin an Odyssey

JUDGE LAURENCE GRAM: Jurors, at the beginning of every trial the lawyers are afforded an opportunity to make what we call an ‘opening statement.’ I’ve heard recently [that] a lot of people refer to it as an ‘opening argument’ [but] it’s not an argument, it’s an opening statement… It’s not evidence in the case but, rather, it’s something that’s designed as an aide to the jurors for it gives each of the lawyers an opportunity to give you an outline [and] a thumbnail sketch [of the case]. Sometimes it’s referred to as a road map of where [a lawyer’s] going with the case.

Another way it’s sometimes pictured is: I know that – thanks to one of our court reporters – you have some jigsaw puzzles back there in the jury room. And if you kind of view the case as being a jigsaw puzzle and as the various witnesses come to the witness stand, they give you various pieces of that puzzle. But anybody who’s ever worked on those puzzles [knows] if you’ve got that cover in front of you, you can see what the whole picture is supposed to look like. It’s a lot more helpful, as far as putting those various pieces together.

The opening statement is that big picture and that’s what the lawyers are trying to accomplish when they make their opening statements. 

Now, we have a certain order that we follow throughout this trial. And, as we’ve talked [about] in jury selection, this is kind of unique in terms of the order we have here because, in this case, the defendant has the burden of proof. And so, throughout the trial, it’s the defendant who will always go first. And thus Mr. Boyle has the opportunity of making the first opening statement. 

Mr. Boyle?

*Gerald Boyle steps-up to the lectern, acknowledging Mr. McCann, the cameras, lighting and other court crew*

Then:

GERALD BOYLE: Ladies and gentlemen of the jury… We now begin an odyssey. The results of which, in a short period of time, will result in a decision to be made by you (and you alone) as to whether or not Jeffrey Dahmer – at the time he committed these horrific murders to which he has pled guilty – was suffering from a mental disease. The result of which [meant] that he lacked substantial capacity [to] either appreciate the wrongfulness of his conduct or to conform his conduct to the requirements of law. 

It is very difficult for an advocate not to be an advocate. Not to argue, not to try and convince at all stages. I cannot attempt to convince you of anything now. The time for that to happen will come in what’s called closing argument – when I will say (as it relates to some, one or all of these offences) that I have proved to a reasonable certainty, by the greater weight of the credible evidence, that Mr. Dahmer was not responsible because of this mental disease and the legal definition of insanity, as I’ve said it.

Now, I know from having been with you folks for the last three days that we have a jury here that is fresh. That has an opinion and is going to listen to the evidence. But it’s very difficult for you to understand what the rest of us understand because we’ve been working on this case for so many months. [Therefore] we are here to tell you things for no other reason than to hopefully make you understand – as [we progress] down the road of evidence – what is happening in this courtroom. So you can say: “Good. I understand it.”

If I were to try to explain to you the game of football in order for you – who have just come in from someplace that never saw the game played – it might take me hours (if not weeks) for you to understand all the nuances. What I’m doing here in a very, very brief period of time is trying to lay out for you what [it is] I say I have accepted to be my burden. And that is my burden and I understand that. 

So, in that regard, what I want to do is to tell you to completely disregard that long list of witnesses that I read to you [during voir dire³]. Because, now that we’re at this point in time, certain decisions had to be made by myself (with the advice and consent of the people who are assisting me) as to how this case should proceed. And it really hasn’t varied for a long period of time, but we had to name a lot of witnesses because at the last moment, if something became important and we hadn’t put that witness’ name down, we might be foreclosed. And that’s why both Mr. McCann and I have done what we’ve done. And I would like to tell you how this case is going to proceed before I get into some of the other details. 

I anticipate, and I know, that the judge is going to give you some general idea as to what Mr. Dahmer pled guilty to. The 15 counts… You see, there were 17 homicides but 15 charged.

The evidence is going to show that the first homicide took place in a place called Bath, Ohio, in the year 1978. That the second homicide took place in Milwaukee but, because of the nature of the homicide, it was not a charge. But it’s going to be discussed… Everything’s going to be discussed, but that certainly is going to be discussed. The rest of the homicides that took place took place in Milwaukee County.

You will be made known about every aspect of it, and the person that’s going to speak to you about every aspect of it is Jeffrey Dahmer. But he is going to speak to you through the members of the Milwaukee Police Department – the first of whom I’m going to summon as my very first witness. And that is the detective (and/or detectives, dependant upon how they want to split up the testimony) who are going to read a very, very, very long confession to you. And this confession is going to have details that will cause you to be uncomfortable, but I’m sure that you will listen to the words for the purposes that you must know all of this information. Because subsequent to this confession, Jeffrey Dahmer talked to a lot of other people. He talked to a whole bevvy of psychiatrists and psychologists and others. And the reason he did that was because every citizen in this country has an absolute right to have it investigated as to whether or not, when they did any act – any act – that they were of sound mind.

And I’m going to use these phrases – sanity, insanity – with the clear-cut understanding Mr. McCann brought to your attention and as I have brought to your attention: that the legal definition (for the purposes of the criminal justice system of insanity) is the one I have just told you… The one I’m confident Mr. McCann will remind you of and as the judge will instruct you.

So, if I use the word sane or insane – if I use the word kookie [or] crazy – all those words are being used to portray a state of mind.

And I submit to you that the testimony that the doctors will bring to your attention will give to you a very sound deep basis for you making the ultimate decision.

Super Professionals

I am going to call into this courtroom three doctors, two psychiatrists and one psychologist.

Dr. Berlin of Johns Hopkins University. A PhD in psychology and a doctor of medicine – with a specialty in psychiatry – is going to testify in this case. 

I’m going to bring into this courtroom a doctor, Carl Wahlstrom. A psychiatrist – a doctor of medicine – who’s at Rush Presbyterian Hospital in the field of psychiatry [and] who’s going to testify as to his opinion. 

I’m going to bring into this courtroom a doctor by the name of Judith Becker. A doctor of psychology who is from the University of Arizona in Tucson [and] who is going to come in and testify as to her opinion as to Jeffrey Dahmer’s mental state at the time that he committed these offences. 

But they are not the decision makers. You are going to be the decision makers. And for you to make those decisions, I am duty-bound to bring to your attention every single aspect of Mr. Dahmer’s life – of Mr. Dahmer’s conduct – so that you, when you make your decision, will be able to say: “I had the facts needed for me to make the decision, whatever it may be.” 

I know (because under the system of laws we are forced to trade information with the other side) that Mr. McCann is likewise going to field in this courtroom [some] super professionals who are likewise going to give their opinions. And the court will likewise have an expert that will testify⁴ in this court. So you’re going to be equipped – when it’s all over with – with everything you need to know to make your decision. And the purpose of this court proceeding is a search for the truth. And, in that regard, we must not keep anything from you [that] you’re entitled to hear ([though] we obviously make tactical decisions) so that you may make the proper decision.  

And then, on the night of Mr. Dahmer’s arrest, a man by the name of Tracy Edwards was present with Mr. Dahmer. The evidence is going to show that he was about to be the next victim. Through faith he did not become a victim and the saga of Mr. Dahmer ended at that time – and, in fact, began at that time. It was subsequent to his arrest very shortly thereafter (as the police will tell you [and] as Detective Murphy or Detective Kennedy will tell you) that Mr. Dahmer confessed to all – to everything – as best he could under the constraints that he was placed in. He gave a full and complete statement to the Milwaukee Police Department; to the officers from Bath, Ohio; to the officers from the West Allis Police Department (because, in fact, acts took place in West Allis and one act took place in Bath, Ohio). You’re going to hear every bit of that.

And I want to say, unequivocally, a number of things that I think the evidence is going to show:

This was not racial. The evidence is going to show – after you hear the testimony of Mr. Dahmer as told to the Milwaukee Police Department, and as told to Dr. Becker, Dr. Wahlstrom and Dr. Berlin – that Mr. Dahmer’s obsession was to body form, not colour. It is also a fact, as you know, that there was a lot of homosexual tendencies here and the obsessiveness of Mr. Dahmer was clearly in the vein of fulfilling his sexual desires – which happened to be of a homosexual nature. This is not a case about homosexuality. 

So, in that regard, I would like to give you some ideas as to what I think I’m supposed to be doing up here: 

First of all, I am your servant and I will be for as long as it takes to try this case.

I’m an advocate of my client’s cause [and] I’m an officer of the court, but I’m a servant of the jury to bring to your attention that which you need. So when it’s all over with you say: “He did his job for me and I appreciate that.” 

I am not going to argue here. I have the greatest of respect for the people who are sitting in the position of the state of Wisconsin. [I was a] co-worker with Mr. McCann at one time in my life – a man of enormous, wonderful reputation. As is his staff. 

This is not going to be a combat show.

You see, the case is over. Mr. Dahmer has pled guilty to these 15 homicides. The case continues because under the law – as I have said – we are trying to find out the mind of this man: Was he evil or was he sick? – and I used that in a very shortened phrase.

Does he meet the definition of insanity (as the law will be defined to you) for one, some, or all of these [homicides]?

Certain Facts

I’m going to tell you, basically, what you can expect to learn from the witnesses about Jeffrey Dahmer.

That he is 31 years of age. That he was born in Milwaukee and his early life was very unremarkable – as the doctors will tell you – moving from this-place to that-place as his family moved. That when he was five years of age, he had a brother who was born into the family.

Dr. Becker is going to start indicating certain facts that she is going to use to support her opinion – not absolutely, but matters of interest. And I don’t think it’s my job to stand here today and tell you every single fact that these doctors are going to testify to, but I [do] think it necessary for me to give you a general understanding of Jeffrey Dahmer – and his life and his actions and his conduct – to assist you. [So] that when these doctors are testifying, there would be a better flow in their testimony because you have some idea of how the game has been laid out to be played in this courtroom.

And I don’t mean ‘game’ – I don’t mean ‘game’ in the sense that this is not the most important matter that all of us will ever probably be confronted with in our entire lives – but we have to lay out the plan, so as to help you. 

When Jeffrey Dahmer was in eighth grade, he started doing some things of a sexual nature that were really the embryo of what the doctors will testify [to]… These are things that I learned from the doctors -that the doctors are going to testify to, not what I’m going to testify to. [Things] that the Police Department has brought to everyone’s attention through the confession of Mr. Dahmer and statements Mr. Dahmer has made.

We’re going to find that, when Mr. Dahmer was in eighth grade, he started into a series of sexual movements and they took on the form of two things: He started masturbating on a daily basis and the object of his fantasies, while engaged in that self-abuse or self-conduct or whatever it’s called – as the doctor’s will tell you – were thoughts concerning young men of his age. Young boys of his age. 

You will find in the testimony that, even as an early teenager, he started becoming interested in bones of dead animals. He would take them home. He would bleach them. He would study them. None of this was discovered by any members of his family. None of the interests that he had were known to his family.

The doctors are going to testify that, basically, his early years were unremarkable. No greatly different than most. But [there were] a few things different that they will tell you [and] what you might consider the importance of [those] to be…

When he was about 14 years of age he first came up with the idea of using a corpse for sexual purposes. He fantasised [about] either having a corpse or a mannequin to use – and it was at that time that he had his first actual, consensual, homosexual-encounter with a peer. He discovered his homosexuality and accepted it.

He will tell you – through the doctors – [that] he didn’t understand it but it caused him no concern other than the fact that he realised what he was.

It was while he was in high school that this fantasy of his – doing things with dead things – started showing up when, in a biology class, he dissected a baby pig and took the head home with him. Took the skin off and kept the skull. 

Three doctors are going to come into this courtroom and they’re going to tell you that Jeffrey Dahmer suffers from a mental disorder and it is called paraphilia.

Without my trying to be a doctor and defining it for you, except generally: Paraphilia is an arousal of a sexual nature to an inanimate object, a body part or a process…

There’s all kinds of paraphilias (and the doctors are going to tell you about the different kinds), but the paraphilia that best exemplifies the paraphilia that Jeffrey Dahmer had (which they will claim is, in their opinion, a mental disorder and which they will state, in Jeffrey Dahmer, was a mental disease) was necrophilia. And necrophilia is a disorder of the mind where there is a desire to have sexual contact with dead bodies. That’s what they’re going to say Jeffrey Dahmer was.

He was a lot more than that, but that’s the mainstay of his condition: His desire for dead bodies [and] to have sex with dead bodies.

The Horror Scene Starts 

Armed with that information here now, I’m going to continue on in the chronology of Jeffrey Dahmer’s life – so that you may understand how the embryo of that may fit [and] as the doctors will testify.

There came a time, in 1975 or ‘76, that Jeffrey Dahmer’s obsession with this sexual desire and fantasy and obsession got to the point where he saw a man (who lived somewhere in the general area where he lived) running [and] jogging every day. He would see him jogging down the road and he became so attached to the concept of having sex with this man that he went home and he sawed-off a baseball bat so that he could get on his bike, ride past the man, hit him in the head with the baseball bat and knock him out – so as to take him up into the woods and have sex with him. That’s what his quest was. And he put that quest into play and got on that bicycle and went out to find this man and – thanks be to God – the man had never jogged that way again. So it didn’t happen. But the doctors are going to tell you what that meant in the grand scheme of things, as it is to the mind of Jeffrey Dahmer. 

Beginning when he was about 16 years of age (and this would be in the years of ’76, ’77) he started collecting animals. Always dead animals – and there’s going to be testimony as to why that’s significant. Never killed a live animal but would go on the roads and find roadkill (dogs [or] other types of animals that have been struck by cars that were laying there) and he would take them home. And he started having a fascination of wanting to see what they looked like inside and he would open them up.

One time he took off the head of a dog and put it on a stake and hung it out so that everybody could see it – primarily for shock value.

This obsession [with these] dead animals and doing things with them started becoming something that became more and more into his life. Into his head. 

The way he conducted himself in high school will be made known to you. Take it for what it’s worth and what it meant.

Doctors are going to be asked – [and] they’re going to be testifying – [as] to how a person who starts acting like this at a certain age (and is now 31) can go on, day-in and day-out, living [and doing] what ostensibly appears to be the kind of things that most people would do (goes to work, eats food, goes out for dinner, goes to the store). They’re going to tell you what that means in the mind of a Jeffrey Dahmer – whose life starts taking on an obsession and a fantasy that is so foreign to us that we can’t even comprehend it, but for the next two weeks we’re going to be asked to at least listen to it and try and understand what it’s all about.      

His home life changed a lot. There was some problems in his mother and father’s marriage. There was an ultimate divorce. He was about 18 at the time. It was traumatic and he became somewhat of a recluse. He isolated himself. Spent a lot of time alone. Started internalising – as the doctors would tell you – started internalising his feelings… ‘Internalisation’ means you’re keeping them to yourself. Then, as he became a senior in high school, he started getting these thoughts about going out and finding a hitchhiker and killing and having sex with him. That started to become his quest – the thing that he wanted to do. The desire that was staying with him at all times.

After he graduated from high school, there came a time in his life when – because of his family situation – he was alone. And one night, to the regret of the world at large – to the regret of the victim, the victims family, Mr. Dahmer and his family – the horror scene starts.

He is driving around and he sees a hitchhiker and the hitchhiker doesn’t have a shirt on and Jeffrey Dahmer wants his body. His body. That’s his fantasy: the body. Not the height, not the age, not the colour – the body. And he picks up this hitchhiker and he takes him back to his home and suddenly he picks up a barbell and he renders the man unconscious. And he killed him. He strangled him. He undressed him. And the evidence is going to show that at that time – now having his fantasy a reality – he masturbated on the dead man’s body.

Two days later – having hidden the body – he opened it up. He wanted to see what it looked like on the inside. He put the body in a bag, attempted to drop it off – get rid of it – [and was] stopped by the police for a traffic violation of some sort. Took the body back (because he was afraid it would be discovered, obviously) and he hid it. 

He separated that skull from that body and masturbated in front of it.

Now, make no mistake, this is a sad commentary I’m telling you. I take absolutely no delight in telling anybody any of these things. I tell them to you because you must know these things. I grieve for the family of Mr. Hicks. Anyone who doesn’t believe that, choose not to – but I do. But if I don’t tell you these things, I should not be a lawyer in this courtroom. So I’m going to continue to tell you this horrific story…

I also ask that, if any time you’re uncomfortable for any reason whatsoever – if any of you need a break while I am talking, for any reason – if you raise your hand, I’m sure the judge will take care of whatever situation there is. Whatever the discomfort is. And then we can take a short recess and convene it. I’m not suggesting because of the description, I’m just suggesting for any reason. 

Quiet, Shy, Alone

After Mr. Dahmer finally succeeded in his first quest, a lot of other things started happening to him.

Started drinking a lot. Testimony is going to show he started crying about what he had done. He became very nervous, very high-strung. And at that time (having graduated from high school) some career decisions had to be made and followed. And they were.

He went to Ohio State University – only to fail in the first six months. Fail because, as the doctors will tell you, what he had done a few months before was too haunting for him to concentrate on what he was supposed to be doing. So he escaped to the military. And he escaped to the military and became a field medic stationed in Germany and was there for a long period of time.

And there started coming into his life a lot more ways of handling his fantasies, handling his desires and handling his obsessions. And he got very heavy into pornography. He got very heavy into excessive masturbation to try and stop these urges from growing – or at least put the lid on them. And he started drinking an awful lot. 

Now, a lawyer in a courtroom is to present facts and not have policy statements issued. This is not a policy statement on the pluses or minuses of pornography – that’s not the issue here. What is the issue here is what effect it had on Jeffrey Dahmer, one way or the other. And that will be discussed. 

And he came out of the service. He went down to Florida to try to live in that environment – that geographical change – but he didn’t stay there very long. And he came back to Bath, Ohio.

One time – [as] I think the testimony is going to show ([and] we’re going to talk about his troubles with the law) – there was a drunk and disorderly problem that he had in the state of Ohio at about this time.

Florida was not a pleasant thing. Coming back to Bath, Ohio was not pleasant. And his first order of business about coming back to Bath, Ohio was he had to get rid of that body. He had secreted that body because he didn’t know what to do with it but, when he came back, he got rid of it. He destroyed it.

You’re going to learn that Jeffrey Dahmer, in the performance of these horrific homicides, was in-fact making what was human beings disappear into oblivion by destroying the very materials that made-up the body – except for those parts that he wished to retain for his purposes.

So he got rid of the body parts [of the hitchhiker]. He smashed him up and got them into the woods – and then he left Bath, Ohio and he went to West Allis to live with his grandmother.

His fantasies never changed. They were ever present, as the doctors will tell you [and] as we have learned in this story. But he was able to cap ‘em off without destruction by utilising things available to them, such as pornography, masturbation and things of that nature.

In August of ’82, he was charged with – and convicted of – disorderly conduct because he had exposed himself in the form of urination at the State Fair Park. He started to frequent sexually explicit bookstores for magazines but he never approached anybody in those stores because of his personality. Which was – as it will be testified to – quiet, shy, alone.

It will be [shown] that he had no friends – as we understand that concept – and, as a result, he was very isolated. The doctors will indicate [that] during this period of time he was very depressed and lonely – four-and-a-half years after he had killed Mr. Hicks. 

In the mid 80s, he violated the law again by a shoplifting charge where he took a jacket. 

1983. He got a job at the blood centre. His fantasies were such that he tasted blood while in the performance of that job. Didn’t like it. Never did it again. But the fantasy – the desire, the obsession – will be brought to your attention as to why he would do that.

For a period of time, thereafter, he continued to frequent these book stores.

His fantasies stayed the same. 

The Man of Many Fantasies

‘83 to ‘85 – we have a period of life of attempt to control and control. He tried to change. He tried to cut down on his masturbation. Got it down to a once-a-week occurrence.

He started going to church with his grandmother. He started reading religious books. He tried to repress his fantasy and he stayed away from pornography as best he could. He tried. Got a job at a chocolate factory here in town – and then something happened in 1985 that the doctors will tell you is significant. 

It was significant because Jeffrey Dahmer – who was trying – was sitting in a library reading a book. And as he was reading the book (according to the reports that he gives to the doctors [and] to which the doctors will testify) suddenly a sheet of paper in the form of a note was thrown into the book he was reading. And as he saw this young fellow walking away (who had thrown the sheet of paper in the book), he opened it up and the words were: Meet me in the bathroom. I’ll give you a blowjob. 

We now have a critical moment in time where Jeffrey Dahmer, the man of many fantasies, is for the first time propositioned. But he doesn’t fall – doesn’t fall yet – but very shortly thereafter, his control started falling apart. 

The reading religious books, the going to church, the trying to change your life around, the control of the fantasies as best he could… He gave up. Started going back to the video rooms to see the pornography. Started meeting people. Started having sex – real sex – with people and the desire to have his fantasies fulfilled.

It wasn’t that satisfying having sex with live people, but he did it. To try and control.

He started going to gay bars and he started finding that he couldn’t stop following these desires. He had no relationship with anyone other than a fast one-night stand. A one-action stand. And then he started thinking: “If I can keep ‘em, they can’t leave me.” So he started thinking about drugging people. He started thinking about drugging people so that he would have control over them and that they would have to do his bidding because they couldn’t resist doing his bidding. He desperately wanted to have somebody remain with him, but in order to fulfil his fantasies. 

Having killed one fella, he tried to do a couple of things:

He stayed all night in Boston Store one night – ‘till all the doors were closed – and he stole the male mannequin. Brought it home with him thinking that this might be a way out for him – of his fantasies. Grandmother found the mannequin and the mannequin idea went. Didn’t work.

He started looking in the obituary section of the paper to find young people that might have died and he went to various funeral homes to see the remains. He decided that [he’d] found one and he attempted to go to the cemetery to dig up that body, but he was unable to do it because the ground was so frozen. So he had no body. 

His sexual problems continued and in ‘86 he was arrested for exposing himself in public.

‘86 starts to become a crucial year – as the doctors will tell you – because he bought a large TV and VCR and started buying very heavy porno videos. He started going to a lot of bath clubs and his [objective] was looking for the best-looking guy. And then he would drug that person in those bath houses – the person he chose – with a drug called Halcion, which he was getting prescribed to himself for his alleged inability to sleep. But he didn’t use it. It was only to put others out so [that] in their state he could control and fulfil the fantasies that had been in his mind all this time.

He would masturbate and masturbate and masturbate. When this was happening with these drugged peoples, he would engage in light sex with them and then, when they were out, he would do ‘em as he saw fit – but not killing any of them. He never injured (at least by physical trauma) any of these men that he drugged up until this point in time [and] that he met at the bath houses.

Part of the reason that his fantasy was such that it was taken on this course is because, when they were awake to engage in consensual sex, he was unable to perform for the most part. It was only after they were unconscious that his performance level went to the point where he was satisfied with it. He had to have that in order to perform.

Did this about 10 to 15 times and suddenly it became pretty clear as to who was dropping the knockout pills, so he was barred from these bath clubs. No longer able to go there, so he started taking men to hotel rooms. And we have a number of times – seven, eight, nine, ten times – where he would take consenting adults, go to a hotel and do whatever they do and then it would be over. He didn’t hurt ‘em, didn’t drug ‘em. It just would be ended but he would have no relationship thereafter. 

The world, as we know it to be, started getting singed in November of 1987. When Jeffrey Dahmer started on a killing spree. 

Since the murder of Mr. Hicks did not occur in the state of Wisconsin, it is a matter for the Ohio authorities. 

You’re gonna hear the name of Mr. Tuomi – who was Mr. Dahmer’s second victim ([and the] first victim in Milwaukee County) but an uncharged homicide for reasons that will become clear. The rest of the 15 murders that took place after that were the charge murders.

He met this gentleman and he took him to the Ambassador Hotel and it was agreed that they would have consensual sex. His intention was not to kill him. His intention was to drink and have sex. And that took place, except that Mr. Dahmer and Mr. Tuomi passed out from very, very strong rum that they were drinking. 150 proof rum…

When Mr. Dahmer woke up, he was laying on top of Mr. Tuomi. Mr. Tuomi was dead. A massive bruise was viewed by Mr. Dahmer so he knows he killed him, but he doesn’t know when or how. But he knew this man was dead and he was now in the Ambassador Hotel with the dead body, having signed in for just the night. So he went down[stairs] trying to figure out what he was going to do about this terrible problem and he went down to one of the malls [and] bought a big suitcase. He went back to the Ambassador Hotel, signed-up for another night and, in the stealth of the night, he put this body into this large suitcase, called the cab and took it to his grandmother’s house where he was living. Put it down into a fruit cellar and left it there for a period of time. And then one morning, while his grandmother was at church, he took the body out of the suitcase and he slit it open. And he masturbated. And he removed the head and retained it for a long period of time. And his sexual fantasies that he had – and his conduct with that horrible thing that happened – will be the subject matter of some discussions by the doctors. Dr. Berlin and Dr. Wahlstrom and Dr. Becker will tell you [that] when he woke up in the Ambassador Hotel, it was all over. Mr. Dahmer would continue to do this until it was stopped.  

I am to tell you that his experimentation in bodies started at that time. He started boiling and bleaching the skull and he saved the skull for at least a week and he would masturbate on a few occasions before he disposed of the body. Which he did in the cellar of his grandmother’s house by having the spillage [go] through the sewer system, by smashing the bones and by putting them in disposal bags and by putting them in garbage cans. 

Sacrificial Lambs

If I had my druthers, I would love to tell this story without mentioning anybody’s name. But I can’t do that. So when I mention the names of the victims, I do it hopefully with a religious intonation because they were the most unfortunate victims anyone can imagine – that they had this happen to them. 

I’m going to ask Mr. LeFevre to stand up here and hold up some cards to show you as I will read down the names of these people [and] as to when they died. So that you will understand what I am talking about as I talk…

*There is a slight intermission while Boyle and Mr. LeFevre retrieve several large white cards with the victims names, dates and last locations on for the jury to read while Boyle continues his statement*

We have listed the victims of Mr. Dahmer’s murders.

As I said: The first one was a Mr. Stephen Hicks, who died in June 25th, 1978.

The second one – uncharged for the reasons that should be clear (there is no recollection of how it happened) – [is] Mr. Steven Tuomi. Who died in November of 1987.

The first charged murder is that of Mr. James Doxtator. A youngster born in 1973. Died in January of ‘88.

Mr. Guerrero was the second charge victim – and I’m going to say ‘charge victim’ because we concentrate on those [and] you’re going to have to make a decision on each one of them. [Mr. Guerrero] was killed in March of ‘88. 

Mr. Anthony Sears was killed in March of ‘89. And if you (as I’m talking) see the difference [there] in the term of months – that took place almost a year later.

The next gentleman who was killed was Mr. Raymond Smith, who died in May of 1990. He was also known as Ricky Lee Beeks.

July of 1990: Mr. Edward Smith was killed. And then, two months later, Mr. Ernest Miller from Chicago. I believe at this juncture – prior to this killing – these were folks from [the] Milwaukee area, except for them and Mr. Hicks.

Let me indicate to you that, in preparation for my opening statement, I do as much as I can to be accurate on facts. I’m sure you’re not gonna hold me to every single thing – [like] if I said something happened on a Tuesday, that might not happen on a Wednesday, that’s not important. The evidence will tell you what the exact facts are. I’m trying to give you an overlay, so if it’s later [and] it turns out that I was wrong on a name – or a place, even – that’s my error. Doesn’t mean that I was trying, in any way, to take advantage of anybody by foolin’ ‘em. That’s just a pure error… 

The next gentleman was Mr. David Thomas, who was killed in October of 1990.

And then, in February of 1991 (and up to the end of this killing spree) with victim number eight we find a whole bevvy of homicide:

Mr. Straughter – dying in February of ‘91. Mr. Errol Lindsey – dying in April of 1991. Mr. Anthony Hughes – a month later, May of 1991. And then – in that same month – there was a very, very distressing matter of Mr. Konerak Sinthasomphone. The one that we talked about at all times in the confines of the judges chambers. And a month later, a Mr. Matt Turner. And there was a very short time thereafter [with] Mr. Jeremiah Weinberger. And a very short time after that, Mr. Oliver Lacey. And a very short time after that, a Mr. Joseph Bradehoft.

And then the Tracy Edwards incident, I believe, on the 23rd. Four days later. And, thanks be to God, the end of this side. 

So, with that in mind, as I pull through the next few days in mentioning these human beings – who became sacrificial lambs to Mr. Dahmer’s fantasies – I do it with as much respect as I can muster up.  

He killed Mr. Doxtator and he kept his body a week. And he would lie with it. He would masturbate with it. He defleshed it. Kept the skull. His compulsion – the doctors will tell you – was in full swing.

The Emperor

Sexual acts – as the doctors testify – were more erotic when the victim was dead. His fantasies were having the person comatose and then, after they died, having sex with them. He did not want them to leave. He wanted to keep them, as he did Mr. Guerrero. 

And then, in September of ‘88, he was arrested for a crime – all of that is going to be explained to you in detail – involving a youngster. And he was prosecuted for that. Successfully prosecuted. Pled guilty to that. Received a sentence with the hope of treatment in a form of probation. And it never took. It never took – as the testimony will show – because Jeffrey Dahmer did not want it to take. He did not want to stop what now had become his obsession, his fantasies and his compulsions.

While waiting to go to jail, he killed another man. During the time that he was in jail (for approximately nine months) he was unable to carry out his killing spree – but he certainly didn’t have it or get it under control. He didn’t want to give up these body parts that became so important to him for his purposes of his compulsion. So he went – even before he had to go to jail – and bought a barrel. A sealed barrel that he could keep so that he could retain these parts that became so important to him.

He went about the business of finding out how he could preserve these things so they would not deteriorate – these things that were so important to him in his obsession. He would take things out and look at them and masturbate. He kept body parts such as the genitalia. He played with heads, painted them, coloured ‘em  – the skulls of these poor creatures – and he was able to go to work and he kept them at his place of employment so he could look at them while he was spending his nights in jail.

He was under supervision, he just flat-out rejected it. He flat-out rejected (as he has told and will tell you through the statements he made to the detectives). He did it. He didn’t want it. He wanted to continue. 

He had an experience – in one day off that he had during his period of incarceration – where he was victimised. Where he became a victim but survived, obviously, the thing that was happening between him and another person. And when he got out of the institution, he took his sixth victim. Now he started taking pictures – showing the carnage that he was causing these people as he was going along in this killing spree.  

He even attempted to keep a complete skeleton, but was unable to do that. He didn’t know how to preserve it. He’d called taxidermists to see how to do things like that.

And then we see Jeffrey Dahmer getting into some things that I’m sure the doctors and others will tell you are of some interest, one-way-or-the-other. Interpretation of these facts are going to be done, not by me, but by the doctors.

He started watching some videos and the first one that seemed to really help him understand what he really wanted to be was something called The Return of the Jedi. Because he started thinking that he was – or he wanted to be – like a character, The Emperor, who is portrayed therein. This Emperor who had total control and power over subjects (subjects meaning people). He would bring the victims to his place where he was staying before he killed them and make sure that they watch the same thing.

He went so far as to buy yellow-tinted contact lenses because the emperor in that movie had those kinds of eyes that came out. Gave him a feeling of power. People commented that he looked good with those. His eyes looked good when he would go about praying upon these taverns and other places where he could find his prey.

He’d watch it time and time again.

His method of operation was to find a person who best fit his desire for a body. The person with the body that he became obsessed with was his prey. Whoever fit that description of that body – that physique – was in harm’s way if Mr. Dahmer could persuade that person to come back to his apartment to watch videos, to pose for pictures… And, in fact, the incentive was that he would pay them for doing that.

These men – these victims – were not all of that same sexual orientation. It’s not a material fact. The material fact is that they were solicited and they were brought back with the avowed purpose that Mr. Dahmer was going to drag ‘em up [and] take them from life, through dying, through death, into death – to make them come back into life (his life) by the way he would conduct themselves with them after they were dead.

Into the Viscera

He ate body parts. The purpose of which – as he has expressed it and as the doctors believe it to be – so that these poor people he killed would become alive again in him.

The doctors will tell you about this necrophilia. Which they will say, in Mr. Dahmer, was a mental illness. A mental disease of him on this program – this plan of taking people from life through death, into death and retaining them after death to bring them back into himself. The retention of body parts, the keeping of these many skulls… There came a time when he started maintaining these to build a shrine and the shrine was a shrine to himself. And that will come up in the testimony.

His experimentation with these body parts and these bodies – and the body parts that he retained – is mind-boggling. Mind-boggling for us to understand, to hear, to think about. Boiling skulls to see whether or not that was a way of preserving them. How to dispose of the flesh that remained after his mutilation… Then there came a time where the killing started escalating and his conduct in reference to these body parts started to escalate.

And it got so sad that he started doing surgical experimentation on these poor souls before they died so as to keep them from dying. But not because he cared, but because he wanted them for his purposes. He wanted to create zombies. People that would be there for him. He would have all kinds of sexual contact with the dead bodies. Oral, anal, into the viscera, all kinds.

He became enamoured, overwhelmed, caught up by a character in a movie called Exorcist III. The doctors will tell you that the character that he became caught up with was Satan because Satan was the personification of evil and Mr. Dahmer felt that – because of what he was, what he had done, what he was doing – that there was no entity to relate to other than Satan.

When he brought that youngster up (the one that we’ve talked about, Konerak) and the police went up, in the next room – in his bedroom – there lay the dead body of another one of his victims. Mr. Dahmer persuaded those police officers that what he was doing was okay in reference to that young man – and that testimony is going to be made known to you and aired in this courtroom.

The Bad Part is Over

I think it’s important now for me to start telling you some things that will bring my opening statement to some sort of conclusion. 

My role as an advocate is to convince you – based upon the greater weight of the credible evidence – to a reasonable certainty that this young man was mentally ill.

I am his advocate. Nothing that I have said can, should, might be interpreted as my [own] believing – other than my obligation, my duty and my desire to prove to you that he was mentally ill. We are precluded in a courtroom – all of us lawyers – from telling you what our personal opinion is. It is not appropriate to do that. I have said a lot of things about this young man that are so absolutely evil that one would have to say: “Are you saying that he was evil?” And I’m saying to you that I accept the responsibility of proving to you that this was not an evil man, this was a sick man whose sickness rose to the level of mental illness that he was suffering from. A mental disease at the beginning of these killing sprees – [and] during these killing sprees – which will be shown by the doctor’s testimony to be growing and growing and growing to the point where he became absolutely unable to conform his conduct to the requirements of the law. And, in fact, to really appreciate what he was doing [and] the wrongfulness of this conduct. 

That as this killing spree continued along with this young man (as you will get to know him through the doctors) this isolated person – not the one who isn’t out in the world, but isolated in his own mind. Certainly isolated in his private life. Who lives on his fantasies and who works out his fantasies – was a mentally diseased human being. And as a result of it, he could not have the capacity to conform to the requirements of law until, in God’s providence, Tracy Edwards escaped from his grasp and the police came back and it all unfolded.

My purpose is not to quarrel with Mr. McCann. My purpose is not to quarrel with anyone. My purpose is to let you decide, now that you’ve heard as much horror ([and] it can’t get any worse than this. There will be more details, but the bad part is over. It’s as bad as it can possibly be thought to have been). And I don’t want to walk down here and sit here and say I’m making excuses for my representation of this human being, because I am not. I am a lawyer. I have [the backing of some of the finest experts who I’ll be] bringing into this courtroom and I know the ones on the other sides are bringing in [their experts too]. And I will tell you absolutely, unqualifiedly, that in this courtroom in the next two weeks [there] will be the finest [and] the best [testimonies] this country has to offer. To bring not only to your attention, but [to] whomever else is interested, as to how this horrible, horrible tragedy could have occurred because of an effect of a human mind. 

Everything we do is for you. Those who are interested. The very, very unfortunate victims. Families – who don’t need my sympathy. I can’t ever make it right by them. Ever. No matter what. But I am sensitive to it and I respect the state of Wisconsin for coming in and fighting these charges because that’s what they feel they should [do]. Just as I know I have to do what I’m doing and I make no excuses for it.

When I get to talk to you again it will take on, I think, a different type of statement because then I’ll be able to argue. I can’t argue now. I can only tell you what I know I have to do and I can also tell you that I’m going to do it. I am hopefully going to call a gentleman who’s had some law enforcement experience⁵ – if allowed to do so as we progress – so that you may hear some things about how law enforcement finds things in people of this kind of mindset. But I won’t say anything more than that. 

One of the biggest problems in an opening statement [is] if you say you’re going to prove something [and] you don’t prove it. A jury might say: “He promised us something and he didn’t come through.” I promise you this: I’ll promise you that I’m bringing in three great professionals whose opinions are gonna be disagreed with by others, but that doesn’t make ‘em wrong. You’re the ones who are going to have to make that decision. 

We all came into this courtroom this morning because of the questions you answered during the last few days with no opinion. You fourteen folks have no opinion and you won’t have an opinion until you hear everything – and I believe that. So I ask that you believe what I’ve told you. And if I’ve said things that are out of whack [or] if I’ve misplaced something, that the evidence you hear is the barometer of that. 

If I’ve said anything that’s offended you because I’ve been telling you this story, I submit to you that there’s no way you fourteen can feel that way because we all promised each other that this is what I was going to do when you were ready to accept it. And I appreciate that and your candour. As soon as I sit down, as far as I’m concerned, you no longer exist. My job is to get information out so that you may think about it and then, in the final analysis, we’ll talk about it. And I thank you very much for your attention at this juncture. 

I will move it along quickly. Tracy Edwards, perhaps somebody from law enforcement – certainly a member of Milwaukee Police Department or two. There will [also] be three professionals in the form of two psychiatrists and one psychologist. And I’m not going to stay and ask any more questions than I think you want me to ask. I’m not going to keep in mind and say the same thing over and over and over again. A jury individually and a jury collectively is very bright. And I know I don’t have to do that. So we’ll get to the heart of the problem so you can get to the meat of the question and address it in the final analysis. 

Thank you.

---

Sources:

• WI v. Jeffrey Dahmer: Opening Statement on Court TV
• The Shrine of Jeffrey Dahmer by Brian Masters (1993)
• The Milwaukee Journal

Transcribing is time-consuming and can be a financial expense. If you find this transcript useful, please consider referencing me. I’d really appreciate it! 🙂

1. Dahmer confessed to the total murder of seventeen men but lack of evidence (in the form of Steven Tuomi’s remains) meant there was not enough for a sixteenth charge in Wisconsin. Steven Hicks was murdered in Bath, Ohio, so Dahmer was later tried in Ohio ↩︎
2. If Dahmer was found insane during the time of some – or even just one – of the murders, he would go to a mental institution until deemed sane enough to be put in prison ↩︎
3. Voir dire: A preliminary examination of a witness or the jury pool by a judge or counsel ↩︎
4. The court employed Dr. Palermo and Dr. Friedman to provide an objective assesment of Dahmer’s mental state ↩︎
5. Presumably Boyle is referring to former FBI agent – and criminal profiling pioneer – Robert Ressler. Who interviewed Dahmer as part of the basis for the defences argument but who was later blocked from giving testimony on the grounds that Ressler’s model was valuable when identifying unknown killers but not when determining the state-of-mind of a known offender in court ↩︎