Eugene Britt

Case record: Eugene Britt

Background

Eugene Victor Britt was a mentally retarded man who was described as a convicted rapist and a confessed serial killer. He confessed to killing eleven women in Gary, Indiana. He was also described as a homeless man and as having injuries suffered from being hit by a train during a 1995 suicide attempt after the killings. He was at times in a wheelchair.

Britt had an IQ score of 60 on a test given in 1979 while he was in Indiana State Prison. The U.S. Supreme Court decision referenced in the proceedings established an IQ score of 70 as the upper benchmark for mental retardation. Legal arguments in the proceedings also referenced that execution of the mentally retarded violated constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment.

The offence

Britt pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the murder and rape of Sarah Paulsen, 8, of Portage, and also to murders and rapes of other women.

He was accused of murdering six women in Gary while living in a homeless shelter there during the summer of 1995, and he was accused of the strangulation killings of six women and the rape of a seventh in 1995. He was later sentenced for three murders and a rape after pleading guilty but mentally ill.

Police said Britt attacked victims from behind, usually grabbing them by the neck, dragging them to abandoned locations, and raping them. Prosecutors said he attacked women who looked at his face and could identify him.

Specific victim accounts described in the proceedings

• On May 12, 1995, a 13-year-old girl told detectives that Britt had abducted her three days earlier as she was walking home about 8:30 p.m.; he dragged her up a hill and said he would kill her if she screamed. She said he then raped her and let her go because she did not look at his face.
• About two months later, Deborah McHenry’s nude body was discovered in a weedy area behind a house. Britt told police he had followed McHenry as she walked down the street, grabbed her by the neck, and dragged her into a grassy area on the side of a house. He told police he put his hands around her neck while he raped her because she was struggling, and then strangled her when he saw her looking at his face. He said he dragged her body behind the house and threw her clothing in a garbage can nearby.
• The body of 13-year-old Nekita Moore was discovered in a weeded area near an abandoned house June 24, 1995. Britt said he abducted the girl as she walked down a sidewalk, dragged her to the side of the house, and raped her twice while holding his hand over her mouth. Just before he strangled her, Moore pleaded for her life and said, “I'm only 13,” Britt told police.
• On Aug. 13, 1995, Michelle Burns’ body was discovered in a grassy field behind a building. Britt told police he had grabbed Burns from the street and carried her to a grassy area near a building, where he raped her. He said he strangled Burns when she told him she would never forget his face.
• The body of Betty Askew, age unavailable, was discovered in a weedy lot Sept. 2, 1995. Britt said he started talking to Askew as she was walking through an alley; she sensed something was wrong and started screaming. He said he grabbed her by the neck, carried her to a weeded lot between an abandoned house and garage, and raped and strangled her. He also said he took $300 from her purse after she was dead.
• On Nov. 8, the day after detectives’ conversation with Britt, detectives went to a wooded area described by Britt and found the remains of Tonya Dunlap, whom Britt had raped and strangled, he told police. According to court records, Dunlap flagged Britt down and started a conversation. Britt told her he had marijuana. When she found out he did not have any drugs, she tried to run, but Britt grabbed her by the neck and threw her into the weeds. He said he then threw her deeper into the wooded area, where he raped her three times and strangled her.
• A police search party found the decomposed body of Maxine Walker on Dec. 2, 1995, in a weeded area Britt had described. Britt told police he approached the woman as she was walking and asked what she was doing. He said he could tell Walker sensed something was wrong, so he grabbed her and they fell into a weeded area. Britt kept his hands around her neck so she couldn’t scream, dragged her into a wooded area, and raped her twice as he strangled her. He said he then dragged her body into a field and left it there.

Investigation and arrest

Police investigated the death of Sarah Paulsen for weeks before arresting Britt. After Porter County authorities contacted Gary police detectives in November 1995, Britt wanted to talk to them about “other women in Gary,” according to court records. Britt described the murders to Gary detectives from the Porter County Jail on Nov. 7, 1995.

Britt’s confession led police to find bodies of victims. Based on Britt’s information, police found the body of one of his victims in a wooded lot on U.S. 20 behind a vacant restaurant. The bodies of five other women were found later, and it took five years for Britt to be charged in the deaths.

Britt was arrested by Portage, Ind., police for the murder of Sarah Paulsen, 8, of Portage.

Britt was serving a life sentence for the Aug. 22, 1995 murder and sexual assault of Sarah Lynn Paulsen.

Trial

Charges and procedural posture

In February 2002, Britt was charged in Gary murders. In one account, he was charged with six counts of murder and six counts of murder in the perpetration of rape, and an additional count of rape. In another account, prosecutors sought the death penalty and the case involved six death sentence requests.

A bailiff wheeled Britt into court in one proceeding. He openly argued with Deputy Lake County Prosecutor John Burke.

Britt was found competent to stand trial after a competency hearing in which three mental health professionals testified. Peter Gutierrez testified that Britt understood the charges he faced and was able to assist in his own defense.

Defense attorney Kevin Relphorde hinted that an insanity defense might be filed after a competency ruling, requiring additional mental examinations and a separate hearing.

Competency and mental status proceedings

Judge Joan Kouros announced that she would seek one more medical opinion on whether Britt was mentally retarded before deciding whether to dismiss a death penalty murder charge. Deputy Prosecutor John Burke believed Britt was faking mental illness and was demanding Britt be given an IQ test.

Earlier, Kouros ruled that Britt was too deranged to understand the seriousness of his situation and ordered him treated at Logansport State Hospital, indefinitely postponing his jury trial. The Indiana Attorney General demanded Kouros reconsider, alleging she failed to follow state law requiring three psychiatric doctors to examine the defendant and testify at a hearing.

A panel appointed by Kouros in 2000 had found Britt mentally competent to stand trial, and Kouros agreed at that time. Kouros later changed her mind after hearing new defense evidence from Philip Coons, a forensic psychiatrist and professor at Indiana University in Indianapolis. Coons suggested Britt was mentally retarded because he scored low on the IQ test administered in 1979 following another conviction. Kouros asked Merrillville psychologist Dr. Douglas Caruana to examine all evidence involving Britt’s mental status and give an opinion.

In December 2002, the Indiana Attorney General’s office notified Judge Joan Kouros that it would appeal her decision finding Britt incompetent to stand trial. The state filed a motion on Nov. 15 asking Kouros to reconsider her September decision. The attorney general’s office said it would appeal the denial to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

A competency issue was described as whether Britt was competent to assist his attorneys in his own defense. Three court-appointed doctors had examined Britt and found him competent, while Philip Coons testified Britt lacked sufficient comprehension to understand what was happening in his surroundings. After Coons’ testimony, Kouros ordered Britt sent to Logansport State Hospital for at least 90 days.

In August 2003, Lake Criminal Court Judge Raymond Kickbush ruled Britt competent to aid in his defense, agreeing with the Indiana Department of Mental Health finding from July. Britt openly argued with Deputy Lake County Prosecutor John Burke. Britt shouted: “I wasn't there a week,” and later said: “I was only there an hour.” Public defenders Gojko Kasich and Jerry Jarrett requested the production of records supporting the competence finding and requested interviews of doctors Robert Sena and George Parker, who examined Britt.

At the June 2003 proceedings described, Judge Kouros said: “I'm extremely close to dismissing the death penalty. I think I've heard all the evidence I need. I just feel I have to do this final step,” and later sought one more medical opinion. In another proceeding described, Britt was quoted during a competency hearing when asked about a trial. He said: “What I understand is that there ain't gonna be no trial. ... I confessed to this in 1995, so what's the point in a trial?” and also said: “I don't have no education, so I don't understand nothing. I just understand there ain't gonna be no trial.” He later shouted as he was wheeled from court: “You'll do what you want to do, why don't you just kill me? That's what you want to do, why don't you just kill me?”

In June 2000, Lake Superior Court Judge Joan Kouros postponed the setting of a trial date until September. In that hearing, Kouros ordered prosecutors to make available copies or computer images of about 300 crime-scene photographs to the defense, and ordered prosecutors to provide copies of any audio and video tapes of Britt’s confessions.

Mental retardation finding and death penalty ineligibility

Lake Superior Court Judge Salvador Vasquez ruled in September that Britt was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty. Vasquez said: “You deserve to be in prison for the rest of your life,” and: “You deserve to die in prison.” Several people in the gallery responded with, “Amen!”

Defense attorneys argued that because legal standards requiring the defendant to prove mental retardation were made unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court decision, the state should be forced to prove Britt was not mentally retarded. Defense petitions referenced an IQ test score of 60 from 1979, poor school performance, and social and living skills deficits including that he rode a bicycle from Gary to his job in Portage on interstate highways, had never had a bank account, maintained a household, or had a telephone number.

Sentencing

Prior life sentence for Sarah Paulsen

Britt pleaded guilty to the 1995 abduction-murder of Sarah Paulsen, 8, of Portage, and was serving a life sentence without parole for the 1995 murder of an 8-year-old girl in Portage. One account stated he pleaded guilty in April 1996. Another account stated he pleaded guilty and was sentenced May 22, 1996, to life in prison plus a consecutive 100 years.

Porter County officials said that in May 1996 Britt pleaded guilty to the murder and two counts of criminal deviate behavior and was sentenced to life in prison plus a consecutive 100 years. The record described this as “life plus 100 years.”

Sentence for three murders and a rape

In May 1996, Britt pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the murder and rape of Maxine Walker, 41, of Gary, Nakita Moore, 14, of Gary, and Tonya Dunlap, 23, of Knox, and the rape of a 14-year-old girl. He was sentenced to life in prison plus a consecutive 100 years for three murders and a rape.

Final aggregate sentence

In May 1996 plus a later proceeding, Britt was sentenced to 245 years in prison, with the report indicating he was already serving 100 years plus life. The report described that he received the 245-year sentence for three murders and a rape.

Appeals

An eight-year battle was described in filings and proceedings over whether Britt was mentally retarded and whether the state had to prove he was not.

The Indiana Attorney General’s office filed a motion Nov. 15 asking Kouros to reconsider a September finding that Britt was incompetent to stand trial, and said it would appeal the denial to the Indiana Court of Appeals.

Defense counsel also sought a determination that Britt was mentally retarded and sought to force prosecutors to prove he was not, as well as requests for the state to turn over information of testing or psychiatric evaluations done since the 1979 IQ test.

Outcome

Britt pleaded guilty but mentally ill to the Paulsen murder and to murders and rapes in Gary and received life plus consecutive terms.

Judge Salvador Vasquez ruled in September that Britt was mentally retarded and ineligible for the death penalty.

Britt was sentenced to life in prison plus a consecutive 100 years in May 1996 for the Paulsen case. He also received additional life and consecutive 100-year terms for the three murders and rape in May 1996, and he was sentenced to 245 years in prison (date not specified). He remained in maximum-security custody with Vasquez stating he would be housed in a maximum-security prison.

As Britt was wheeled from the courtroom after sentencing, he shouted: “God loves me, too.” Earlier, he regretted his crimes and said: “I'm just sorry. I'm truly sorry for my sins and I take full responsibility for my actions -- ain't nobody but myself. God knows I'm guilty. God knows I'm guilty.”

Aftermath

Families of Britt’s victims battled addictions and mental illness after their losses.

Deputy Prosecutor John Burke said the cases involving “almost unspeakably horrendous crimes” had been time-consuming. Burke also said: “I want justice for these people.”

Deputy Prosecutor John Burke and others described how Britt’s confessions and police investigation connected bodies in multiple locations throughout Gary.

Moore’s sister Veda Robinson said: “Every day I work I feed his behind,” and said Britt robbed them of seeing the youngest sibling enter her freshman year of high school and attend the prom.

The defense attorney Gojko Kasich asked Judge Vasquez to recommend that Britt be held in isolation; Vasquez indicated an order would state that Kasich made the request.

Other details

Britt was described as having been fired from Hardee’s restaurant in the Portage Toll Plaza on the day of Paulsen’s murder; the manager phoned police that he had been sent home for harassing a female cashier about the time the girl had died. Witnesses reported seeing a black man riding a bicycle along Central Avenue about the time of the murder.

The death of Paulsen prompted a media spotlight and an energetic police response compared with the strangulation deaths of several blacks in Gary. The proceedings included a statement: “In a lot the cases with Britt, these women were prostitutes. The families didn't want to say very much for fear of bringing up the other aspects of their personal lives.”

A figure named Caldwell was quoted: “Families of the strangulation victims in Gary were reticent to talk, Caldwell said.”

A statement attributed to Britt included: “Just don't look at me,” and another quoted statement attributed to Britt included: “I don't listen to those evil voices when they talk to me all the time.”

Britt launched into a rambling 15-minute speech about how people in the jail were “playing games on him,” messing with his food and punishing him.