The ignoble legacy left by serial killer Jack Trawick
Posted: Tuesday, April 06, 2010
by Joel Hendon
http://hebronics.org/index.html
The exact date of Jack Trawick's birth seems to be lost and little information of his youth is known. Records list his birth as about 1947 and virtually nothing can be found until he suddenly and radically appears on the scene when he is around 20 years old.
Early in his adult life, he was charged with burglary, impersonating a police officer, kidnapping, making threatening calls, breaking and entering and property destruction. He was diagnosed in 1970 as "a paranoid schizophrenic with homicidal impulses," and was divorced in 1971. (Bhamwiki-Jack Trawick)
He was arrested and questioned by the Jefferson County Sheriff's Office in 1994 on suspicion of a string of attempted abductions of women. It was at this time that he confessed to the murder of Stephanie Gach of Irondale on October 9, 1992. Gach was a 21 year old University of Alabama student. At his arraignment, he pleaded not guilty and not guilty by reason of mental defect.
After he was convicted of Gach's murder in 1994, Trawick wrote Circuit Judge James Hard, who presided in his trial. In the letter, Trawick told Hard that if he did not sentence him to death but to time in the prison system, he would kill a prison system employee. Hard sentenced him to death. (AL.com-Archive: June 11,2009)
Trawick confessed, while in prison, to the killing of 26 year old Aileen Pruitt which the authorities were able to corroborate, he was tried and convicted on that charge also and received a sentence of life in prison without parole. He is also said to have confessed of 12 more killings which could not be corroborated.
It is also reported that Trawick made the statement after conviction of the Gach murder, that he would do it again, knowing full well that it would mean a death sentence. Such statements and his actions were quite obviously indications of severe mental problems. So, he died amid widely varied views of his execution.
It is encouraged that all, regardless of their views, to read the article linked here. It is possible that one might hold a somewhat lesser degree of animosity to this man who hurt so many others. Whether or not, his death was warranted, he seemed to accept the fact that he deserved it. For the other view visit the Equal Justice Initiative.
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