Details of the crime

In the early morning hours of July 7, 1977 Yale

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

 graduate Richard Herrin bludgeoned Yale college senior Bonnie Garland to death with a hammer as she lay sleeping in her parents' Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale, New York

Scarsdale is a coterminous town and village in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the northern suburbs of New York City. The Town of Scarsdale is coextensive with the Village of Scarsdale, but the community has opted to operate solely with a village government, one of several villages...

 home. The two college students had been dating for several years. Herrin showed up unexpectedly at the Garland home and Bonnie invited him to spend the weekend. They hadn't seen each other in several weeks and Bonnie told Richard she wanted to break off their relationship.

After attacking Bonnie, Herrin stole the Garland family car and drove to Coxsackie

Coxsackie

Coxsackie may refer to:* Coxsackie , New York* Coxsackie , New York* Coxsackievirus -- any of a group of 23 Coxsackie A viruses and 6 Coxsackie B viruses....

. He found a church and told the priest inside, "I just killed my girlfriend."

Judicial proceedings

Herrin was arrested. A group led by members of the clergy of Yale's Catholic Church campaigned to have Herrin released on bail. They raised bail money and wrote letters attesting to Herrin's "good character" to the trial judge. Impressed by the campaign, the judge released Herrin into the care of the Christian Brothers in Albany. While he was awaiting trial he attended classes at the State University of New York under an alias.

Judge Richard J. Daronco

Richard J. Daronco

Richard Joseph Daronco was a federal judge in the United States.Daronco was born in New York City. He graduated from Providence College and Albany Law School, and practiced law in White Plains, New York from 1959 to 1971...

 presided over the highly publicized trial at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains

White Plains

White Plains may refer to:Places* White Plains, New York* White Plains, Georgia* White Plains, Kentucky* White Plains, Maryland* White Plains, North Carolina*White Plains , listed on the NRHP in South Carolina...

. Richard Herrin was convicted of first-degree manslaughter, rather than second degree murder and was sentenced to the maximum penalty under the law. He served 17 years in state prison at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, and was released on January 12, 1995. Critics charged that the sentence was the result of the Yale community and, in particular, the Catholic chaplaincy uniting to support Herrin by portraying him as the victim of his upbringing in a minority

Minority group

A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...

 neighborhood barrio

Barrio

Barrio is a Spanish word meaning district or neighborhood.-Usage:In its formal usage in English, barrios are generally considered cohesive places, sharing, for example, a church and traditions such as feast days...

in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

. The Garland case foreshadowed others in which the circumstances of the killing were muddied by the personalities of the victim and accused, such as the Preppie Murder case, in which Jack Litman

Jack Litman

Jack Theodore Litman was a criminal defense lawyer most famous for his "blame the victim" defense of Robert Chambers, Jr. ....

, Herrin's lawyer, represented the defendant.

External links

• A review of The Yale Murder