The Guilt of a Man: Reason of Insanity or Plain Criminal? Truman Capote’s 1965 historical nonfiction, In Cold Blood, perfectly illustrates the lives of two men who committed an unforgiving crime. Set in Holcomb, Kansas, the mid-twentieth century, Capote spends a part of his life analyzing the depths and strategies behind these men’s true nature of their lives in exchange for his determined ambition to find out whether the men were wrongfully dealt with or rightfully executed. In order for Capote to expose the truth behind the men’s actions, he must go and find out the background of their lives’, and whether they were competent when committing this crime, more specifically one man. The wrongdoings of men, Perry Edward Smith and Richard (Dick) …show more content…
Since they were both aware of their wrongdoings, Perry “...scraped a hole in the ground with Dick’s hunting knife, the one [he] used on Mr. Clutter, and buried in it the empty shells and all the leftover nylon cord and adhesive tape” (Capote 256). Perry nearly resembled a paranoid schizophrenic, according to Dr. Jones, however paranoid schizophrenics come in and out of their paranoid delusions, and when they’re in one of their delusions, they cannot remember what they had done, yet Perry did know what he had done, and he was perfectly aware of his doings, therefore, he was not insane at the time. Also, if Perry could remember exactly where he had placed the items he used to torture and kill the Clutter family, then it is perfectly safe to assume that Perry was aware of his doings and knew it was wrong because paranoid schizophrenics cannot remember when they’re in their delusional state. However, another doctor’s, Dr. Satten’s, “...contention [is] that only the first murder matters psychologically, and that when Smith attacked Mr. Clutter he was under a mental eclipse…” (Capote 302). With this being said, two doctors do believe that Perry Smith is somewhat mentally unstable, however, Dr. Satten only believes that Perry was unstable …show more content…
Logan Green, an expert criminal lawyer, begins to say why they need to be executed, and the reason he used was stating that if Perry and Dick were sentenced to the minimum, they would eventually escape or have parole, and “the next time they go slaughtering it may be [someone’s] family” (Capote 305). The people against Perry and Dick knew what they were capable of, so they made sure everyone, especially the jurors, understood what it meant if they did not give the men the death penalty. Since Logan Green was an expert lawyer, he knew how to manipulate the mind of the crowd, and they way to it was to hit their soft spot and make them realize that these men are cold blooded killers who killed a family just for money and that it could more likely happen to them if they lived. Many people tried to understand why Perry had done it, but then there was a person who claimed, “many a man can match sob stories with that little bastard. Me included. Maybe I drink too much, but I sure as hell never killed four people in cold blood” (Capote 306). The jury, assumably, never committed murder, so they were trying to sympathize him, however, they were unsuccessfully able to do that because they cannot sympathize someone who willingly killed a family. Obviously, most of the jury was convinced that