Jim Jackson Case Summary

On December 18th, 1969, it was Ed’s 21st birthday and he was released on parole from Atascadero State Hospital against the recommendations of the psychiatrists at the hospital and he was released into the care of his mother. While he was staying with his mother, he attended community college in accordance with his parole requirements. He had hoped he would become a police officer but, he was rejected because of his size of six foot nine. He got a job with the California Department of Transportation and during this time his relationship with his mother remained toxic. When he saved enough money, he moved out to live with his friend in Alameda and he still complained about being unable to get away from his mother with her regularly calling …show more content…
He was assigned the Chief Public Defender of Santa Cruz County, attorney Jim Jackson. Jim Jackson had defended John Linley Frazier and he had also been assigned to the Herbert Mullin case. Due to Ed’s explicit and detailed confession, his counsel's only option was to plead not guilty by reason of insanity to the charges. Ed tried to commit suicide while he was in custody twice but he survived both times. Three court appointed psychiatrists found Ed to be legally sane of the psychiatrists, Doctor Joel Fort who investigated his juvenile records, the diagnosis was that he was once psychotic. The state of California used the M’Naghten standard which held that for a defendant to “establish a defense in the ground of insanity, it must be clearly proved that at the time of committing the act, the party accused was laboring under such a defeat of reason, from disease of mind and did not know the nature and quality of the act he was doing.” …show more content…
He testified that he killed the women because he wanted them for himself, like possessions. He attempted to convince the jury that he was insane based on the reasoning that his actions could only have been committed by someone with an abnormal mind. He said that “ two beings inhabited his body and that is when the killer personality took over, it kind of like blacking out.” On November eighth,1973 a six man- six women jury convened for five hours before declaring Edmund Kemper sane and guilty on all counts. He asked for the death penalty, requesting death by torture , but instead he received seven years to life in prison for each count with these terms to be served simultaneously. He was sentenced to the California Medical Facility for incarceration and medical observation.
In the California Medical Facility, Ed was incarcerated in the same prison block as other notorious criminals such as Herbert Mullin and Charles Manson. As of 2015 Ed remains among the general population in prison and is considered to be a model prisoner. He is in charge of scheduling other inmates’ appointments with psychiatrists and is an accomplished craftsmen in ceramic cups. He also is an abundant reader of books on tape for the