John Deering (murderer)

Deering, who was raised in Chicago, Illinois, stated that he had a tumultuous childhood. Due to neglect, he was committed to a reformatory from the ages of thirteen to eighteen. Aspiring to join the military since his youth, Deering joined the United States Merchant Marine, but soon found himself incarcerated at San Quentin State Prison and Folsom State Prison, both in California. ==Murder case==

At around 9:00 pm on May 9, 1938, in Salt Lake City, 52-year-old real estate businessman Oliver R. Meredith Jr. was found shot and bleeding to death in his car. Meredith was taken to the nearby Madsen Apartments, where he lived with his wife, and died soon afterwards. A .38-caliber shell casing was found nearby and matched bullets retrieved from Meredith's body and also from a carjacking on May 7 of Maurice L. Howe and his wife, Lucie. The couple from Ogden identified Deering as the assailant who had also robbed them of $11 that night in Salt Lake City. Investigators found a .38 Colt automatic pistol that had been sold for $3 around May 12 to a pawnbroker near the Palace Casino in Reno, Nevada. The firearm was traced to Deering and was matched to the bullets from the crime scenes through ballistic fingerprinting. Arrest and confession On July 29, 1938, Deering was arrested in Hamtramck, Michigan, on suspicion of robbing the Hamtramck Finance Company. Having already spent 17 years behind bars, Deering did not want to face another 15 years imprisonment in Michigan. Hoping to be executed after hearing of his mother's death, Deering confessed to kidnapping the Howes and killing Meredith in Salt Lake City. His statement mentioned killing another man on a freight train and disposing of the body in a swamp, though that victim remained unidentified. Investigators later determined that Deering had been responsible for the shootings of two police officers in Salt Lake City and another in Portland, Oregon. Deering was charged with the murder of Meredith on August 1, Right before being placed on a train back to Salt Lake City, Deering stated: "I don't mind dying. I see the futility of it all." Deering admitted his regret for shooting and killing Meredith to steal his automobile. He asked to be executed "without all the red tape and rigamarole of courts." At one point, Deering was restrained by handcuffs after violently protesting the need to call the elderly widow of Meredith as a witness, despite his confessions. The jury delivered a guilty verdict on September 21 after only an hour of deliberation; As no requests for retrial nor commutation of sentence were pursued, his execution date was reached in only about three months from his arrest. Deering's sister Dorothy DeVaney wrote to him, hoping that he would "fight the case", but to no avail. While awaiting his death sentence, Deering sought to be a model inmate and became popular with the prison guards. He publicly stated, "Build more athletic fields and gymnasiums ... Give children more play facilities to keep their minds on wholesome activities. Give them the chance to develop that I never had." ==Execution==

on October 31, 1938. At 6:30 AM on October 31, Deering was taken to a room at Sugar House Prison in the Sugar House neighborhood of Salt Lake City. 75 witnesses gathered to witness the event while blankets were placed over the windows to block the view from hundreds of curious spectators who had gathered outside. The five marksmen, each paid $50 by the county, were selected by Sheriff S. Grant Young. The names of the marksmen were kept secret; one was provided a rifle loaded with a blank cartridge so that they would not know who fired the lethal shot. His heart entered into a spasm for 4 seconds and gradually stopped after 15.6 seconds. On November 8, a surgeon confirmed that tissue from Deering's corneas successfully restored sight to a 27-year-old blind man, whose name was withheld at the surgeon's request. Some of the corneal tissue was also implanted in the eyes of a four-year-old boy who had been blind since birth. Deering had previously offered the transplant to blind Utah County attorney Arnold C. Roylance, who was medically unable to accept the offer. Deering's body was donated to the medical department of the University of Utah, so that, in his own words, he could finally receive a "high class education". On December 28, 1938, Deering's case was featured in a broadcast of the true crime radio show Gang Busters. == See also ==