Transcript for Ted Bundy is convicted and sentenced to death in Florida Chi Omega murders: Part 9
Oh, it’s an indictment. All right. Why don’t you read it to me? For the chi omega murders, a grand jury in Tallahassee issued an indictment against Ted Bundy. Ken katsaris, the sheriff of Leon county with the cameras rolling, the lights on, read through the whole indictment. Let’s read it. Let’s go. Theodore Robert Bundy, you are charged — And of course he kept interrupting me, but I just kept on. It was combination crime drama, combination political theater. He still looked like the boy next door, until that night that the indictments were read. And that’s when the devil came out. He looked each of us in the eye. This was the killer, in that room. You could feel it. I’ll plead not guilty right now. And your grand jurors being present, said court further gives the court — After Ted is charged with the murder and assaults at Florida state, you still have these cases in the northwest but clearly Florida has the best evidence. So the prosecutors obviously got together and said, look, we’re going to prosecute Ted Bundy. I wanted to get him off the streets forever. The trial got off kind of slowly because Bundy was not cooperating with his attorneys. Ted Bundy wanted to be the one who was in charge. Your honor, I am here today because I assert my innocence. The judge allowed Ted Bundy to act as co-counsel. For a defendant to be part of the defense team is extraordinarily unusual. It happened exactly once in my career and that was Mr. Bundy. He had gone to law school. This wasn’t so far-fetched for him to be in a couom, and so, instead of being the guy in the Orange jumpsuit who looked like that crazy serial killer suspect, he was the lawyer guy. A lawyer that represents himself has got a fool for a client. I want to caution you about that, but I’m not going to deny you that right. Some things are best done by yourself than others. It’s the ideal stage for Ted Bundy. He’s self-assured. He thinks he can manipulate and convince a jury through his charm and good looks that he couldn’t have possibly committed these crimes. Court will come to order. Every day during the trial the courtroom was filled. Some reporters, but mostly spectators. A number of them were young women who were I think just drawn to the allure of seeing this guy on trial. Carole Boone was one of the constant personalities. Carole Boone actually met Bundy back in his Washington state days. So she knew him before any of these things happened. She was his advocate. She called him bunny. She was affectionate towards him. He literally sort of pulls her into his web, convinces her he’s not guilty. Your conclusion is what? That he did not commit the murders in Washington state. That he did not abduct Carol daronch. That he did not murder or abduct any of the other women in Utah. That he did not kill Caryn Campbell. That he did not commit the crimes at chi omega, in lake City, or on dunwoody street in Tallahassee. She was a true believer, and she wanted everybody else to have the same conviction that he was not a guilty person. I do. I called ray crew of the Florida state university police department to kinda set the scene of what he saw whenever he got to the chi omega house. Up until then, Mr. Bundy had let his lawyers cross-examine the other witnesses that I had called. For some reason Mr. Bundy decided that he wanted to cross-examine officer crew. Morning, officer. Bundy’s cross examination of officer ray crew, in my mind, was the determining factor of the case. He asked him to describe in detail this horrific crime scene. And can you describe what you saw when you lifted up the covers, as much detail as you can recall and if you need to use your report, please feel free to do so. She was lying basically face down. There was a considerable amount of blood around her head, matted in her hair, on the walls. There was a palpable reaction in the courtroom and amongst the jury when he did that. Uh, her mouth was open and her eyes were open. There was what appeared to be a nylon stocking netted around her neck. As I was describing her injuries and the blood, his grip on the lectern tightened up and his breathing became shallow and sped up. His eyes actually got a little bit larger. I had the distinct impression that he was vicariously reliving it and enjoying it. It was so chilling, it was sickening. As the trial went into its final week, Bundy claimed he didn’t know how he got caught up in the web of crime. The week began with the prosecution introducing evidence to prove that Ted Bundy was the man seen by an eyewitness leaving the scene of the crime. That Ted Bundy’s hair matched hair found in a pantyhose mask. That a bite mark left on one of the victims could have been made only by Ted Bundy. The bite mark evidence, it was both new and unorthodox, and compelling in the trial. The defendant was cool and collected throughout most of the trial. Minutes before the verdict was returned, Bundy told ABC news in a telephone interview that he was prepared for the worst. Publish the verdicts, madam clerk. The state of Florida versus Theodore Robert Bundy. Verdict. We the jury find the defendant, Theodore Robert Bundy, as to count two of the indictment murder in the first degree upon one Margaret bowman, guilty as charged. Poll the jury, madam clerk. Ted’s ultimately convicted basically of all the charges. The jury recommends he gets death. The judge gives him death. It is further ordered that on such scheduled date that you be put to death. After the chi omega trial ended and he was convicted in those murders, he was then facing a new trial. The second trial was over the kidnapping and murder of Kimberly leach in Lake City, Florida. It was a very compelling circumstantial evidence case and in my opinion, much stronger than the case in Miami. It did not surprise me at all that the verdict was guilty. Then in the penalty phase, Bundy represented himself. He called Carole Boone and put her on the witness stand, and had her testify about how much she loved him. And something out of the blue happens. He actually proposes to Carole Boone in front of a camera. Carole, do you want to marry me? Yes. And I want to marry you? Yes. And then he said, “I marry you, and I now pronounce us man and wife.” At that time under Florida law if you asked someone to marry and the person says “Yes,” and there’s a notary republic there, it’s a legal marriage. That did it. Signed it, sealed it, and delivered it. And they married right there in the middle of penalty phase. Now Ted Bundy is a convicted murderer, he’s a new husband, and he is, in effect, a dead man walking. I don’t think anybody doubts that I’ve done some bad things, the question is what of course, and how, and maybe, most importantly, why?
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
