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“The Butcher Shop”

Some may wonder why a clergyman - a man of the cloth whose ministry has been based upon forgiveness, redemption, and the possibility of a new life - would be so concerned about the Biblical and Contemporary Views on Capital Punishment.

It all began on a hot day (August 16, 1960) in Boonville, Indiana when a local physician, Dr. Robert Terry reported his eleven year old daughter (Avril Terry) was missing. The Terrys were close friends of ours, their youngest daughter taking piano lessons with our oldest daughter from an excellent teacher in Evansville.

There were 42 known sex offenders in the Boonville area and Emmett O. Hashfield was second on that list. He had spent the previous 26 of his 31years in prison on child sex offenses. A recent parolee who had served time for sodomy on a 10-year-old boy, he then lived in a two-room shack just one-half block from the local grade school.

Hashfield had actually tried to seduce young grade school girls into his home. Some of the parents of these girls discovered this plot but refused to alert the authorities because they felt it would be too embarrassing to their family to do so.

Police found at his home a blood-stained mattress turned upsidedown, bloody clothes above the tiled ceiling, signs of blood in his car, scratches on his chest where the child desperately tried to ward him off. His crotch was covered with blood.

They knew they had their man! He was quickly transported to the Warrick County jail on suspicion of murder. When the townspeople got the horrible news they stormed the jail intent on imposing their justice then and there. However the Indiana State Police slipped him out the back door of the jail and took him to their headquarters in Evansville.

He was uncooperative in their continued questioning of him, so they allowed Dr. Terry into the room to question him. The Doctor begged him to tell where Avril Terry was with the hope that there might be some sort of rescue, but Hashfield replied that he had no idea where she could be found, that he had nothing to do with her disappearance, and that they had the wrong man.

For a fleeting moment Dr. Terry wondered if he could really be telling the truth. It was almost a “My God! We’ve got the wrong man” moment! Emmett Hashfield was such a meek appearing person. But then the Doctor remembered the evidence the police had found. He reared back in anger and hit Hashfield in the face with his fist.

That of course brought screaming from Emmett Hashfield and The State Police rushed into the room to rescue him from Dr. Terry. However there was a swarm of photographers and newsmen at the scene and the flash bulbs started popping. They got great shots of his swelling face and eye.

Trouble … REAL TROUBLE! They knew that the appointed lawyers would claim Police brutality against the accused.

Hashfield was securely returned to the Boonville (Warrick County) Jail and was given a hearing by the Sheriff. First Hashfield was offered a lawyer to represent him, but he refused, volunteering this information: “My last lawyer told me I talk too much, so I don’t want one.”

Next he was introduced to three observers — a local newspaper reporter, the local Catholic Priest, and myself (the local United Methodist Pastor). He was offered our services and confidentiality, but he refused both of us clergy persons.

Next the Sheriff asked him if he had any complaints about how he was being treated. He said no … the police had given him everything he asked for or needed and he had no complaints at all.

Then the Sheriff came to the real point of this interview. He asked Hashfield to relate the events the day of Avril Terry’s disappearance. Hashfield informed us that he enticed the girl into his car and drove out to the north side of town to a stripper pit where he intended to rape her. Then he thought better of it and returned to the town square where he let her out of his car. Then he enticed her back into his car with the promise that he had some carved wooden animals at his house that would make a nice birthday gift for her sister.

He told us that he took her to his home. At that point Hashfield said that he did not want to tell everything that happened there. Then he continued with his story telling us that he put her body in a blanket and took her down to the Ohio River and dumped her there.

The Police Brutality Trial

We knew that police brutality was going to be a part of the defense Hashfield’s attorney would inject in the trial. And sure enough … Ferdinand Samper, an Indianapolis lawyer appointed to represent him, quickly called for a pre-trial hearing to investigate the alleged police brutality. It was held in the Warrick County Circuit Court in Boonville.

Several State Police as well as myself were summoned to testify in this regard before a local judge. We were not separated from each other in the Court Room. Ferdinand Samper was a very skilled and efficient practioner of the law. One thing I noticed as he questioned the State Police was that he would ask them a question, then repeat their answer with “Do you mean to tell me?” and he would twist just slightly what they had said. By the time he finished with them some were really confused.

I was called upon to tell the story of Hashfield’s preliminary hearing in the Sheriff’s office. I repeated his testimony as best I could. I was determined that Ferdinand Samper would not be successful in plying that same tactic with me. The first time he tried that I responded, “I stand on my previous testimony. Would you like to have the Court Reporter read again what I said?” After several times getting the same reply, he gave up trying that tactic. He was visibly angry with me.

At that Ferdinand Samper demanded how I (a clergyman) could be there offering privileged communication which is forbidden by law. “How can you, a clergyman, be here testifying against this poor man?” I noted that when he had refused my services as a minister, the confidentiality was negated.

Then I said, “I have not come here to testify AGAINST this man. I have come here to tell the truth as I know it and experienced it. If he had informed us that he was innocent, I would be here telling you that. I am only telling you what I heard him say and what I observed that day in the Sheriff’s Office.”

The Judge threw the case out of court. Police brutality had been soundly disproved.

The Sub Committee Investigating Sex Crime

The authorities were aware and greatly alarmed with the prevalence of sex crimes within the area. A Sub Committee Investigating Sex Crimes was formed and I was one of the members appointed to serve on this committee. The committee requested the presence of Emmett Hashfield’s Parole Officer to answer some of their questions. Why was such a known sex offender so dangerous to the community released on parole? The Parole Officer informed us that if the prisoner had been forced to serve out his full term in jail they would have had less opportunity to legally check on him, but by placing him on parole they would then have the authority to demand his regular reporting to them and following closely his current status.

The Committee brought in the psychiatrist who had cleared Hashfield for parole. We asked what was the realistic or reasonable expectation for complete reformation for such a criminal. It was disconcerting to learn that the chance was minimal … 0% he told us.

I asked why such an offender could not be castrated to prevent further violations. He informed us that castration would not effect the elimination of future sexual crimes because the motivation of such criminals was not the pleasure of sexual fulfillment. A hatred for women and a feeling of lack of power drove sexual offenders to perform their dastardly deeds. We were left with a feeling of powerlessness in the face of the prevalence of such an alarming threat of sexual offenders in our area.

The Murder Trial of Emmett Hashfield

The murder trial of Emmett O. Hashfield was venued to the Monroe County Circuit Court in Bloomington, Indiana with Judge Nat Hill presiding. I was called by the prosecutor to be a key witness. Emmett first appeared in court in a faded orange shirt with his hair disheveled. The intent of the defense was to have him found innocent by reason of insanity and his appearance and actions evidently were designed to facilitate this impression. Hashfield interrupted the proceedings by shouting, “Make him stop it … Make him stop it!” The Judge asked him what he was talking about and Hashfield responded: “He is sending electrical vibrations through the air and it is bothering me.”

Evidently neither the Judge nor the Jury bought this attempt to feign insanity. When it was evident to the defense attorneys that this strategy was not working, the next day Hashfield appeared in court in nice clothing with neat hair — a different man. The Prosecuting Attorneys tried to introduce bloody evidence of the murder of Avril Terry, but the photos of her dismembered body and clothing were deemed too prejudicial to be seen by the jury.

The court ruled that counsel for the accused had not produced testimony from any of the Doctors that would prove the insanity of Emmett Hashfield and that they had failed to sustain their defense of insanity.

I was the final witness in this trial. The Prosecutor had me relate the details of the interview in the Sheriff’s office in which Emmett Hashfield:

1. Denied any incidents of Police brutality.

2. Refused the services of the priest or minister present at the time.

3. Seduced Avril Terry into his car and took her out to the stripper pit on the north side of town to rape her.

4. Thought better of his intentions, changed his mind, and drove her back to town.

5. Released the child from his automobile on the Town Square.

6. Enticed her back into his car with the promise of showing her some wooden carved animals he had which might make a suitable birthday gift.

7. Drove her to his home.

8. Told us that he didn’t want to talk about what happened then and there.

9. Continued his story then by telling us he wrapped her body in a blanket.

10. Took her down to the Ohio River and dumped her body there.

As the final question the prosecutor asked me if, in my opinion, Emmett Hashfield was sane or insane, and I concluded that he was legally sane.

Evidently Attorney Ferdinand Samper had had enough of me for he turned the cross-examination over to his Assistant, Jack Broadfield who identified himself to the court as a former sociopathic consultant for the armed services.

He questioned my testimony for the prosecution at every point. I was cross-examined by him for a grueling 45 minutes. At last he came to the point where he was hired to utilize his previous experience.

He asked what experience I had in equipping me to opine that Emmett O. Hashfield was legally sane. He asked about my formal training and I witnessed that I minored in psychology in both college and seminary.

“All right, Mr. Chamberlin,” he began. “As an ‘expert’ in psychology …” I interrupted him immediately by countering, “I have not claimed to be an expert in psychology!” Again after citing my college and seminary education, he came back again: “Now, as an ‘expert’ in psychology …” and again I countered the same.

“How then can you testify that the defendant here was sane?”

I responded, “Glad that you asked that question. Five minutes before I came into this court room I was in Judge Nat Hill’s library reviewing from his law book the definition of legal sanity. It stated there that legal sanity is the ability to know right from wrong, and the ability to resist a wrongful impulse. Hashfield knew right from wrong when he took Avril Terry out to the stripper pit to rape her and then changed his mind. He knew right from wrong when he changed his mind at the stripper pit. When he brought her back to the town square, he demonstrated his ability to resist a wrongful impulse.”

Emmett O. Hashfield was convicted of the first degree murder of Avril Terry and sentenced to death. When the trial was over, Judge Nat Hill met me in the hallway and said, “Rev. Chamberlin, I can’t say too much about the trial, but I just want you to know that I enjoyed your testimony!” He said that with a broad smile upon his face.

The Prosecutor told me then that “I saved you for the last witness because I knew you would drive the nail in that man’s coffin.” I wished a thousand times that he would not have said that because I live with that haunting thought to this very day.

Emmett Hashfield survived more than a decade on Death Row while motions were made and denied for a mistrial. His death came on an operating table while his tonsils were being surgically removed. He reportedly bled to death.

None of his relatives or friends attended his burial. Had I known about the event I would have at least been willing to appear there to pray and say a few words on his behalf. To have had to play the part I did in his trial and condemnation was not an easy thing for me, but for the sake of my children and the other children of the community and especially for Avril Terry I did what justice demanded I do.

Now to answer the question I began this book with — why a clergyman - a man of the cloth whose ministry has been based upon forgiveness, redemption, and the possibility of a new life - would be so concerned about the Biblical and Contemporary Views on Capital Punishment.

A friend of mine, Norman Troncin, was Sheriff in Boonville. One rainy night I received word that a horrible accident had happened outside of town and a fatality had occurred. A drunk driver had crossed over into the lane of oncoming traffic at high speed. A young lady was killed and was lying there at the scene.

I arrived there with the intent of doing anything I could to help. Sheriff Troncin was standing in the middle of the highway directing traffic, so I approached him and he filled me in on the details of the accident.

I asked him if the next of kin had been notified yet. He looked at the deceased girl, then said to me, “She … is … MY daughter.” I marvelled at his courage to be standing there directing traffic while his precious child lay dead there on the concrete. “How can you be doing this?” I inquired of him. His response - “It is the least I can do to honor her life!” I preached her funeral.

I stand now on the highway of life trying to direct traffic for Avril Terry and all the others who die needlessly at the hands of senseless criminals. ”The least I can do is to honor their lives!”