Paul Wright, an aviation company executive, and his friend, John Kimmel, attended a private club meeting on the evening of November 9, 1937. After the meeting they went out for a nightcap at Clara Bow's "It Cafe" in Hollywood. It was getting very late so Paul suggested that John accompany him home, ostensibly to provide back-up when his wife Evelyn questioned him about where, and with whom, he had spent the evening. It was after 2 a.m. when they pulled up to Paul's hilltop home in Glendale. Once inside Paul said he felt fatigued and went to the bedroom for a nap--leaving Evelyn to entertain John. Paul later recalled the events of that night, "I was awakened by some sort of sound--like a piano. It started me out of my sleep. I went to the living room door and saw that the lights were still on. Johnny was sitting at the piano. I could just see his head. He was looking downward. I couldn't see Evelyn and I wondered where she was." It didn't take him long to figure out where his wife was. At that moment everything inside of Paul exploded in what he later described as a "white flame." He got his gun and shot John and Evelyn to death. Paul was put on trial for the slayings. His attorney, Jerry Giesler, had conceived of a creative defense for his client. He said that Paul's WWI service (during which he was gassed), a post-war tuberculosis attack, and a voluntary vasectomy combined to make him emotionally unstable--capable of more violent reactions to shock than normal men. At the time of his arrest Paul had confessed to the murders, but when he got to trial his story changed and his memory conveniently began to fail him. How would the jury view his shifting story? The jury of eight men and four women listened to the x-rated testimony and contemplated Giesler's vasectomy defense. In the end, they found Paul Wright guilty on two counts of manslaughter. But there was a twist--the jury also found that he had been insane at the time of the murders so he was not guilty. When the Lunacy Commission examined Wright they concurred with the jury that Paul Wright was no longer insane. He was freed and would never serve a single day in prison. Photograph caption dated November 16, 1937 reads, "Haunted by the tragedy that took her husband away, Mrs. Maureen Kimmel is shown seated on a piano bench in her Burbank home. Her husband, John Kimmel, was shot by Paul Wright, airport president, who claimed he found his wife in Kimmel's arms on a piano bench in Wright's home and killed them both. 'The whole matter is a such a nightmare to me,' declares Mrs. Kimmel. 'I know there was only one woman in John Kimmel's life and I was that woman.'"
Type
image
Format
1 photographic print :b&w ;26 x 21 cm. Photographic prints
Murder victims' families--California--Burbank (Los Angeles County) Widows--California--Burbank (Los Angeles County) Women--California--Burbank (Los Angeles County) Pianos Dwellings--California--Burbank (Los Angeles County) Interiors--California--Burbank (Los Angeles County) Burbank (Los Angeles County, Calif.) Los Angeles Evening Herald and Express photographs Herald-Examiner Collection photographs
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