Hans Schmidt (priest)

Hans Schmidt (died February 18, 1916) was a Roman Catholic priest, the only one to receive the death penalty in the United States.

Background

Born in Germany and ordained there in 1904, Schmidt was sent to the United States in 1908 where he was assigned to St. John's Parish in Louisville, Kentucky. There, a rift with another priest resulted in Schmidt's transfer to St. Boniface Church in New York City.

The Murder

While serving in New York Schmidt met Anna Aumüller, the attractive housekeeper for the rectory who had recently emigrated from Austria. Despite his subsequent transfer to a church in a distant area of the city, Father Schmidt and Anna continued a secret sexual relationship. It was later revealed that they were married in a secret ceremony of dubious legality (which Father Schmidt performed himself). However, after discovering that Anna was pregnant, Father Schmidt slashed her throat on the night of September 2, 1913, dismembered the body, and threw the pieces into the Hudson River.

Trial and execution

Once the body was discovered, a police investigation led to Father Schmidt and he was arrested and charged with the murder. A media circus spectacle ensued, comparable to those caused by the Scott Peterson and Mark Hacking cases of a later era, as the New York papers competed against each other with an ever greater degree of sensationalism regarding the case. After feigning insanity during his first trial, which ended with a hung jury, Father Schmidt was eventually convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to death in the electric chair. On February 18, 1916, Father Schmidt was executed at Sing Sing Prison; he remains the only priest ever executed for murder in the United States.

Other crimes

Apart from killing his young, pregnant "wife," further investigation revealed that Father Schmidt had a second apartment where he had set up a counterfeiting workshop, and uncovered the suspicion that Schmidt had killed and dismembered a nine-year-old girl whose body was found buried in the basement of St. John's church in Louisville, Kentucky, where he had previously worked. Additionally, German police wished to interrogate Schmidt in the murder of a girl in his hometown. Despite never being charged with these other offenses, it was strongly suspected that Father Schmidt was responsible for them as well.

Sources

• Mark Gado (2006-03-30). Killer Priest: The Crimes, Trial, and Execution of Father Hans Schmidt (Crime, Media, and Popular Culture). Praeger Publishers. ISBN 0275985539.
• Insanity Plea