There is also ample evidence in the book that Smith is indeed severely unbalanced, if not an outright paranoid schizophrenic. During the trial, he notes of Herb Clutter, the patriarch of the family that Smith slaughtered on the same night he first met them, and whom he vaguely attempted to reassure as he tried to rob the man's house, "I wasn't kidding him. I didn't want to harm the man. I thought he was a very nice gentleman. Soft-spoken. I thought so right up to the moment I cut his throat" (Capote 244). This kind of statement shows the general mental and psychological state that Smith maintained during the crime and the trial, yet the judge would not let such evidence be presented and effectively asks for the death penalty in his final instructions to the jury, following the close of the defense's case. This case took only a day...
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