Ted Bundy.
Summary: Ted Bundy’s defense lawyer opens up about representing the deranged serial killer.
In a new documentary, serial killer Ted Bundy’s attorney admitted that he felt Bundy was “evil.”
Criminal defense attorney John Henry Browne spoke to the creators of Oxygen’s “In Defense Of,” and he said that when he first met Bundy in October of 1975, he thought the killer was evil.
Bundy was one of America’s most notorious serial killers. He was a former law student who managed to escape twice before he was convicted in 1980, Fox News said. Investigators said that he had killed at least 30 women around the US, but some believe that the number was actually much higher. He was executed in 1989 at the age of 42.
Browne, now 71, spoke to Fox News and said that Bundy was “born evil.”
“Ted was the only person in my 40 years of being a lawyer that I would say that he was absolutely born evil,” Browne told Fox News. “This is really the only person, after representing thousands of clients in 40 years that I would say that about. I didn’t want to believe people were born evil, but I came to the conclusion that Ted was… He had this energy about him that was clearly deceptive, very sociopathic.”
Browne said that Bundy was a dishonest person who was manipulative.
“I got that feeling right away when I first met him. He was manipulative, he was dishonest. But at the same time, he was… basically, a really good version of a used car salesman. He seemed very believable. But my intuitive side said ‘No, he’s not telling the truth about a lot of this,” Browne added.
Browne said that despite his reservations about Bundy he still represented him, and he said that once Bundy had even called them “friends,” a statement that deeply troubled Browne.
The FBI said they were unsure who was Bundy’s first victim but his reign of terror began in 1974 when numerous college students disappeared in Washington. He also killed women in other states such as Utah and Colorado, and he reportedly was able to lure in women with his handsome smile and classic good looks.
In 1980, the serial killer was convicted of murdering Kimberly Leache, who was 12. Bundy had abducted, raped, and mutilated her in Florida.
Browne said that although Bundy was attractive, his looks did not sway him.
“I think there’s a big distinction between actually being charismatic and trying to be charismatic,” Brown said. “Ted was trying constantly to be charismatic and charming and projecting an image of himself that was mainstream upper-class prep school. He was trying to sell that. But it was very apparent to me that… he was putting on a show to be those things.”