The Only Catholic Priest Ever to be Executed in American

The Only Catholic Priest Ever to be Executed in American 

This is Hans Schmidt, the only Catholic Priest to have been executed in history.

Schmidt illegally married, impregnated, and then brutally murdered and dismembered his mistress. For that crime, he was eventually executed via electrocution, and to this day is the only Catholic priest ever executed in the United States. Turns out, the murder he was caught for was only the tip of the iceberg.

think of priests as the bastions of the kindness of every community. Many priests are there to portray God’s will, and thus many of them act accordingly, helping their respective communities and acting as figures for many to look up to. Even so many priests take advantage of their positions for their own gain, looking at the community that they lead as cash cows or people they can easily manipulate.

Although many priests have been arrested due to such abuses of their community, none of them performed such egregious actions to result in a death sentence. This would be the case until 1916, when German-born priest Hans Schmidt would commit such atrocious acts of violence that he would be sentenced to death by electric chair.

A media spectacle ensued as the New York papers competed against each other with an ever greater degree of sensationalism regarding the case.

Following his arrest, the archdiocese of New York announced that Fr. Schmidt's priestly faculties had been indefinitely suspended.

During Schmidt's first trial, he pled not guilty by reason of insanity. His defense team accordingly used Schmidt's bisexuality and claims of hearing voices as proof of their client's psychosis. The defense also demonstrated that mental illness ran in Schmidt's family. They called a psychologist named Smith Ely Jeliffe, who testified that Schmidt's family tree showed up to 60 near or distant relatives who displayed signs of mental instability and, therefore, Schmidt should be spared the death penalty, because he too was insane. In rebuttal, the prosecution called in other witnesses, including multiple alienists, who had questioned Schmidt before the trial. They, on the other hand, had concluded, despite the defendant's allegations about hearing voices telling him to "sacrifice" Anna Aumüller, that Fr. Schmidt was completely sane. However, the prosecution's efforts were in vain; at the conclusion of the trial in December 1913, a hung jury was declared.

The second trial occurred approximately two weeks later. This time, however, the prosecution introduced new testimony. In April 1913, well before the defendant received his alleged command from God to "sacrifice" Anna, Fr. Schmidt had convinced a fellow German immigrant, a woman named Bertha Zech, to pose as Anna Aumüller and to purchase a $5000 life insurance policy in her name. The policy listed Fr. Schmidt as the sole beneficiary.

On February 5, 1914, after only three hours of deliberation, the jury found Fr. Schmidt guilty of first-degree murder.[25] After being sentenced to the death penalty, Fr. Schmidt said "I'm satisfied with the verdict. I would rather die today than tomorrow." He was sent to Sing Sing Prison to await execution.

Schmidt's defense team filed an appeal shortly after his sentence, which postponed his execution for at least a year while it worked its way through the courts. In December 1914, Schmidt admitted that he feigned insanity during his trials. In admitting so, however, he accused the dentist with whom he had a homosexual affair, Ernest Muret, of having accidentally killed Anna during a botched abortion. Fr. Schmidt further claimed that he allowed authorities to pursue him for the murder rather than Dr. Muret because he wanted to cover for his male lover.

Due in large part to both Muret and Bertha Zech's instance to the contrary, Schmidt's new allegations were unsuccessful in gaining him a new trial. On February 18, 1916, Schmidt entered the Sing Sing death chamber at 5:50 AM. Moments before being seated in the electric chair, Schmidt said "I want to say one word before I go. I beg forgiveness of all I have offended or scandalized and I forgive all who have offended against me!"

Moments before the switch was thrown, Schmidt said in a muffled voice "My last word is to say goodbye to my dear old mother!"

The first jolt of electricity was initiated at 5:52 AM. After two additional jolts were administered, the prison physician pronounced Hans Schmidt dead at 5:58 AM.

A reporter for the Albany Times later wrote "His last night on earth he spent proclaiming his innocence and declaring that he had made peace with God. The guards had expected a scene when the slayer was to be executed. But his actions surprised them. He was the coolest man in the death chamber. He almost domineered those who assisted in putting him to death."

The Schmidt family originally intended to ship Schmidt's body home to Germany. However, due to the ongoing nature of World War I, this idea proved impossible. As a result, Fr. William Cashin, the Sing Sing Roman Catholic prison chaplain, arranged for burial in New York State. At the request of Schmidt's family in Germany, the location of his burial was kept secret.

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