Robert Bingham

Robert Bingham entered the account as an appellate lawyer whose work gave Perry Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock repeated opportunities to challenge their convictions. Appointed with Joseph P. Jenkins after Russell Shultz resigned, Bingham pursued appeals without compensation; the effort was driven by the lawyers’ firm belief that the defendants had been subjected to a profoundly unfair trial.

Appointment and Purpose

A federal judge appointed Bingham and Jenkins to replace Shultz. The book identifies them as exceptionally skillful Kansas City lawyers and emphasizes that they worked without pay. Their representation was therefore presented not as a paid continuation of the trial defense but as a sustained challenge to the fairness of the proceedings and convictions.

Grounds for Appeal

Bingham and Jenkins argued that the defendants had been unjustly convicted because counsel was not appointed until after they had confessed and waived preliminary hearings. They also challenged the competence of the representation at trial, the admission of evidence taken from Richard Eugene Hickock’s home without a search warrant, and the refusal to move the trial despite the lawyers’ contention that publicity in the surrounding area had saturated the venue and prejudiced the accused. The challenged property included a shotgun and a knife.

Repeated Review and Its Limits

The lawyers carried the case to the United States Supreme Court three times. Each petition sought a full hearing through a writ of certiorari, but the Court refused the writs and did not explain its decisions. The appeals nevertheless postponed three scheduled execution dates: October 25, 1962; August 8, 1963; and February 18, 1965.

In March 1965, the Kansas Supreme Court ordered that Perry Smith and Richard Eugene Hickock be executed between midnight and 2:00 A.M. on Wednesday, April 14. A clemency appeal to Kansas Governor William Avery also failed when he declined to intervene. The account thus records both the concrete effect and the limit of Bingham’s work: repeated legal challenges delayed the executions, but did not overturn the convictions or secure clemency.