Why Didn’t Jeffrey Dahmer Wear His Infamous Glasses During His Trial? – Grunge

A&E explains that by changing his plea to guilty by reason of insanity, this changed the course of Dahmer’s trial. Now, it had to be proved that Dahmer was in fact not insane while he committed his horrific crimes. Per Crime + Investigation UK, his defense claimed that only someone who was out of their mind could do what Dahmer did. His lawyer, Gerald Boyle, stated that Dahmer was “not an evil man, (he) was a sick man” (per The Washington post). Nevertheless, he admitted that his client had performed necrophilia and gruesome science experiments. The prosecution, on the other hand, alleged that Dahmer knew exactly what he was doing.

As The Guardian points out, Dahmer was known for wearing large metal-rimmed aviator-style glasses. However, he is pictured without them in mugshots, and Deseret News writes that he did not wear them during his trial. His stepmother, Shari Dahmer, explained why to “Inside Edition.” She stated (via Deseret News), “He’s not wearing glasses so that he can’t see people. He panics.” Crime + Investigation UK reports that Shari and Dahmer’s father, Lionel, were present for his trial. In February 1992, Jeffrey Dahmer was sentenced to 15 consecutive life terms in prison (per Biography).

A&E reports that 10 out of 12 jurors concluded that Jeffrey Dahmer was not suffering from any mental illness and was, therefore, sane. According to Deseret News, the only time he wore his glasses was during his sentencing. He was later sent to the Columbia Correctional Institute, where he was murdered by another inmate, Christopher Scarver, in November 1994 (via History).