[2] Herring did not lose social status from the event, and instead town gossip maligned Williams, accusing her of leading him astray. Sometimes now I think it was a dream. When football season ended and there was nothing much to do on Friday nights except drink beer and stare up at the wide-open sky, teenagers used to park their pickups across the street from Odessa High School and wait to see the ghost they called Betty. Bettys parents, lost in their grief, were her only visible supporters; her father occasionally leaned forward so as not to miss a word of testimony, dabbing at his eyes with a white handkerchief. She began making comments to her friends about wishing to die so she could leave this world for a better place. He became so mixed up and so sick that he felt pulling the trigger was what he should do for her, Grice testified. On June 27, 1962, the court sided with Sullivan, vacating the judgment and ordering a new trial. Nonetheless, his reputation around town did not suffer. When he broke up with her during her senior year at Odessa High School, her world fell apart. Forrest Wilder writes about politics and the outdoors. They allegedly went to a stock tank on his parents property. Heres What We Want at the Park. It was the week before Wintersetwas scheduled to premiere, and students were busy running their lines and painting the set as they readied for the final dress rehearsal. Herring explained how he believed Betty was to blame and that the letter she gave him was valid in absolving him of any consequences. But Mack was careful to be discreet about the time they spent together. She even went so far as to write out a wildly melodramatic note clearing him of culpability were he to be apprehended for her murder, a note that Howard would later say had seemed like a joke. He complied and entered the water. He married Elizabeth Jane Brown on 4 April 1920, in Clay, Georgia, United States. During this time, she also won $10,000 on a game show . There are people willing to be my friends, but mostly they [are] either too ignorant to understand why Im like I am, and consequently offer my mind no challenge; or they havent the wits to match mine., At the top of Odessa High Schools rigid social hierarchy were the cashmere girls, as one alumna called themthe girls with perfect complexions from West Odessas better neighborhoods who were perennially voted most popular, best personality, and class favorite. Distraught, Betty confided in a friend that he had found her diary, in which she had detailed her experiences with boys. She lived in a small, well-worn frame house on an unpaved street not far from the oil fields west of town, where gas flares burned and drilling-rig lights illuminated the desert at night. Mack led officers to his fathers hunting lease, 26 miles northwest of town, on a lonely piece of scrubland studded with pump jacks. Mack had been a stellar student, one of his teachers told the jury, and added, Ive never known a more brilliant mind. His football coach testified that Mack had never used profanity. But the most compelling testimony came from Marvin Grice, an Odessa psychiatrist who had examined Mack three days after the murder. He retired with 35 yrs. wife. .Memories, so many memories to come back and cloud my mind, memories that Ill carry through all eternity. At Kiss and Kill, John Mack Herring was the primary character. As I have only the will and not the fortitude necessary, a friend of mine, seeing how great is my torment, has graciously consented to look after the details.His name is Mack Herring and I pray that he will not have to suffer for what he is doing for my sake. Few of his former classmates still see him; most have moved away or fallen out of touch. Im sorry about Indiana, but I hope youll understand. Betty had enlisted himthis worthy young manto do what she didnt have the courage to do herself. And no, he hadnt waited to see that shed gotten inside safely. When Mack drove Betty and their friend home from rehearsal one night, she asked him if hed pull the trigger if she held the gun to her head. She said she wanted to die if she couldnt be with Mack, remembers her cousin Shelton, who was a year her junior at Odessas Permian High School. Burnett then asked Mack to explain why he killed Betty. Mack led authorities to a property his father had leased for hunting and fishing. If anything, he became more popular than ever even. Have you met Laura Herring? At a time when Betty felt marginalized by those around her and forsaken by the one boy she loved, death seemed to hold its own allure. By the winter, Betty had started telling friends that she would be better off dead. The pre-trial did not change anyones opinion on Mack, but peoples perception of Betty worsened. I suspect most of us would rather let the thing stay in the past, one Odessa High School alumna wrote me in an e-mail. Herring, youre a wonderful man. Citing this statute, Burnett argued before district court judge G. C. Olsen that before any trial was to take place, jurors should first have to evaluate Macks sanity at the time he pulled the trigger. Shelton Williams assisted the making of the program. He never took Betty to his neighbor Carol McCutchans house, where the in crowd gathered for dance parties and rounds of spin the bottle. His answer struck McAlpine as peculiar; the officer knew that Betty had been dressed for bed when she had slipped out of the house that night. This has not been a free ride for Mack, says his childhood friend Larry Francell. He had parked his Jeep a short distance from the stock tank, and he and Betty had sat there for a while and talked. This story is from Texas Monthlys archives. Mack Herring was a handsome football player with all the right friends. In a place where fun on a Saturday night might mean deciding to take only right turns while cruising around town, Betty dreamed of her escape. She is survived by her daughters, Tina Marie Lane, of Baker, and. The entire proceeding was a perversion of the law, says Sullivan, who is still a practicing lawyer in the nearby town of Andrews. John was eventually charged for murder but was promptly acquitted. Wife: Ada Herring. Im waging a war within myself, a war to find the true me and I fear that I am losing the battle. In an impassioned closing argument that Burnett delivered before a standing-room-only crowd, he hammered home the fact that nearly two years after Bettys murder, the prosecution had still not established a motive. Burnetts line of reasoning flouted legal precedent; sanity hearings are supposed to take up only the narrow question of whether a defendant is competent to stand trial. More Stories for you Viewers are anxious about Gino Odjick, The people want to know does Matteo Messina Denaro has Figli. What happened next is important enough to that city of 120,000's sense of itself that, 58 years later, the event still forms an early paragraph of its Wikipedia page: Odessa is well known for its Kiss and Kill Murder in March 1961. He didnt have an answer. She was depressed and desperate to end her suffering. According to reports, she was less popular than her former partner. . Even when she began acting more erratically during rehearsals for Winterset, her peers wrote off her overwrought confessions about wanting to die as nothing more than a theater girls high school histrionics. Herring was tried and acquitted for the killing after his lawyers argued that he had temporary insanity. She had hanged herself in the theater. If anything, he became more popular than ever even gaining a group of fangirls who were dubbed Macks Girls. Though other classmates had believed that Betty was joking when she had asked them to kill her, Mack maintained that her pleas had had a profound effect on him. [3] In 2019 CBS 7 Odessa stated "Many believe her ghost still haunts the halls of Odessa High School to this day. It sure does feel funny to be on the top of every thing looking down. He was still invited to parties at Carol McCutchans house and was welcome at Tommys Drive-In. I dont [know] what I expected the note to say, but not that. If a girl had a steady boyfriend, then she could have sex, as long as she didnt advertise it, says Jean Smith Kiker, a Capri who was a year below Betty. A new trial took place in Beaumont and was once again attended by dozens of people. But to the astonishment of courthouse observers and over the strenuous objections of the prosecution, Judge Olsen granted Burnetts motion for the pretrial hearing. The first person Burnett called to the stand was Macks father, O. H. Herring, who told the jury that on the day of his sons arrest, Mack had handed him a letter Betty had written. Her tale was included on the television episode A Crime to Remember. Betty had talked about heaven a lot, he said, and had made it appear like a place you could reach out and touch. He explained that on the night he killed her, he had believed he was doing the right thing. This year the new drama teacher had planned a spring production of Maxwell Andersons Winterset. But on Wednesday morning, Herring came forward to talk about his own past. After a few moments, he began to drag something to the edge of the pond. It didnt move him when he pulled her body out of the water or when he said that hed put a shotgun to her head, remembers retired highway patrolman E. C. Locklear. Until some evidence is brought to show the psychiatrists were wrong, Id be inclined to believe them. Jurors agreed, and twelve days before Christmas, they found Mack not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers argued he had temporary insanity. But inconsistencies in his account led McAlpine to believe that the seventeen-year-old knew more than he was letting on. He worked in a variety of blue-collar occupations professionally. Authorities asked him to remove Bettys body from the pond. Mrs. The couple regularly fought and Betty was not allowed to meet his parents or go to parties with him. According to the Texas law, an offender was allowed to be set free if proven they had been temporarily insane at the time of the crime. She is the daughter of the late Thomas Dale Huff and Margie Huff. Birth of Enoch Herrin. Mack Herring December 15, 2009 Mr. Mack B. I caught sight of him one afternoon in November as he pulled up to his house, a mint-green frame house not far from where he grew up. There was already enough pain in 61. Ike was confused but didnt think Betty had been serious about convincing Mack to kill her. Her father, John, was a carpenter who had difficulty finding steady work, and her mother, Mary, had taken a job at J.C. Penney to help make ends meet. As for Macks case, Burnetts first move was to get Mack out of going to trial by using a law no one had ever resorted to before. He didnt like to see things suffer. Her boyfriend, who was a varsity football player, had shot her onstage during a play. John Mack Herring was found not guilty by reason of insanity in the 1961 murder of his ex-girlfriend Betty Williams who, its reported, asked him to kill her. Odessa Kiss and Kill Murder in March 1961. But what advantage he gained in being allowed to present his evidence was negated by Burnetts skill and showmanship. Emily McCullar is a senior editor covering pop culture, news, and Texas history. Early life and education. The verdict deemed Mack was innocent for a second time and the crowd broke into applause. She fancied herself an intellectual and put down her opinions on everything from boys to religion in dozens of letters and notes that she passed in study hall. As I have only the will and not the fortitude necessary, a friend of mine, seeing how great is my torment, has graciously consented to look after the details.His name is Mack Herring and I pray that he will not have to suffer for what he is doing for my sake. Coach Alexei Popyrin Former player Xavier, Florida Gov. After an hour, his father was allowed to sit beside him in the interrogation room. I say this to make sure that no blame falls on anyone other than myself.I have depressing problems that concern, for the most part, myself. During the fall, Betty made a move on Bill Rose, one of Macks best friends. One night he gave her and Howard a ride home from rehearsal, and she made the request of him: Would he be willing to kill her? But she asked him for one last favor: to kill her. Some claim to have seen her pacing the balcony or heard her footsteps behind them, only to find no one there. She wore whatever clothing she wanted, did not accept her fathers religion, and had several relationships with boys from her school. Welcome to Palo Pinto, Texass Next State Park, The Photo the Dallas Cowboys Never Wanted the Public to See, The Top 50 Texas BBQ Joints: 2021 Edition, Please Do Not Touch the Toxic Toupee, a.k.a. Mark Herring is the attorney general of Virginia. . The two then walked to the pond, Betty removed her shoes and kneeled on a blanket that Mack had already laid out. While she aspired to one day appear on the Broadway stage, in the meantime she planned to live at home after graduation and attend Odessa College, just up the street. [4] Herring and Williams went next to a stock tank on his parents' hunting property in Winkler County, 26 miles (42km) from Downtown Odessa. A meager yard of packed dirt and weeds led to the street, and an old rusted pickup sat in the driveway. When you think of me try to think of the good times we had and not of this. Betty and John later became a couple, although their relationship didnt last long. He is survived by his wife of 63 years, Evelyn Page Herring of the home; a son, Mack B. They reside in Leesburg, Virginia. A Democrat, he previously served in the Senate of Virginia since a 2006 special election, representing the 33rd district, made up of parts of Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Herring also says hes proud of his offices work reducing Virginias backlog of untested rape kits. She kissed him, Thank you Macks. Why dredge it up again? But others refuse to forget. She used to ask many guys to kill her after they broke up, which was usually seen as a joke. Kiss and Kill is generally known as the murder of Betty Williams. 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