Kill Count~ 7
Aileen "Lee" Wuornos is on Death Row in Broward County, convicted of the murder of six men. Lee says all of the men raped or attempted to rape her. At the time of the killings, Lee was working as a highway prostitute. All of the men she killed were men who picked her up and who, she says, violently attacked her. Many other men picked up Lee during this period and she did not harm them. Several men have testified that they spent days or weeks with her and she never threatened them. They did say that she was worried that they would attack her.
Lee has been tried only once--for the killing of Richard Mallory--but has been convicted of six murders. In her videotaped confession, which was the key evidence used by the prosecution in her trial, Lee said more than 60 times that she acted in self-defence. None of these references was included in the version of that tape which was shown to the jury. The prosecution claimed that Mallory had no history of sexual violence. It was later revealed that Mallory had been convicted of attempted rape in Maryland, and had threatened to harm other women. Evidence of these prior attacks was not presented at her trial. The jury was allowed to hear evidence of crimes Lee had not been convicted of.
According to the prosecution, portraying Lee as a "serial killer" won them the death penalty. Lee does not fit the profile of a serial killer. No serial killer has ever claimed they killed in self-defence. Serial killers stalk their victims; they do not kill in moments of fear or passion.
