WASHINGTON -- The Supreme Court without comment Monday refused to hear the final appeal of John Wayne Gacy, convicted of killing 33 young men and boys.
Illinois Attorney General Roland Burris immediately asked the Illinois Supreme Court to set an execution date.
It was the third time Gacy's case had come before the high court. Each time his appeal was rejected without comment.
Gacy, convicted of more murders than anyone else in U.S. history, could become the first condemned man in Illinois to be executed against his wishes since the death penalty was reinstated in 1977. Charles Walker was put to death in 1990 after he dropped appeals of his murder conviction.
Gacy, a part-time clown and Democratic precinct captain, was convicted in 1980 of the murders of 33 young men and boys. Most of the bodies were hidden in the fetid, worm-infested crawl space beneath Gacy's suburban home near O'Hare International Airport.
In a recent interview with WBBM-TV, Chicago, Gacy denied all knowledge of the crimes even though he once told investigators he was responsible for 45 killings.
'People don't want to know the truth,' Gacy said. 'Then, fine. Then go ahead and kill me but 'vengeance is mine sayeth the Lord' because you will have executed somebody that didn't commit the crime.'
Gacy, a construction contractor, lured teenage boys and young men in their early 20s to his home in Norwood Park, Ill., just west of Chicago, where he tortured and sodomized many of them, then killed them and buried some of their bodies in the worm-infested crawl space beneath his ranch-style house. Other bodies wre found in the garage and four were tossed into the nearby Des Plaines River.
Testimony during the trial showed Gacy killed some of his victims through a method called 'the rope trick.' His victims were handcuffed with their hands behind their backs. A rope was slipped around their necks and a stick was knotted through the rope. Eventually, they strangled.
Gacy was sentenced to death in 12 of the killings and to life in prison for the other 21.
Police were led to Gacy while investigating the disappearance of Robert Piest of Des Plaines. He was reported missing Dec. 11, 1978, after he failed to meet his mother at a Des Plaines pharmacy. Piest had worked for Gacy's construction firm. Hisbody was found in the Des Plaines River.
