Stephen H. Kessler

Stephen H. Kessler is a person who was known as the "LSD Killer".

Education

He attended Harvard College and graduated class of '57, and was enrolled in Downstate Medical School in 1964, but was asked to leave because of his unstable behaviour.

Trial

He was arrested in April 1966 and tried for murder in October, having apparently stabbed his mother-in-law 105 times. Headlines trumpeted him as a "Mad LSD Slayer" and "LSD Killer", based on a statement made during his arrest that he had been "flying for three days on LSD". Kessler testified at trial that he had taken LSD a month prior to the murder, but a psychiatrist later testified that Kessler told him he took LSD on the day of the murder. His drug use was revealed as having been "one-and-a-half grains of phenobarbital" and "three quarts of lab alcohol".
Psychiatrists testified that he had paranoid schizophrenia and he was found not guilty by reason of insanity.