Gerald Leonard Spence - 1929
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Campbell County High School, Gillette, Wyoming
I. Biography
Gerald Leonard Spence was born on January 28, 1929. He was born in Laramie, Wyoming, to Gerald M. and Esther Sophie. On June 20, 1947, Gerry married Anna Wilson and 22 years later they divorced. That same year, Spence married LaNelle Hampton Peterson Hawks on November 18, 1969. Through both of his marriages, he was the father of three children and had three stepsons.
Spence attended the University of Wyoming in 1949. In 1952, he was admitted to the Bar of Wyoming State and the Bar of the U.S. Supreme Court. From 1952-1954, Spence practiced private law in Riverton, Wyoming. Then in 1954-1962, he moved to Lander, Wyoming, in Fremont County and was a prosecuting attorney. He has been in private law firms in Riverton and Casper and from 1962-1978, he was part of Spence, Moriarity and Schuster in Jackson, Wyoming.
II. Professional Life
In 1979, Spence won a multi-million dollar legal judgment on behalf of the children of Karen Silkwood. Spence also won a record-setting 26.5 million dollar trial against Penthouse for a former Miss Wyoming.
When Spence was forty, he suffered a mid-life crisis and explained to David Newman, "I just felt like I was going nowhere." Spence wrote about this time in his life in his book, Of Murder and Madness , after he lost an upsetting three cases in a row. Spence has been involved in many cases in the Supreme Court and is known for swaying the jurors to his side.
III. Literary Works
With Justice for None : Destroying an American Myth (1990)
Of Murder and Madness (1995)
Give Me Liberty! : Freeing Ourselves in the Twenty-First Century (1995)
From Freedom to Slavery (1996)
Trial by Fire: The true story of a women's ordeal at the hands of law (1996)
How to Argue and Win Every Time: At Home, At Work, in Court, Everywhere,
Everyday (1996)
The Making of A Country Lawyer (1997)
O.J.: The Last Word (1997)
IV. Works Cited
"Gerald Leonard Spence." Contemporary Authors. volume 118
Amazon 16 February 2000
This essay was submitted by a student of Nathel Coca, a teacher at Campbell County High School in Gillette, Wyoming.