The murder of Bonnie Garland took place on July 7, 1977.
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In the early morning hours of July 7, 1977 Yale graduate Richard Herrin bludgeoned Yale college senior Bonnie Garland to death with a hammer as she lay sleeping in her parents' Scarsdale, New York home. The two college students had been dating for several years. Herrin showed up unexpectedly at the Garland home and Bonnie invited him to spend the weekend. They hadn't seen each other in several weeks and Bonnie told Richard she wanted to break off their relationship.
After attacking Bonnie, Herrin stole the Garland family car and drove to Coxsackie. He found a church and told the priest inside, "I just killed my girlfriend."
Herrin was arrested. A group led by members of the clergy of Yale's Catholic Church campaigned to have Herrin released on bail. They raised bail money and wrote letters attesting to Herrin's "good character" to the trial judge. Impressed by the campaign, the judge released Herrin into the care of the Christian Brothers in Albany. While he was awaiting trial he attended classes at the State University of New York under an alias.[1]
Judge Richard J. Daronco presided over the highly publicized trial at the Westchester County Courthouse in White Plains. Richard Herrin was convicted of first-degree manslaughter, rather than second degree murder and was sentenced to the maximum penalty under the law. He served 17 years in state prison at the Wende Correctional Facility in Alden, New York, and was released on January 12, 1995. Critics charged that the sentence was the result of the Yale community and, in particular, the Catholic chaplaincy uniting to support Herrin by portraying him as the victim of his upbringing in a minority neighborhood barrio in Los Angeles. The Garland case foreshadowed others in which the circumstances of the killing were muddied by the personalities of the victim and accused, such as the Preppie Murder case, in which Jack Litman, Herrin's lawyer, represented the defendant.