b: 1956
Summary
Name:
Joseph GeistYears Active:
1986Birth:
May 22, 1956Status:
ImprisonedClass:
MurdererVictims:
2Method:
ShootingNationality:
USAb: 1956
Summary: Murderer
Name:
Joseph GeistStatus:
ImprisonedVictims:
2Method:
ShootingNationality:
USABirth:
May 22, 1956Years Active:
1986Joseph Geist was reportedly born on May 22, 1956. By 1986, Geist was living or working in the Chicago area and was employed as a taxi driver. Contemporary reporting described him as a neo-Nazi and stated that he admitted being affiliated with the American Nazi Party.
In 1986, Geist shot multiple adult male victims in the Chicago, Illinois area in what has been described as a series of apparently random attacks. Two of these shootings proved fatal; at least one additional victim survived being shot.
Geist's case proceeded through separate trials over several years. In 1989, he was sentenced to 65 years in prison for one of the murders. In 1990, he received an additional 18-year sentence for the attempted murder of a victim who survived being shot. In 1991, he was convicted and sentenced to death for a second murder. On January 17, 1992, this death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment following an appeal.
