Minor characters: forces of justice

Sheriff Robinson

The Holcomb sheriff is one of the first men on scene at the Clutter home, and is called out again when Paul Helm spots Adrian having broken into the Clutter home.

Josephine Meier

Josephine Meier is married to Garden City’s Undersheriff Wendel Meier. She is a remarkably compassionate woman who fulfils the rather thankless job of serving as a cook and seamstress at the county jail. She meets Perry while he is imprisoned there and takes pity on him, preparing a fancy meal for him and Don Cullivan when he visits. Her tendency to see the best in people is dismissed by her husband, who says her opinion of Perry would be far less generous if she had seen the bodies of the Clutters. Nevertheless, she holds Perry’s hand when the guilty verdict is delivered and he is sentenced to death.

Special Agents Harold Nye, Roy Church, and Clarence Duntz

Nye is the youngest member of the KBI investigation team, but is responsible for discovering most of the incriminating evidence. He is also tasked with interviewing the remaining members of the Clutter family, and learns that “of all the people in all the world, the Clutters were the least likely to be murdered.” He and Church are responsible for interrogating Dick upon his capture, while Dewey and Duntz interrogate Perry. They do not play a major role in the book, which is something Capote was criticised for; many claimed he aggrandised the role of Alvin Dewey for the sake of having a more cohesive, single hero, when in reality it is thought that these other men were just as important to the investigation.

Arthur Fleming

Fleming is Perry’s lawyer in the murder trial. He is an “old... classic country lawyer more happy at home with land deeds than ill deeds,” but does his best to advocate for Perry.

Harrison Smith

Smith is Dick’s lawyer in the murder trial and accepts the task with “resigned grace” knowing that someone must fulfil this unpalatable role. He is a “mild and lenient man” though adopts an “aggressive” manner when questioning Floyd Wells on the stand.

Judge Roland Tate

Tate is the judge in Dick and Perry’s murder trial. One of the jury members later tells Capote that Tate is a “lawbook lawyer” who “never experiments [and] foes strictly by the text,” and that if they were on trial, Tate is either the best judge to have if you are innocent or the worst one if you are guilty.

Duane West and Logan Green

West is the county attorney tasked with prosecuting the case against Dick and Perry. He is an ambitious 28 year old who appears 40 or 50, and pursues the death penalty as he argues Dick and Perry deserve worse than Kansas’ second most severe sentence of “life imprisonment” which typically only amounts to less than fifteen years.
Green is the assistant prosecuting attorney and is the one to explain they can use the M’Naghten Rule to counter a defence of insanity. He becomes a “star” of the trial and delivers the closing remarks, calling on the jury to find Dick and Perry guilty without “a single doubt.”