Gregory Ulas "Greg" Powell
(August 2, 1933[ – August 12, 2012)] was an American criminal who kidnapped Los Angeles Police Department
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
Officers Ian Campbell and Karl Hettinger on the night of March 9, 1963. Assisted by accomplice Jimmy Lee "Youngblood" Smith, Powell took the officers to an onion field near Bakersfield, California
Bakersfield is a city in Kern County, California, United States. It is the county seat and largest city of Kern County. The city covers about near the southern end of the San Joaquin Valley and the Central Valley region. Bakersfield's populat ...
, where Officer Campbell was fatally shot.[ page 747]
Infamously known as the "Onion Field" Killer, Powell's story was depicted in Joseph Wambaugh
Joseph Aloysius Wambaugh, Jr. (born January 22, 1937), is a best-selling American writer known for his fictional and nonfictional accounts of police work in the United States. Several of his early novels were set in Los Angeles and its surroun ...
's 1973 non-fiction book, ''The Onion Field
''The Onion Field'' is a 1973 nonfiction book by Joseph Wambaugh, a sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department, chronicling the kidnapping of two plainclothes LAPD officers by a pair of criminals during a traffic stop and the subsequent m ...
''. The book was later made into a 1979 film adaptation of the same name in which Powell was portrayed by James Woods
James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off-Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in '' The Trial of the ...
.
Biography
Early life
Powell was raised in Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
by a dysfunctional family.[ His father was a musician who was often absent during his childhood and his mother had health problems, leaving Powell to take care of his three younger siblings.][ At age 15, Powell ran away from his home and hitchhiked to ]Florida
Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and to ...
, where he met a Catholic priest
The priesthood is the office of the ministers of religion, who have been commissioned ("ordained") with the Holy orders of the Catholic Church. Technically, bishops are a priestly order as well; however, in layman's terms ''priest'' refers only ...
and they had a brief sexual relationship.[ page 49] At age 16, he stole money and a car from his sister; he stole another car when he was 18.[ page 85] Powell served time in Michigan for car theft.[ When he was 20, Powell was released from prison.][ At one point in his life, after he and his family moved to ]California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
, Powell underwent a craniectomy
Decompressive craniectomy ('' crani-'' + '' -ectomy'') is a neurosurgical procedure in which part of the skull is removed to allow a swelling brain room to expand without being squeezed. It is performed on victims of traumatic brain injury, st ...
or a craniotomy
A craniotomy is a surgical operation in which a bone flap is temporarily removed from the skull to access the brain. Craniotomies are often critical operations, performed on patients who are suffering from brain lesions, such as tumors, blood clots ...
at Vacaville Medical Facility to remove a brain tumor
A brain tumor occurs when abnormal cells form within the brain. There are two main types of tumors: malignant tumors and benign (non-cancerous) tumors. These can be further classified as primary tumors, which start within the brain, and seconda ...
.[ Powell was frequently in and out of prison; by the time he was 29 years old, ten of the last 13 years of his life were spent behind bars.][ He was officially paroled in May 1962.][ Powell worked as a thief and had often robbed liquor stores.] He also worked as a gay hustler.[ As of January 1963, Powell had been responsible for a series of armed robberies in ]Las Vegas
Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
.[ At the time of the kidnapping, Powell was residing in ]Boulder City, Nevada
Boulder City is a city in Clark County, Nevada, United States. It is approximately southeast of Las Vegas. As of the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census, the population of Boulder City was 14,885. The city took its name from Boulder Canyon ( ...
.
Kidnapping of Campbell and Hettinger
At about 10:00 p.m.[ on March 9, 1963, in ]Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
, Officers Campbell and Hettinger pulled over a 1946 Ford coupe with Nevada license plates at the corner of Carlos Avenue and Gower Street for an illegal U-turn. Present in the vehicle were Powell and his accomplice, Jimmy Lee Smith.[ According to Powell, "...when the officers stopped our car, we had our guns ready."][ After Powell was ordered to get out of the car, he disarmed Campbell by pointing a gun at his head and threatened to kill him.] Hettinger did not put down his gun until Campbell told him to. With Smith's help, Powell abducted both of the officers and forced Campbell to drive them to an onion field in Bakersfield.[
]
Murder of Campbell and arrest
When they arrived at the onion field, the officers were forced out of the car and ordered to stand with their hands above their heads.[ Powell asked Campbell, "Have you ever heard of the Little Lindbergh Law?"][ After Campbell replied, "Yes", he was shot in the face, specifically the mouth.][ According to Hettinger, it was Powell who shot Campbell on the face; he then told the '']Los Angeles Times
The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...
'', "I knew I was next. I turned away and ran down the road. When I looked back, they fired at me...." Hettinger successfully managed to escape from Powell and Smith, running to a farmhouse. It is believed that the four other bullets that hit Campbell's chest[ were fired by both Smith and Powell.][ However, Powell claimed that Smith fired the four other shots whereas the latter claimed the former fired them.] Powell was arrested a few hours later by a CHP officer after attempting to escape via a stolen car.[ Although Powell was armed at the time of his arrest, he showed no resistance.][ Smith was arrested the next day.
]
Conviction and imprisonment
On September 4, 1963, Powell was convicted of the kidnapping of Campbell and Hettinger and of the murder of the former.[ He was sentenced to death in November that same year.][
]
Retrial and escape attempts
In July 1967, Powell was granted a second trial; once again, he was convicted and sentenced to death.[ Later that year, Powell unsuccessfully attempted to escape from ]San Quentin State Prison
San Quentin State Prison (SQ) is a California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation state prison for men, located north of San Francisco in the unincorporated place of San Quentin in Marin County.
Opened in July 1852, San Quentin is the ...
with three other inmates.[ In 1968, he attempted to smuggle guns into the ]Los Angeles County Jail
The Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department (LASD), officially the County of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department, is a law enforcement agency serving Los Angeles County, California. LASD is the largest sheriff's department in the United States a ...
, and in 1969, he attempted to escape its recreation room.
Commutation
By 1972, his sentence was commuted to life in prison when the state of California declared the death penalty
Capital punishment, also known as the death penalty, is the state-sanctioned practice of deliberately killing a person as a punishment for an actual or supposed crime, usually following an authorized, rule-governed process to conclude that t ...
unconstitutional.[
]
Parole denied
Powell was originally scheduled for parole on June 13, 1982. A petition submitted by the group Citizens for Truth in Justice garnered 31,500 signatures protesting against parole, which led to the rescission of Powell's parole date. The group was assisted in its effort by Powell's victim's daughter, Valerie Campbell. Powell was able to obtain an order of release from Solano County Superior Court Judge Ellis Randall. However, John Mancino, founder of Citizens for Truth, was able to submit a legal brief to the First District Court of Appeals in San Francisco ordering Powell to remain in prison. The case then went to the California Supreme Court, where Mancino and his group prevailed.
California Governors George Deukmejian
Courken George Deukmejian Jr. (;
June 6, 1928 – May 8, 2018) was an American politician who served as the 35th governor of California from 1983 to 1991. Of Armenian descent, Deukmejian was a member of the Republican Party and he also serve ...
and Jerry Brown
Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he was elected Secretary of S ...
were against Powell being released. Powell's lawyer, Dennis Riordan, blamed it on a February 1982 TV airing of ''The Onion Field
''The Onion Field'' is a 1973 nonfiction book by Joseph Wambaugh, a sergeant for the Los Angeles Police Department, chronicling the kidnapping of two plainclothes LAPD officers by a pair of criminals during a traffic stop and the subsequent m ...
''.[ Between 1982 and 2010, Powell had been denied parole 11 times.][ Powell had worked as a clerk in the law library at the ]Mule Creek State Prison
Mule Creek State Prison (MCSP) is a California State Prison for men. It was opened in June 1987, and covers located in Ione, California. The prison has a staff of 1,242 and an annual operating budget of $157 million.
As of July 31, 2022, MCS ...
in Ione, California
Ione ( ) is a city in Amador County, California. The population was 7,918 at the 2010 census, up from 7,129 in 2000. Once known as " Bed-Bug" and "Freeze Out," Ione was an important supply center on the main road to the Mother Lode and Southern ...
. By 1994, Powell was incarcerated at Deuel Vocational Institution
Deuel Vocational Institution (DVI) was a state prison located in unincorporated San Joaquin County, California, near Tracy. The prison closed on September 30, 2021.
Facilities
DVI opened in 1953 and named for California state senator Charl ...
. In 2011, Powell had also been denied compassionate release despite a diagnosis of terminal prostate cancer.
Reaction to ''The Onion Field''
Joseph Wambaugh, author of ''The Onion Field'', interviewed Powell while he was in prison. According to Wambaugh, Powell had only one complaint about the book, "that he owellthought he was more physically attractive than I portrayed him to be."[ Wambaugh also confirmed that one of Powell's lawyers claimed Powell would have been released from prison had it not been for the book or its film adaptation.][
]
Media portrayal
Powell was portrayed by actor James Woods
James Howard Woods (born April 18, 1947) is an American actor. He is known for his work in various film, stage, and television productions. He started his career in minor roles on and off-Broadway. In 1972, he appeared in '' The Trial of the ...
in the 1979 film ''The Onion Field''. Woods did not meet with Powell when preparing for his role. Woods was nominated for a Golden Globe
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
for his performance in the film.
Death
On August 12, 2012,[ Powell died of ]prostate cancer
Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that sur ...
at the California Medical Facility in Vacaville, California
Vacaville is a city located in Solano County in Northern California. Sitting approximately from Sacramento and from San Francisco, it is within the Sacramento Valley. As of the 2020 census, Vacaville had a population of 102,386, making it ...
.[ He was 79 years old.][ His death occurred two days after a Hollywood intersection was dedicated in Officer Ian Campbell's name. Tyler Izen, president of the ]Los Angeles Police Protective League
The Los Angeles Police Protective League (LAPPL) is the police union representing Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) officers up to the rank of lieutenant. LAPPL has a membership of 9,900 sworn officers.
The LAPPL serves to protect the inter ...
, issued a statement: "Gregory Powell was a cold-blooded murderer who avoided the death penalty, but he won't escape God's judgment. While Officer Ian Campbell can never be brought back, nor the damage and heartache caused by Powell and Smith be undone, justice was upheld when the parole board denied Powell's request for compassionate release and ensured he drew his last breath while confined behind prison bars."
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Powell, Gregory
1933 births
2012 deaths
American robbers
American kidnappers
American people convicted of murder
People convicted of murder by California
People from Michigan
People from Boulder City, Nevada
Deaths from cancer in California
Deaths from prostate cancer
1963 murders in the United States