Why do crackpots go by three names?
Leave Hillary Rodham Clinton out of this!
Why do you ask, Senator Wilkes Pardek?
Well, I'm supposing you're being facetious & your question is rhetorical, but it does seem that way, doesn't it? I'd bet, however, that they don't in "real life."
My guess is that they get the names from the police who read 'em off real official-like from a driver's license or other formal ID, and it just kinda sticks. And in cases where there's an odd irony or familiar-name coincidence, like that with John Wayne Gacey, it's certainly going to be perpetuated in the press...
It's pretty simple. The press uses all the names of someone accused of a crime so they're less likely to get confused with other people with the same first and last name.
Lee Lawrence? I bet there's a ton of them in every phone book. There may be more than one Lee Wayne Lawrence, but using all three names narrows it down.
How would you like to explain to your boss or neighbors that you're not the Lee Lawrance they heard about in the news? Saves everyone a lot of grief.
I've been at FR too long. I figured this was just some weird fantasy gone horribly wrong. :-/
And why is the middle name Wanye so often...
Those were the last words whispered by Martin Lucifer Kling to Jesse James Jackarse when Rev. Jackarse said, "James Earl Jonas."