For decades, the media has played a role in influencing the development of high-profile criminal trials, said Marcia Clark, a former Los Angeles prosecutor who spearheaded the highly publicized O.J. Simpson trial. However, access to opposing views has increased, and the public is becoming smarter. .
Mr. Clark has written a new book about the forgotten but scandalous 1950s home invasion murders that rocked Los Angeles. Unfortunately for the main suspect, local newspapers took the prosecutor's shaky case at face value and reported it verbatim, and since she was convicted in public, she has been involved in questionable cases and multiple scandals. In the end, she said, she was given the death penalty.
Clark discussed this case and other high-profile cases on FOX News Digital, including the 1953 murder trial of “Bloody Babs” Barbara Graham, the 1995 Simpson trial in which she was involved; It revealed an unlikely parallel to the media frenzy surrounding Daniel Penny's trial this year. . Penny, a Marine Corps veteran, was found not guilty of manslaughter for strangling Jordan Neely on the New York City subway.
Regardless of how a case is reported, it can have a significant impact on public perception and jeopardize the defendant's right to a fair trial.
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O.J. Simpson (center) listens to the not guilty verdict with attorneys F. Lee Bailey (left) and Johnnie Cochran Jr. for the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman. Simpson was found not guilty. (Myung J. Chun/AFP/Getty Images)
“Now people are looking back and saying, 'Wait a minute, we didn't understand the whole story. We didn't understand the context. We're missing all the nuance.'” And they're serious. “We're starting to critique what we're getting, we're going to analyze what we've got, we're going to contextualize the story, we're going to wait for the whole real story to come out and we're going to tell it when it's true,” she told FOX News Digital. spoke.
As the lead prosecutor in the Simpson trial, she saw cable news firsthand when it became mainstream media in the 1990s.
Nowadays, with the prevalence of social media and the potential for any random post to go viral, there are many perspectives accessible to the public. And, as seen in the recent Daniel Penny murder trial in New York City, people have access to more information and are able to form their own opinions, Clark said.
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Daniel Penny arrives at Manhattan Criminal Court in New York City on December 9, 2024. (Adam Gray, Fox News Digital)
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“Initially, there was an outcry in support of the homeless man who was the victim,” she told Fox. News Digital: “But it turns out that the people who were taking the photos at the time actually called the police at that moment, saying, “I was scared to death.'' “I thought he was going to kill us.'' ” “I thought there was a real reason to be afraid.”
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The technology has put the power to share information in the hands of ordinary Americans, she said.
Barbara Graham, 31, was photographed entering the gates of San Quentin Prison the day before she was executed for the 1953 murder of Mabel Monaghan, 62, of Burbank, California. (Bettman)
“In today's world, people are smarter because we have things like iPhones and Androids that can take a snapshot of what's happening in the moment and give you a broader context.” she said. “And that's a very good thing.”
Clark said there was no internet or cable news at the time of Graham's trial, and all competing newspapers adopted a similar view.
In the 1990s, the Simpson trial became known as the “trial of the century.” Simpson was one of the most famous people charged with murder in U.S. history. Rather than surrender to police as planned, he led police on a low-speed chase while curled up in the back seat of a friend's white Ford Bronco.
The televised trial lasted several months and, thanks to extensive cable news coverage, became part of the daily lives of millions of Americans. And a high-profile and highly paid defense team, including Johnnie Cochran, Alan Dershowitz, Robert Kardashian, Sean Hawley, and Robert Shapiro, was dubbed the “Dream Team” and ultimately won enough for jurors. He was acquitted of Simpson's murder beyond a reasonable doubt. Ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman.
Marcia Clark's new book, Trial By Ambush, will be published on December 1st. (Thomas and Mercer)
“That was one of the similarities I didn't expect to find,” Clark told FOX News Digital. “In Barbara's case…there was no internet, but there were three editions of the newspaper: morning, noon, and evening.”
She said newspapers had declined dramatically since the 2000s, but in the 1950s they were a major part of national life.
“We’ve gone digital, but it’s more than that,” she said. “Those newspapers were the only source of information.”
And in the 1950s, newspapers published prosecutors' articles describing Graham as a “bloody bub” and Mr Clark painted her as the mastermind behind a brutal robbery gone wrong.
Clark examines the details of the incident in detail.Trial by AmbushThe sensational murder of 62-year-old former vaudeville performer Mabel Monaghan in her Burbank home was the inspiration for the Oscar-winning film I Want to Live, starring Susan Hayward, decades ago. disappeared from public memory.
On February 9, 1995, defense attorney Johnnie Cochran discusses graphic crime scene photos with prosecutor Marcia Clark during testimony in the O.J. Simpson criminal trial. (Lee Serrano/Wire Image)
In fact, Graham's role in the conspiracy was to distract Monaghan, so that her accomplices mistakenly believed that her former son-in-law and Las Vegas casino operator tutor Scherer was keeping things in the house. They were able to steal over $100,000 in cash.
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Graham, who had spent most of his life as a low-level hustler, was charged with murder, convicted, and sentenced to death.
But while Ms Clark believes Graham spent most of his life as a con artist, she said she does not believe Graham pistol-whipped Monaghan to death. She claims prosecutors withheld evidence, the media unfairly crucified Graham, a star witness changed his story, investigators provided Graham with a false alibi with the help of another inmate, and that She points out how she used this against her in court to trap Graham.
A Los Angeles County Sheriff's van drives through the gates of San Quentin Jail carrying convicted murderers Jack Santo and Emmett Perkins. Perkins and Santo, who were convicted of killing Mabel Monaghan during a robbery, were also charged with the murder of gold miner Ed Hansen near Nevada City, California. (Bettman)
“She never told the truth. I don't think she can be very trusted,” Clark said. ”[But] She didn't kill Mabel Monaghan. Yes, I believe that. ”
The tactic was legal at the time. But that has changed. Graham's execution took place several years before the Supreme Court's Brady v. Maryland decision found that prosecutors withholding exculpatory evidence violate a defendant's right to due process. Modern law also treats felony murder cases differently in California, where a person is killed during the commission of another felony.
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“This whole operation would now be highly illegal,” she said. “The whole case is going to be thrown out. Whether the case can be resurrected from the ashes is going to be very debatable because the defense is going to say, 'Look, they poisoned us. The jury's position was poisoned by this illegally obtained evidence. ”
Marcia Clark is a former Los Angeles prosecutor and author. (Coral von Zumwalt)
At the time, many behind-the-scenes maneuvers were authorized, including commuting the sentence of an inmate who persuaded Graham to pay for an alibi from a man who turned out to be an undercover agent.
“There were a lot of things we could have avoided back then that we can't do now,” Clark said. “Yet they pushed the boundaries even further and did things that were not allowed at the time, such as burying John True's first recorded statement.”
John True, an accomplice turned state witness, gave contradictory statements to police, which the defense declined to elaborate on, citing a “serious violation of due process.”
Based on evidence the jury never heard, Clark believes Graham was at the crime scene and an apparent accomplice, but not the actual killer. She believes True and two other men, Emmett Perkins and Jaco Santo, were the ones who beat and choked the victim.
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Perkins, Santo, and Graham were all executed. True received immunity in exchange for testifying against the others.
“Interestingly, after she was convicted, one of the reporters who was convinced of her guilt and that she had murdered Mabel Monaghan interviewed her multiple times and then told John True I went to see her a few times and talked to her and realized: There was no way Barbara would have killed her,” Clark said. “Barbara didn't pistol-whip her. John True probably did.”
