Because she believed Rakowitz was experiencing psychosis at the time of the killing, hostin said she opposed a guilty verdict.
Sunny Hostin, the “The View” co-host and former federal prosecutor, has revealed that she was the holdout juror in the 1991 trial of Daniel Rakowitz, the New York man accused of killing and dismembering his roommate.
NBC News reported that Hostin said she was the juror who initially prevented the panel from returning a guilty verdict . Hostin is also a lawyer. She graduated from Notre Dame Law School and began her legal career as an appellate law clerk before becoming a trial attorney and federal prosecutor with the US Department of Justice. Her television work has included coverage of major criminal cases. Her account of the Rakowitz trial is based on her recollection more than three decades after the proceedings and the historical newspaper report she referenced during the broadcast.
Rakowitz was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity at his 1991 trial. The jury ultimately deadlocked 11-1. Because she was suffering from postpartum psychosis, clancy’s defense argued that she was not criminally responsible for killing her three children.
ABC says she received a Special Achievement Award from then-Attorney General Janet Reno for her work prosecuting child sexual predators. She also hosted and executive produced the true-crime documentary series “Truth About Murder with Sunny Hostin” for Investigation Discovery.
Hostin’s revelation came during a discussion about Lindsay Clancy, whose Massachusetts murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month.
