Pod Insights Dark Downeast The Suspicious Case of Martha “Sunny” von Bülow (Rhode Island) About this episode When a wealthy socialite was found face down and unresponsive on her bathroom floor, she soon slipped into her second coma in a year. This time, she would never wake up. Suspicion surrounded the cause of the woman’s condition from the very beginning, and that suspicion eventually led to an arrest.
Two trials and endless speculation from the public and media later, the question still stands: did someone attempt to end Sunny’s life in order to inherit her fortune, or was the suspect framed?
Transcript Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.
0:01 Kylie Low? Every case starts somewhere. A small town, a missing persons report, a family asking the same questions over and over. But sometimes, a story reaches beyond its own community. Its impact extends further, calling for more attention, more conversation, and a wider audience. That's what Crime Junkie does every Monday. Ashley Flowers and Brett Prewat cover the cases you can't stop thinking about, from unsolved murders to missing people to investigations that still need answers. Because every new person who hears the story is another chance to uncover the truth. Listen to Crime Junkie every Monday, wherever you get your podcasts.
0:47 Kylie Low? When a wealthy socialite was found face down and unresponsive on her bathroom floor, she soon slipped into her second coma in a year. This time, she would never wake up. Suspicion surrounded the cause of the woman's condition from the very beginning, and that suspicion eventually led to an arrest. But two trials and endless speculation from the public and media later, the question still stands: Did someone attempt to end Sonny's life in order to inherit her fortune? Or was the suspect framed? I'm Kylie Low, and this is the case of Martha Sonny Von Builo, on Dark Down East.
1:40 Kylie Low? It was the day after Christmas, December 26, 1979, in Newport, Rhode Island. And something was wrong with 47-year-old Martha Sharp Crawford Von Builo. Martha, who went by the nickname Sonny, had declined over the course of the evening and was feeling weak and uncoordinated, so her son Alexander helped Sonny to her bedroom to get some rest. Around 9:30 the next morning, one of the Von Builo's household staff members, a maid named Maria Schwalhammer, heard some concerning noises coming from Sonny's bedroom. Sonny was moaning in her bed, but Maria was unable to wake her up. Maria went to find Sonny's husband, Klaus Von Builo, and insisted that he call the doctor
2:24 Kylie Low? for his wife, who appeared to be unresponsive. But Klaus did not jump to call for help, not at first. It wasn't until 2:00 PM that afternoon when he finally phoned a physician. The doctor wasn't available at the moment, so Klaus left a message. And when the doctor finally called back about an hour later, Klaus explained that his wife had been struggling with alcohol use disorder, and she had been drinking the night before. Though she was unresponsive now, Klaus said that Sunny was up and out of bed earlier that morning. He told the doctor that Sunny was probably just sleeping off the previous night's indulgences. According to court filings, the doctor did not respond to the Von Bulow house until around 6:00 PM that evening.
3:09 Kylie Low? Sunny's condition had taken a severe turn for the worst, so Klaus called the doctor in a panic, and the physician made it there just in time. Sunny was vomiting and gasping for breath before she stopped breathing and went into cardiac arrest. The doctor was able to revive her, but she was rushed to Newport Hospital in a comatose state. Sunny had suffered cardiorespiratory arrest due to massive aspiration of gastric contents, and she was near death when she arrived at the emergency unit. Doctors also discovered that her blood sugar was exceptionally and inexplicably low. She was administered large doses of sugar, but her levels stayed low for hours.
3:52 Kylie Low? Thankfully, after a full 24 hours of treatment at the hospital, Sunny finally regained consciousness.
4:01 Kylie Low? Doctors delivered a diagnosis of bronchopneumonia and hypoglycemia of undetermined etiology, meaning there was not an obvious or identifiable cause of the low blood sugar level. With that, Sunny was advised to be mindful of her sugar intake and avoid alcohol, and to be careful not to go long stretches of time without eating. The incident was traumatic for Sunny and her family. And it was also odd. According to the Von Bulow maid, Maria, some of what Klaus told the doctor on the phone that day wasn't true. Sunny hadn't been up and about earlier in the morning. As far as Maria remembered, Sunny hadn't been drinking alcohol the night before either.
4:45 Kylie Low? If he really did lie, as Maria alleged, why? Why indeed? To unpack the layers of this case, we need to first understand the life and circumstances of the wealthy, internationally known heiress, Sunny Von Bulow.
5:05 Kylie Low? Martha Sharp Crawford Von Bulow was a presence. She was tall and blonde and elegant, and according to CBS News, she earned the nickname Sunny for her sunny disposition. She was born in 1932 aboard her father's private train car to Annie Laurie Crawford Aitken, who came from wealth of her own, and George Crawford, who built the Columbia Gas and Electric Company in Pittsburgh. The utilities magnate died when Sunny was just four years old. And as reported by Doyle McManus for the LA Times, George left his only child a $75 million estate. Sunny was raised by her mother in New York City, and she attended the finest boarding
5:49 Kylie Low? schools before coming out to society as a debutante in 1951. Several years later, while touring Europe with her mother, she met Austrian prince Alfred Von Augsburg. They married in 1957 and had two children together. Prince Alexander George Von Augsburg and Princess Annie Laurie Von Augsburg, who went by Alla. The couple divorced after eight years of marriage, and Sunny moved back to New York with the children. The following year, on June 6, 1966, Sonny married a Danish-born aristocrat named Claus Von Bulow. Claus had studied law at the University of Cambridge and worked as a lawyer in London
6:33 Kylie Low? before becoming an aide to billionaire J. Paul Getty, who founded Getty Oil Company. Claus quit his job once he married Sonny, though, and they lived off her estate. A year into their marriage, Claus and Sonny welcomed their daughter, Cosima Von Bulow. The family of five lived between two homes, which were paid for and furnished with millions of dollars' worth of art, antiques, and decor by Sonny. There was the 14-room Fifth Avenue apartment overlooking Central Park in Manhattan, and then there was Clarendon Court, a 20-room Oceanside Mansion in Newport, Rhode Island. According to reporting by Bethany Brunel for The Providence Journal, Sonny bought
7:16 Kylie Low? the mansion for $250,000 in 1970 and spent $600,000 in renovations. Most recently, in 2021, it sold for $30 million, potentially the highest-ever residential property sale in the state of Rhode Island. The mansion was designed by the famous architect Horace Trumbauer in 1904. It features a carriage house and three separate guest quarters. The whole estate sits on over seven acres of land with landscaped lawns, a cobblestone courtyard, and panoramic ocean views overlooking Newport's Cliff Lock. High stone walls and an iron gate surround the entire property, which sits on Bellevue
8:00 Kylie Low? Avenue, also known as Millionaire's Row. If you've listened to the Dark Down East episode about the suspicious death of Eduardo Turella, you're already acquainted with Bellevue Avenue and another of its infamous former residents, Doris Duke. It's hard to say for certain what happened behind the iron gates of Clarendon Court because there are so many contradictory stories gleaned from the pages of endless court filings and testimony. What we do know, to be fact, is that on the morning of December 21, 1980, a year after the first medical incident that briefly put Sonny into a coma, Sonny was once again found unresponsive on her bathroom floor.
8:47 Kylie Low? On the evening of December 19th, 1980, Sonny, Klaus, and their daughter Cosima left New York for Newport, where they'd be spending Christmas together as a family. Sonny's son Alexander met everyone at Clarendon Court, and the next day, December 20th, he and Cosima joined their mother for a movie. Before turning in for the night, Alexander chatted with his mother in her bedroom for a while, before she went to the bathroom. They continued their conversation later on in the library, and as the mother and son caught up, Klaus poked his head in to see if his wife needed anything. Sonny asked for some soup, and so Klaus went to fetch it. According to Alexander's later court testimony,
9:30 Kylie Low? about an hour into the conversation with his mother, she started feeling weak and seemed to have a lack of coordination. She could barely stand herself up. It was nearly the same scene as the year prior, as Alexander carried his mother to her bedroom. Alexander found Klaus in his study and let him know something was wrong with Sonny, and then returned to his mother's room. She had made it to the bathroom herself and walked back to her bed but was still feeling weak. A few minutes later, Klaus came to check on Sonny, and Alexander left the two of them alone. Alexander woke up on the morning of December 21st and looked out the window to see Klaus walking along the ocean.
10:13 Kylie Low? When Klaus returned, Alexander asked his stepfather if Sonny had woken up yet, and Klaus seemed surprised that his wife might still be sleeping. When they both went to check on Sonny, they found her bed empty. She was lying unconscious on the bathroom floor. Alexander watched as Klaus put his finger under Sonny's nose to see if she was still breathing. Her breath was shallow, but she was alive. Klaus left the room to call emergency services, and paramedics arrived a few minutes later. According to reporting by H.G. Quigg for United Press International, one of the physicians who treated Sunny when she arrived at the emergency unit that day remembered that she'd been admitted to the hospital about a year earlier
10:57 Kylie Low? with an unusual case of low blood sugar. The doctor shouted for the patient's insulin levels to be tested before any treatment other than oxygen was administered. Sunny's temperature was 81.6 degrees Fahrenheit. That's 17 degrees below normal human body temperature. Her blood pressure was so low it could not be measured, and she was in such a severe comatose state that there was no response when tested for pain. It was one of the most severe cases of coma the doctor had ever seen. The insulin tests came back showing low blood sugar and a "comparatively high insulin level."
11:41 Kylie Low? According to the doctor's later testimony, "The two different levels don't usually occur in a 'normal person under normal circumstances.'" Further blood tests also showed the presence of amobarital, a barbiturate with sedative and hypnotic properties. With the insulin tests complete, the doctor ordered for intravenous salt and sugar, among other treatments, to stabilize Sunny, but her condition was critical. She'd suffered a severe and irreversible brain injury. Sunny was transferred to a different hospital out of state, but after weeks in a comatose state, she showed no signs of conscious awareness or voluntary behavior.
12:26 Kylie Low? She was not expected to ever regain consciousness.
12:37 Kylie Low? I've been trying to get a head start on holiday shopping this year, and I've realized that some of the best gifts are just really nice versions of things people already use every day, which is why I always turn to my BFF, Quince. I got my daughter the cutest lightweight puffer jacket, which is perfect for Layering during these colder months, and don't worry, she doesn't know how to find the podcast app yet, so she won't hear this and spoil her gift. As a New Englander, high-quality outerwear is key, but I can't justify paying triple digits for a jacket that'll fit her for, like, two snowstorms. Quince is high-quality, everyday essentials, not high prices, because they work directly with factories and cut out the middleman. I know you can find what you're looking for from Quince:
13:21 Kylie Low? cashmere sweaters, organic cotton basics, bedding, luggage, a gift for everyone. And hey, pal, you deserve to treat yourself, too. Gold hoop earrings? Add to cart. Give the gift of quality this holiday season. Download the Quince app for app-exclusive offers, or go to quince.com. Get free shipping on your order and 365-day returns, now available in Canada and the UK, too. And when Quince asks where you heard about them, let them know it was Dark Down East. It's the best way to support the show.
13:51 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
13:56 Speaker 02 Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
14:00 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orlands, career public defender.
14:02 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
14:05 Speaker 01 And on our brand-new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
14:11 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
14:28 Kylie Low? Sunny falling into a second coma within a year's span, this one so severe she would never wake up again, seemed to her family the sign of something sinister at play. Sunny's children and her mother believed someone was trying to harm her, and they intended to prove it. Within weeks, Sunny's son Alexander, along with his sister Ella and their grandmother, hired former Manhattan District Attorney Richard Q. as a private investigator. Alexander told the P.I. his theory. He suspected that his stepfather Klaus induced his mother's comas by injecting her with insulin. His theory seemed to be supported by the contents of a small, black bag
15:12 Kylie Low? filled with needles and various drugs that the Von Buehlerd maid claimed she found among Klaus's things shortly after the first coma.
15:23 Kylie Low? You see, in February of 1980, Maria was cleaning Klaus's bedroom closet in the Von Bulow's New York City apartment when she says she found "a large travel bag that belonged to Klaus." According to Maria's future court testimony, inside the travel bag was a smaller, black bag that contained three vials: one full of pills, another with powder, and the last with liquid. Maria put the bag back where she found it, but she said she returned sometime later, could have been days or weeks, she wasn't sure, to examine the contents again. The vials and substances were strange enough to Maria that she decided to write down the information
16:06 Kylie Low? on the labels of each vial. Maria encountered the bag again around Thanksgiving of 1980, and this time, along with the same three vials, were two or three needles, a syringe, and a small bottle labeled "insulin." She called Sonny's son Alexander into the room to show him what she'd found. And she again put the bag back where she found it. Source material indicates that Maria claims she saw the little black bag again on December 19th, the day the Von Bulow's left for Newport, and the day before Sonny fell into the second and final coma. Alexander wanted the private investigator to see this black bag for himself. While Klaus was away for a few days
16:51 Kylie Low? visiting Sonny in a Boston hospital where she was receiving continued care, Alexander tried to track the suspect bag down at Clarendon Court, but he was unable to find it. On December 27th or 28th, 1980, he went to check Klaus's closet for the bag, but the closet was locked. So Alexander and the private investigator decided to hire a locksmith to crack it open. Inside the closet, the pair located a metal box containing a small, black bag similar to the one Maria had shown Alexander before. He said that this time, the bag contained a prescription vial with different types of pills, and another vial holding a light-blue liquid.
17:36 Kylie Low? There were also packets of ampules, a syringe, and three hypodermic needles, one of which was unsealed. Inside the metal box next to the bag, they also found a cardboard box labeled "lidocaine" with an ampule and syringe. As he continued searching the house for clues he thought would support his theory of foul play, Alexander also found a vial in Klaus's study with French wording on it he believed to be Valium, as well as another vial in his clothes. One of the vials had powder in it. Alexander gathered up everything he found and brought it to New York for safekeeping at his sister's place before turning it over to the private investigator, who would arrange
18:18 Kylie Low? to have the vials and needles and substances tested. The Bioscience Laboratory in Great Neck, Long Island, tested samples from a used needle and discovered the presence of insulin on that needle. In fact, the levels were referred to as "extraordinarily high concentrations of insulin." Another specimen from the needle, as well as the mystery powder and liquid found in the vials, were sent off to the Boston Medical Laboratory. Testing there found that the needle sample contained Valium. The powder was found to contain amobarbital, and the liquid was identified as a mixture of amobarbital and a drug called diazepam.
19:03 Kylie Low? The test results on the needles, and powders, and other substances were confirmation enough for Alexander that his stepfather had tried to kill his mother twice, by injecting her with insulin and possibly other substances that caused both of her comas. Alexander turned the black bag and much of the contents over to Lieutenant John Reza of Rhode Island State Police, except for some samples and a hypodermic needle that were first given to the family doctor, and some pills he had found in Sunny's bedroom. Lieutenant Reza found Alexander's theory and the private investigator's findings compelling enough to submit the samples he received as evidence for his own testing on March 20,
19:46 Kylie Low? 1981. The State Police analysis also determined that the pills and vials contained Valium and possible unknown barbiturates. Rhode Island State Police picked up where the private investigator had left off. Four months later, the investigation led to an arrest. On July 6, 1981, 54-year-old Klaus Von Bulow was indicted by a Rhode Island grand jury on two counts of attempted murder on his wife Sunny. Klaus pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $100,000 bond. The state alleged that Klaus Von Bulow twice attempted to murder his wife through insulin
20:28 Kylie Low? injections so he could run off with a mistress and millions in inheritance from his wife. But Klaus was adamant that the prosecution had gotten it all wrong. He believed and intended to prove that Sunny's comas were the result of her own habits and substance use, combined with her low blood sugar condition aggravated by eating too many sweets. The trial of Klaus Von Bulow began February 2, 1982 before a Superior Court, Justice, and Jury. The state, led by Chief Prosecutors Stephen Family Getty and Susan McQuirl, argued that evidence would show Klaus Von Bulow had motive, means, and opportunity to attempt
21:13 Kylie Low? to kill his wife. They called witnesses who testified about the little black bag found in Klaus's personal closet. Among everything allegedly found in that black bag, the insulin took center stage. Sunny's low blood sugar levels, as expert witnesses for the prosecution claimed, could only be caused by the deliberate injection of insulin, which would cause insulin-induced hypoglycemia. But why would Klaus attempt to kill his wife? What possible motive could he have? Prosecutors painted the defendant as a greedy, philandering husband who knew his blank-check lifestyle was at risk.
21:54 Kylie Low? Sunny's son, Alexander, testified for the prosecution that his mother told him she wanted a divorce just a month before falling into the second coma. And a divorce was the worst-case financial scenario for Klaus.
22:10 Kylie Low? According to Beverly Bayet's reporting for the Los Angeles Times, if the pair were to divorce, Klaus would only receive an annual income trust of $120,000 that was established in their premarital agreement. But if Sunny died while they were still married, Klaus was financially set for life. Diane Dumanowski reports for the Boston Globe that according to testimony by the family banker, Sunny's will would leave $14 million of her $75 million estate to Klaus if she died. He went on to say that since being married to Sunny, the most Klaus had made in a year as a financial consultant
22:54 Kylie Low? was $25,250, and he brought in no income in the six years leading up to the comas. This speculation was furthered when a bombshell witness took the stand for the state. Klaus's former mistress, a soap opera actress named Alexandra Isles, told the jury that she'd given Klaus an ultimatum: either marry her, or she was gone. The prosecution also used testimony from Harvard Medical School professor Dr. George F. Cahill, an expert on diabetes and low blood sugar disorders, to argue the cause of Sunny's coma. According to the Hartford Current, Cahill testified that the only possible explanation
23:39 Kylie Low? for Sunny's comas is insulin being injected, either by her or someone else. Now, he had never treated Sunny himself, but he said he reviewed her medical records, and though tests discovered the presence of barbiturates in Sunny's system when she was admitted to the hospital for her second coma, it was Dr. Cahill's medical opinion that the levels of barbiturates at that time were just too low to cause her condition. But as the defense would attempt to demonstrate through witness and expert testimony, those barbiturates, along with alcohol and overindulgence in sweets and spiked eggnog, were precisely what led to Sunny's first coma and her present condition.
24:31 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
24:36 Speaker 02 Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
24:40 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orlands, career public defender.
24:42 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
24:45 Speaker 01 And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
24:52 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
25:08 Kylie Low? According to the defense led by Harold Price Ferringer, all the medical evidence at the crux of the prosecution's case was faulty or unreliable in some way. There were expert witnesses who testified on behalf of the defense that Sunny's condition was just as easily explained by Sunny's own habits and use of substances. The defense wanted the jury to see that Sunny had previously struggled with substance and alcohol use, which exacerbated her pre-existing health conditions, including hypoglycemia. It's reported in trial coverage by The New York Times that Klaus's lawyers introduced something they referred to as "the eggnog episode" during opening statements.
25:53 Kylie Low? They claimed that the night before the first medical episode, Sunny had supposedly consumed something like 12 generous glasses of spiked eggnog, and that, not injections of insulin, is what caused her to fall into the first coma. According to reporting by Steve Shostak for UPI, Dr. Cahill had already addressed and negated the eggnog theory during his testimony. In his medical opinion, eggnog actually would have been exactly what Sunny needed. Quote, "I couldn't think of a better antidote to prevent hypoglycemia," end quote. Dr. Cahill doubled down, testifying that Sunny's condition was caused by exogenous, injected insulin.
26:38 Kylie Low? The trial was a battle of the experts. Dr. Milton Homolsky, an endocrinologist affiliated with Rhode Island Hospital and Brown University, testified that contrary to what Dr. Cahill told the jury, it was near impossible to decide based on medical records whether the two comas were caused by insulin that came from outside Sonny's body. Following Dr. Homolsky's analysis of Sonny's medical record, it was his opinion that ten separate incidents in her past demonstrated, quote, "a woman with a potentially serious psychiatric problem, a woman who is excessive in the use of laxatives, aspirin, alcohol, tobacco," end quote.
27:22 Kylie Low? The defense also argued that the medications and vials and syringes the maid found among Klaus's belongings were either obtained and used for legitimate purposes, or perhaps for Sonny's own activities. One witness from the defense was Sonny's private exercise instructor, who testified that Sonny had recommended injections of insulin to lose weight and shots of Valium to relax. The instructor claimed that Sonny told her it was easy to inject herself. However, this witness also testified that her memory of the conversation was admittedly foggy. Finally, the defense argued that attempting to kill his wife just wasn't within Klaus's character.
28:03 Kylie Low? They challenged the prosecution's assertions that Klaus was some cold, uncaring husband with one foot out the door. Testimony by the Von Bulow's butler portrayed Klaus as a doting spouse who was concerned about his wife's health following her first coma. The witness claimed that he'd even instructed staff to water down any alcoholic drinks she requested. The trial was lengthy and complex. What's covered here is a high-level summary, but it barely scratches the surface of the extensive evidence, nuanced testimony, and vigorous arguments from both sides. It's no surprise that when the case was finally turned over to the jury, it would take nearly a week for them to reach a verdict.
28:47 Kylie Low? But after six days, they did. On March 16th, 1982, the jury found Klaus von Bulow guilty on both counts of attempted murder. He was sentenced to 30 years in prison. However, the verdict was not the last word in this case, far from it. Because Klaus wasn't the only person who believed he was innocent and wrongfully convicted of a crime he did not commit. After the guilty verdict was passed down, Hartford Current reporter Charles McCollum reported that the people of Newport were overwhelmingly in support of Klaus von Bulow's innocence.
29:29 Kylie Low? Crowds stood outside the Newport County Courthouse cheering for the defendant, yelling "Free Klaus!" while booing the prosecution and jurors. Klaus immediately moved for a judgment of acquittal and a new trial, but those motions were denied in March and April of 1982. Undeterred, Klaus sought new legal counsel, but his luck began to change when he hired Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him on appeal. Before representing Klaus, Dershowitz had gained national reputation as a civil liberties lawyer, who had represented a number of people in high-profile cases, including Patty Hearst,
30:09 Kylie Low? and Natalie Shoransky, and multiple individuals who were inmates on death row. Interestingly, Klaus had been granted $1 million post-conviction bail, meaning he was released and free during the appeals process. He only had to pay $100,000 with proof that he had the additional $900,000 in assets should he try to flee. Now, after the guilty verdict, people started to come out with stories about Sunny that supported Klaus's case. Most notably, author Truman Capote, who was known for partying with New York's elite. He did an interview with People Magazine where he argued that Klaus von Bulow was innocent
30:51 Kylie Low? because he knew Sunny used drugs recreationally, and so he believed she caused her own coma. The day reports that during the interview, Capote recalled how Sunny frequently injected herself with amphetamines and was "certainly capable of suicide." Capote went on to say that he did not come forward during the first trial because he believed that the defense would come up with a strong case because "lots of people knew the truth about Sunny."
31:19 Kylie Low? Capote said he never met Klaus, but that he first met Sunny in the 1950s, when she taught him how to use a hypodermic needle and told him she had been injecting amphetamines for a long time. Then, he said, in the 1970s, Sunny told him over drinks that she'd been using the painkiller Demerol, mixed with amphetamines. Meanwhile, there was drama between Sunny's three children over the use of her Newport mansion following Klaus's conviction. According to United Press International, during a year-long effort to have Sunny declared incompetent and appoint overseers of her mansion, Fifth Avenue apartment, and their furnishings, then-16-year-old Cosima Von Bilo accused her half-siblings of barring her from the mansion. She said they threw lavish parties
32:04 Kylie Low? her mother would not approve of, that included people she loathed. Her other siblings called Cosima's claims baseless. Sunny's three children were all reportedly friends before the trials began, but Cosima had sided with her father Klaus and was apparently facing the familial fallout from that. According to court documents, Cosima's maternal grandmother cut Cosima out of her will before passing away in April 1984, depriving Cosima of a $30 million inheritance. During the appeals process, more drama came to light in the form of claims from potential witness David Marriott. The 25-year-old originally agreed to testify for Klaus, saying in affidavits that he had delivered drugs and hypodermic needles
32:49 Kylie Low? to Sunny's son, Alexander, which Klaus's attorney claimed he then gave to his mother. However, The Hartford Current reports that David Marriott went on to say he was actually forced by Klaus Von Bilo to sign the affidavit. He was granted immunity by the prosecution in exchange for 30 hours of tape recordings that he secretly took during meetings with Klaus that he claimed would incriminate the defendant. But Dick Laer's reporting for The Boston Globe indicates that the prosecution ultimately decided not to use David Marriott as a witness, and he lost immunity.
33:27 Kylie Low? The tides of the case really turned on April 27, 1984, when Klaus's request for appeal was granted, and both of his convictions for attempted murder were overturned. The decision was made on two grounds. First, the court found that police did not legally obtain the black bag alleged to belong to Klaus. While private seizure of his black bag by the family was legal, the court decided that the state should have obtained a warrant before taking and analyzing the bag and substances inside. By not obtaining a warrant, the court said the state violated Klaus's Fourth Amendment rights. The court ruled that the prosecution withheld evidence,
34:10 Kylie Low? finding that the judge who tried the case failed by refusing to give the defense access to all the evidence obtained by private investigator Richard Q. The PI had claimed the information was protected by attorney-client privilege, but the court found that he selectively disclosed findings that would help the prosecution. Before the start of Klaus's second trial, Alan Dershowitz said Richard Q.'s notes that were not shared with the defense during the first trial would, quote, "blow the prosecution's case out of the water," end quote. One of the prosecution's star witnesses, the Von Bulow's maid Maria, had testified that she saw needles and insulin in the black bag in Klaus's closet,
34:55 Kylie Low? but the private investigator's notes said there was no insulin, no syringes, and no needle. Instead, the notes state that Maria saw some medicine in the bag, but the labels were scratched off. Klaus Von Bulow's second trial began April 8, 1985. While the first trial received national coverage, it was nothing compared to the media spectacle around Klaus's second trial. According to reporting by Alan Rosenberg for the Providence Journal, this time around, CNN, which was only a few years old at the time, broadcast the trial live, bringing the courtroom into living rooms across the country.
35:37 Kylie Low? It was one of the first cases to be broadcast on live television, ushering in a new era of public interest in criminal court proceedings. CNN spokeswoman Kitsey Barrett told Catherine Embry of The Providence Journal that the network received many complaints anytime they cut away from the trial to cover breaking news. CNN executive vice president for broadcasting Ed Turner said that the network conducted a "phone-in poll of viewer preferences," and of the 35,000 viewers who responded, the tally was more than 2 to 1 in favor of continuing the extended live coverage of the Von Buehlerg trial. CNN aired its live coverage much more than other networks, clocking in with a record
36:19 Kylie Low? time of 60 hours of trial coverage. According to Turner, initially the ratings were average, but when Klaus's mistress Alexandra Isles testified, they doubled from about 300,000 to 600,000 viewers. Now Alexandra Isles was not exactly an eager witness. She actually had to be brought to court by way of warrant for her arrest because she was hiding out, afraid to appear because she claimed Klaus sent her threatening letters since her testimony in the first trial. Klaus denied doing this. When she finally did take the stand as a prosecution witness, Alexandra testified that on the day Klaus found Sonny in her first coma, he made two calls to her and told
37:03 Kylie Low? her during one of those calls, he tried to let his wife die before calling the doctor. Prosecutors focused on that call Klaus made to the doctor after the first coma, claiming he lied when he told the doctor Sonny had been drinking the night before and had been up that day. A star witness from the first trial, Sonny's maid Maria, testified that she came in and out of the room trying to wake Sonny up multiple times to no avail, and that her breathing sounded like a rattle. She also said Klaus stayed in the room with his unconscious wife, refusing to call the doctor all afternoon. The prosecution maintained that before the first coma in 1979, Sonny was in good health and never showed signs of low blood sugar.
37:47 Kylie Low? They alleged that during the first hospitalization, Klaus insisted to doctors that the cause of her coma was that she drank a lot of spiked eggnog the night before. But this was contradicted by blood and urine tests that showed no signs of alcohol in her system, just unusually low blood sugar and unusually high levels of insulin.
38:08 Kylie Low? A big part of the state's case from the first trial, something that really held up the motive for Klaus to do alleged harm to his wife, wasn't allowed at the second trial. The prosecution could not present any testimony about Sunny's will and the money Klaus would inherit should she die. Pieces of Alexandra Isles's testimony from the first trial, like the part about the marriage ultimatum, also could not be presented as evidence in the second trial.
38:43 Speaker 01 You know that thing where you're scrolling the internet and suddenly you're three hours deep into a celebrity lawsuit?
38:48 Speaker 02 Where you hear a courtroom term and think, wait, what does that actually mean?
38:52 Speaker 01 I'm Eliza Orland, career public defender.
38:54 Speaker 02 And I'm Taya Johnson, law professor and legal analyst.
38:57 Speaker 01 And on our brand new podcast, Criminally Online, we break down the law behind the stories you can't stop talking about.
39:04 Speaker 02 No legal degree required, just curiosity. Find Criminally Online wherever you get your podcasts.
39:20 Kylie Low? When it was time for the defense to call their witnesses and present their rebuttal to the arguments made by the state for a second time, it was clear that Klaus was prepared to fight to prove his innocence once and for all. Tracy Breton reports for the Providence Journal that the defense presented new evidence in the second trial, including testimonies from longtime friends of Sunny who say her use of drugs and alcohol went back to the 1950s. Affidavits from other members of the Von Bulow's house staff claim Sunny's maid, Maria Schralhammer, hated Klaus. The defense argued this made her testimony unreliable and suggested she worked with Sunny's son to frame Klaus.
40:01 Kylie Low? The defense also used medical testimonies to assert that the needle with traces of insulin that convicted Klaus the first time never even poked Sunny's skin. Affidavits state that the laboratory tests done on the needle were scientifically invalid, and that the results indicate there was no insulin on the needle, and a false positive reading was originally recorded. Not only that, but they say the needle, the state's proposed attempted murder weapon, never could have touched Sunny because she had no visible marks on her skin, and no skin or blood traces were found on the needle. According to the defense, there were any number of explanations for Sunny's condition, but the defendant trying to kill her was not one of them.
40:44 Kylie Low? They argued that both of Sunny's comas could have been the result of hypoglycemia. The comas also could have been the result of her supposed excessive use of aspirin, or her use of drugs and alcohol, or maybe by purposefully taking an overdose of barbiturates and alcohol. On June 7, 1985, the jury began deliberations on the nine-week-long trial. Sunny's family, Klaus, every person watching the trial unfold in the courtroom, and on televisions across the country, waited to hear if this time, things would end differently for the defendant. The second trial was different in many significant ways from the first. The integrity of the state's case was undeniably challenged,
41:28 Kylie Low? and certain procedural issues from the first trial were since corrected for the second. Evidence that had been improperly admitted before was now excluded, like any mention of the financial upside Klaus might see from Sunny's death. Alternate medical explanations were presented, and the credibility of the prosecution's witnesses was rigorously challenged. Three days later, the jury returned with the much anticipated verdict. Klaus von Bulow was acquitted of all charges.
42:03 Kylie Low? Shortly after the acquittal, Sonny's children, Alexander and Ala, filed a civil action in federal court against Klaus to the tune of $56 million alleging common law assault, negligence, fraud, and RICO violations. As part of their lawsuit, the children did another laboratory test on the needle that originally convicted Klaus, and the new test apparently confirmed the original, finding it contained insulin, Valium, and Emma Barbitol. In an interview with Beverly Bayette of The Los Angeles Times, Sonny's children said they felt the second trial focused on their mother's character, putting "her" on trial instead of Klaus, who they believed the system favored.
42:47 Kylie Low? They also believed that the judge for the second trial influenced the outcome by disallowing evidence they saw as essential, primarily the tapped testimony from the first trial where Klaus's former mistress Alexandra Isles confessed to giving him a marriage ultimatum, and testimony from a bank trust officer that outlined Sonny's will. Sonny's daughter Ala went on to say that some in their community felt, quote, "We should have kept our mouths shut and dealt with this internally because that's the way things are done in Newport," end quote. But then they saw their stepfather's August 1985 Vanity Fair cover and couldn't stay quiet. The article, published mere months after his acquittal, was written by Dominic Dunn,
43:31 Kylie Low? a confidant to both sides during the second trial. The article centered around Klaus and his new girlfriend and was filled with pictures of them lounging around Sonny's Fifth Avenue apartment where they were living together. Dunn explained that Sonny's estate paid for the upkeep of the apartment, meaning Klaus and his girlfriend were basically being supported by his wife, who remained in a coma. At the time of the article, Klaus was still married to Sonny, and therefore still technically had control over her life and stood to inherit the Fifth Avenue apartment, the Newport mansion, and $14 million. Klaus filed his own lawsuit against Sonny's son, Alexander, alleging that he locked the
44:13 Kylie Low? infamous black bag in the metal box himself and placed it in Klaus's closet before arranging the discovery of evidence, and that he committed perjury by testifying he found the bag in Klaus's closet. The lawsuit also alleged that Alexander influenced his grandmother into cutting Cosima out of her will. The legal battles between Klaus and his stepchildren finally ended with a settlement in 1987. Klaus's lawyer told Tracy Breton of The Providence Journal that as part of the settlement, Klaus agreed to give up the millions of dollars he would have inherited upon his wife's death, as well as a trust fund from his wife that provided him with $120,000 a year.
44:54 Kylie Low? He also had to move out of his wife's Fifth Avenue apartment and officially divorce Sunny. He agreed on the grounds that Cosima's inheritance from her grandmother's $105 million estate be reinstated. According to their lawyer, Alexander and Ala agreed to settle because they didn't want Klaus to have any power over their mother's medical treatment. Quote, "They wanted to be rid of him as far as their family and their mother was concerned, and they wanted to make sure that he did not profit from what he did." End quote. In May of 1986, Random House published Reversal of Fortune: Inside the Von Bulow Case, a book by Alan Dershowitz, the defense attorney who represented Klaus on his appeal.
45:39 Kylie Low? The book details Klaus's first criminal trial, the successful appeals, and his ultimate acquittal. The book makes the case for Klaus's innocence, which Dershowitz came to accept while working as his defense attorney, suspecting he had been framed by the children. The book even includes a chapter titled "Suitable for Framing," where he speculates that Sunny's children, with the help of her maid and others, planted the drugs and evidence among Klaus's possessions after Sunny fell into the irreversible coma. The book would later be turned into the 1990 movie by the same name, Reversal of Fortune. Sunny's children, Alexander and Ala, took steps to leave their mother a legacy beyond salacious court cases and lawsuits.
46:24 Kylie Low? Following the acquittal, they founded the National Victims Center and the Brain Trauma Foundation in her honor, with a focus on helping other victims. The work of these foundations continue to this day to assist crime victims and promote brain trauma research. The National Victim Center in Fort Worth, Texas, serves victims of violent crime by fighting to improve victims’ treatment in and access to the courtroom, with the help of thousands of grassroots organizations and a growing database. The Brain Trauma Foundation in Manhattan researches secondary injury to the brain following an accident or trauma by giving grants to researchers.
47:04 Kylie Low? Cosima Von Bulow, meanwhile, Klaus’s daughter with Sonny, manages the Sonny Crawford Von Bulow Fund at Morgan Library and Museum in New York City. The fund buys artwork in Sonny’s name. For the remainder of her life, Alexander and Ella made sure to surround their mother with what she loved during their regular visits to her private, guarded hospital room in the McKean Pavilion of Columbia Presbyterian Medical Center. They told Karen Zeiner of The Providence Journal how they would bring her favorite flowers and plants, ensure there was a fresh supply of her own linens, and play her favorite operas for her on a cassette tape. Sonny Von Bulow never woke up.
47:46 Kylie Low? After 28 years in a coma on December 6, 2008, she died at the age of 76. Klaus Von Bulow died in London on May 25, 2019. Without a doubt, the story of Sonny Von Bulow is heartrending. She was a vibrant, beloved woman, reduced to a comatose state under tragic yet debated circumstances. Her suffering and condition deeply impacted those who loved her, leaving them to navigate their own grief amidst unanswered questions. At the same time, if Klaus Von Bulow was indeed innocent of the crimes he was accused of committing, his conviction in the first trial represents a grave injustice.
48:30 Kylie Low? Wrongful convictions are themselves tragedies. Although Klaus was ultimately acquitted, the cloud of ambiguity surrounding Sonny’s tragedy still looms over all involved. It just goes to show that justice and certainty do not always align.
48:55 Kylie Low? Thank you for listening to Dark Down East. You can find all source material for this case at darkdowneast.com. Be sure to follow the show on Instagram @darkdowneast. This platform is for the families and friends who have lost their loved ones and for those who are still searching for answers. I'm not about to let those names or their stories get lost with time. I'm Kylie Low and this is Dark Down East. Dark Down East is a production of Kylie Media and AudioChuck. So what do you think Chuck? Do you approve? (growling) In New England, investigations can shift with the tide.
49:40 Kylie Low? And my friend Delia Diambra, host of Park Predators, knows just how the landscape can shape a case. From beaches to national parks around the world, Delia investigates true crime cases as compelling as the places where they occurred. Through her signature boots-on-the-ground reporting, she goes beyond the headlines and speaks directly with those closest to the case. If you're ready to follow the evidence beyond the trail, listen to Park Predators every Tuesday wherever you get your podcasts.
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