Sunny Hostin, co-host of “The View” and a former federal prosecutor, has disclosed her experience as the holdout juror in the 1991 trial of Daniel Rakowitz. Rakowitz was accused of murdering and dismembering his roommate in New York. Hostin revealed that she opposed a guilty verdict, citing her belief that Rakowitz was experiencing psychosis at the time of the crime.
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.
NBC News reported that Hostin said she was the juror who initially prevented the panel from returning a guilty verdict .
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 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.
Hostin’s revelation came during a discussion about Lindsay Clancy, whose Massachusetts murder trial ended in a mistrial earlier this month.
