1995 famous trial

After five and a half months of testimony from a whopping witnesses, the final iteration of the jury weighed evidence for just seven hours before declaring Peterson guilty of the murders of his wife and unborn son.

He sat unflinchingly as he was sentenced to death for his crimes. You can learn more about the case here. The Oklahoma City bombing was a tragic event that shook the nation to its core.

The media frenzied with coverage of the events surrounding the April act of terror. It was on that fateful day that year-old Gulf War veteran, Timothy McVeigh—with the help of accomplice, Terry Nichols—detonated an enormous truck bomb that was parked in front of the Alfred P.

Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. The explosion killed people , including 19 children, six military personnel, 99 employees of the federal government, eight law enforcement agents and three pregnant women. The attack was quickly labeled an act of domestic terrorism , suspected to have been committed as a reaction to the federal raid of a Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas almost exactly two years earlier. After sifting through 22 days of testimony from witnesses, jurors found McVeigh guilty on all 11 counts of his federal indictment, to which his emotionless response sent chills down the spines of everyone watching.

At the recommendation of the jury, the judge sentenced McVeigh to death. After a series of denied appeals and unforeseen delays, he was executed by lethal injection on June 11, Among his final statements made as his execution date neared, McVeigh proclaimed that his only regret was not completely leveling the federal building in his attack.

You are certainly not alone if you find yourself fascinated by the inner workings of our justice system and the twisted minds of some of the most notorious criminals. But have you ever considered taking your interest in crime and courtrooms to the next level?

There are several other courtroom careers you could consider. Take a look at a full run-down in our infographic, " Order in the Court! A Visual Guide to Courthouse Jobs. There are some errors in the form. Please correct the errors and submit again. By selecting "Submit," I authorize Rasmussen University to contact me by email, phone or text message at the number provided. There is no obligation to enroll. Jess is a Content Specialist at Collegis Education.

She researches and writes articles on behalf of Rasmussen University to help empower students to achieve their career dreams through higher education.

Posted in Criminal Justice. Brianna Flavin Callie Malvik Hannah Meinke This piece of ad content was created by Rasmussen University to support its educational programs. Rasmussen University may not prepare students for all positions featured within this content. Please visit www. Is Jodi a sexual deviant? On April 11, , the trial of war criminal Adolf Eichmann was the first to be completely televised.

Here are 11 of the most-watched since then. Shortly before he was executed in , convicted serial killer Ted Bundy copped to murdering 30 women across the country between and though some believe the true number to be more than that. More than journalists from around the globe descended on Miami in the summer of , when proceedings began in the case of the Chi Omega murders—where Bundy broke into a sorority house at Florida State University and attacked four women in less than 15 minutes, killing two of them.

Much like the O. Simpson trial, a famous last or, more accurately, middle name fueled public interest—and goosed viewer ratings—in the case of William Kennedy Smith, the year-old Kennedy clan member charged with rape following what he professed was a consensual sexual encounter in Palm Beach, Florida. When it came time for cannibalistic serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer to stand trial for the murder of 15 boys and men, Court TV was there—but on a second delay, in order to carefully edit out those exhibits and discussions that might be too disturbing to viewers.

On February 17, , more than 60 global news organizations were on hand to broadcast the guilty verdict. We learned a while back that the defendants were believed to be responsible for at least 6 million murders. What we have been getting in the past few days are details about some of these murders … [t]hey are not new, because the evidence had already run through every conceivable bestiality. But it would be well if we paid attention to them. In , two years after the Soviet Union detonated their first atomic bomb test, Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were tried and convicted for conspiracy to commit espionage by giving nuclear secrets to the U.

Ethel and Julius both denied any involvement, but their month-long trial concluded with a guilty verdict and the death penalty. The Rosenbergs were the only American citizens executed for espionage during the Cold War; they were killed by the electric chair on June 19, Plain deliberate contemplated murder is dwarfed in magnitude by comparison with the crime you have committed.

In committing the act of murder, the criminal kills only his victim … Indeed, by your betrayal you undoubtedly have altered the course of history to the disadvantage of our country. No one can say that we do not live in a constant state of tension. Naturally, the trial helped accelerate Cold War paranoia in America. On July 3, , osteopath Sam Sheppard fell asleep while watching TV with his pregnant wife in their home in the Cleveland suburbs. When he came to, his wife was dead, and he would soon be charged with her murder.

Local and national media went wild with the case—to the point of tampering with it. The Cleveland Press pushed and pushed for the state to take action against the doctor. Sheppard was arrested that night. Sheppard was convicted for the murder of his wife in the second degree in He successfully appealed the ruling in and, in , the United States Supreme Court reversed the murder charge.

Their decision placed the blame , in part, on the media. Following a second trial, Sheppard was found not guilty. Eichmann was a high-ranking Nazi SS lieutenant colonel whose decisions were key to shaping the Holocaust. After World War II he managed to escape to Buenos Aires, where he lived comfortably for around a decade until his capture in by a team of Israeli security and intelligence agents.

After being brought to Israel, Eichmann stood trial for a number of crimes, including crimes against humanity. The proceedings were videotaped and broadcast by press outlets around the world, making it one of the first truly international media events. This was intentional; the trial served as a reminder of the suffering endured by victims of the Holocaust, given that, at the time of the trial, the events of World War II had concluded a full 16 years prior. Notably, the trial was heavily broadcast in Germany and covered by hundreds of German journalists in Israel.

At the end of the trial, Eichmann was found guilty of multiple charges and was sentenced to death. The U. Justice Department charged eight antiwar activists with conspiracy and other federal charges stemming from a violent clash with police at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago [ PDF ]. One defendant, Bobby Seale, had a mistrial, leaving seven defendants who by-and-large knew each other only through their shared objection to the Vietnam War. The raucous legal proceedings—depicted in the film The Trial of the Chicago 7 , with Sacha Baron Cohen playing the role of Abbie Hoffman —involved Judge Julius Hoffman convicting each defendant and their two attorneys on a total of counts of contempt.

Nevertheless, the jury acquitted all seven of their charges of conspiracy, while five were convicted of traveling across state lines with the intent to riot. Those convictions were reversed during the appeal process. Lifelong criminal and aspiring musician Charles Manson led a cult of devoted followers—known as the Manson Family—in California, and inspired them to commit at least eight murders over the summer of in the hopes of starting an apocalyptic race war. The violent nature of the killings combined with the group's twisted counterculture leanings and hippie looks made for a trial that would puncture a hole in the zeitgeist.

While Manson himself wasn't present during the murders, he had ordered his followers to perpetrate them and was charged accordingly. Their trial became nothing short of a circus.

When Manson displayed all sorts of odd behavior during the proceedings, his disciples—both fellow defendants and uncharged Manson family members hanging outside and around the courthouse—followed, be it by shaving their heads or carving Xs into their foreheads. This is described, in detail, in Helter Skelter :. He landed just a few feet from the bench, falling on one knee.

All five defendants were sentenced to death in , though that was reduced to life in prison after California banned the death penalty. Serial killer Ted Bundy was sentenced to death on July 30, , after a much-publicized and televised trial riddled with strange events.

Bundy was handsome, intelligent, well-spoken, and charismatic, all things that translated into his trial. He represented himself, he read Russian literature during slow moments in court, and eventually—days before his execution—confessed to his crimes.

Before that, though, he escaped from jail twice and proposed and married his partner in the courtroom. The trail pulled in massive ratings from viewers who had trouble reconciling that such a charming person could be capable of such evil. Even the gathering of spectators outside his execution in was televised.

On August 20, , brothers Lyle and Erik Menendez shot their wealthy parents to death. Over several years, three trials, and countless hours of media footage, the brothers were found guilty.

Court TV, a new network in the early s, dedicated itself to turning court cases into virtual sporting events. Each broadcast of the trial was followed by extensive coverage before and after, with every newscaster drawing their own conclusions about what actually happened. Most of whom said the brothers killed their parents for the insurance money and inheritances, while the Menendez brothers detailed extensive sexual abuse at the hands of their father.

Today, Lyle and Erik are having a resurgence of popularity on TikTok with videos made from old news coverage. Pamela Smart, a married year-old teacher, carried on an affair with a local teenager named Billy Flynn. On May 1, , Smart came home to find her husband Greggory shot to death. She was arrested in August, with the prosecution arguing that she had coerced Flynn and three of his friends to break into the home and kill her husband. Smart was sentenced to life in prison, and the four boys received lesser sentences.

The media was all over the case, broadcasting all the trials live over previously scheduled programming. Later, there would be a made-for-TV movie, a feature film To Die For , starring Nicole Kidman , and many true crime segments about the case.