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Claus von Bülow

January 01, 1970

Claus von Bülow (born Claus Cecil Borberg; 11 August 1926 – 25 May 2019) was a Danish-born British lawyer, consultant and socialite.[1] In 1982, he was convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bülow (born Martha Sharp Crawford; 1932–2008) in 1979, which had left her in a temporary coma, as well as an alleged insulin overdose in 1980 that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life.[2][3] On appeal, both convictions were reversed, and Bülow was found not guilty at his second trial.[4][3]

Claus von Bülow
Appearing on After Dark in 1997
Born
Claus Cecil Borberg

(1926-08-11)11 August 1926
Copenhagen, Denmark
Died25 May 2019(2019-05-25) (aged 92)
London, England
Alma materTrinity College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Lawyer, consultant, socialite
Spouse
​
​
(m. 1966; div. 1987)​
ChildrenCosima von Bülow Pavoncelli
Parent
RelativesBülow family

Background edit

Beginning life as Claus Cecil Borberg, Bülow was the son of Jonna von Bülow-Plüskow (1900–1959) and Danish playwright Svend Borberg (1888–1947). His father was accused, though later cleared, of being a Nazi collaborator for his activities during the Second World War in the German occupation of Denmark.[5] After graduating from university with a degree in law and becoming an apprentice in the legal profession, Claus chose to be known by his maternal surname, Bülow, instead of his father's surname, Borberg.[6] His mother was the daughter of Frits Bülow af Plüskow,[7] Danish Minister of Justice from 1910 to 1913, president of the upper chamber of the Danish Parliament from 1920 to 1922 and a member of the old Danish-German noble Bülow family, originally from Mecklenburg.

 
Clarendon Court, Yznaga Street and Bellevue Avenue, Newport, Rhode Island

Bülow graduated from Trinity College, Cambridge, and practised law in London in the 1950s before working as a personal assistant to J. Paul Getty.[8] While he had a variety of duties for Getty, Bülow became very familiar with the economics of the oil industry. Getty wrote that Bülow showed "remarkable forbearance and good nature" as his occasional whipping boy, and Bülow remained with Getty until 1968.[9]

On 6 June 1966, Bülow married Sunny, the American ex-wife of Prince Alfred von Auersperg.[10] He worked on and off as a consultant to oil companies. Sunny already had a son and a daughter from her first marriage; together, she and Bülow had a daughter, Cosima von Bülow, born on 15 April 1967 in New York City.[11][12][13] Cosima married the Italian count Riccardo Pavoncelli in 1996.[14]

Attempted murder trials edit

In 1982, Bülow was arrested and tried for the attempted murders of Sunny on two occasions in two consecutive years.[2][15] The main medical and scientific evidence against him was that Sunny had low blood sugar, common in many conditions, but a blood test showed a high insulin level.[16] The test was not repeated.[17] A needle was used as evidence against Bülow in court,[18] with the prosecution alleging that he had used it and a vial of insulin to try to kill his wife.[19] His mistress of two years, the soap opera actress Alexandra Isles, testified "He said that they had been having a long argument, talk, about divorce that had gone on late into the night. She had drunk a great deal of egg nog. And then he said, ‘I saw her take the Seconal.’ And then he said that the next day when she was unconscious that he watched her knowing that she was in a bad way, all day, and watched her and watched her. And finally, when she was at the point of dying he said that he couldn’t go through with it and he called (the doctor) and saved her life.[20] The discovery of these items became the focal point of Bülow's appeal.[21]

At the trial in Newport, Rhode Island, Bülow was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison;[15][22] he appealed, hiring Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him.[23] Dershowitz served as a consultant to the defense team led by Thomas Puccio, a former federal prosecutor.[24] Dershowitz's campaign to acquit Bülow was assisted by Jim Cramer and future New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer, who were then Harvard Law School students.[25] Dershowitz and his team focused on the discovery of the bag containing the syringes and insulin.[26] Sunny's family had hired a private investigator to look into her coma.[27] The private investigator, Edwin Lambert (an associate of the Bülows' lawyer Richard Kuh), was told by several family members and a maid that Claus had recently been seen locking a closet in the Newport home that previously was always kept open.[28] The family hired a locksmith to drive to the mansion, with the intention of picking the closet lock to find what the closet contained.[29] They had lied to the locksmith and told him that one of them owned the house.[9] When the three arrived, the locksmith insisted that they try again to find the key, and after some searching, Kuh found a key in Claus von Bülow's desk that unlocked the closet.[30] At this point, according to the three men in the original interviews, the locksmith was paid for the trip and left before the closet was actually opened, although the men would later recant that version and insist that the locksmith was present when they entered the closet.[30] It was in the closet that the main evidence against Claus von Bülow was found.[30] In 1984, the two convictions from the first trial were reversed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court.[31][32][33] In 1985, after a second trial, Bülow was found not guilty on all charges.[34]

At the second trial, the defense called eight medical experts, all university professors, who testified that Sunny's two comas had not been caused by insulin, but by a combination of ingested (not injected) drugs, alcohol, and chronic health conditions. The experts were John Caronna (chairman of neurology, Cornell);[9] Leo Dal Cortivo (former president, U.S. Toxicology Association);[35] Ralph DeFronzo (medicine, Yale University);[9] Kurt Dubowski (forensic pathology, University of Oklahoma); Daniel Foster (medicine, University of Texas Southwestern); Daniel Furst (medicine, University of Iowa); Harold Lebovitz (director of clinical research, State University of New York);[36] Vincent Marks (clinical biochemistry, Surrey, vice-president Royal College of Pathologists and president, Association of Clinical Biochemistry);[9] and Arthur Rubinstein (medicine, University of Chicago).[37]

Cortivo testified that the hypodermic needle tainted with insulin on the outside (but not inside) would have been dipped in insulin but not injected; injecting it through flesh would have wiped it clean.[38] Evidence also showed that Sunny's hospital admission three weeks before her final coma showed she had ingested at least 73 aspirin tablets, a quantity that could only have been self-administered, and which indicated her state of mind.[39][40]

Dershowitz, in his book Taking the Stand, writes about Claus von Bülow's dinner party after he was found not guilty at his trial. Dershowitz replied to the invitation that he would not attend if it was a "victory party," and Bülow assured him that it was only a dinner for "several interesting friends." Norman Mailer also attended the dinner where Dershowitz explained why the evidence pointed to Bülow not having attempted to murder his wife. As Dershowitz recounted, Mailer grabbed the arm of his wife, Norris Church Mailer, and said: "Let's get out of here. I think this guy is innocent. I thought we were going to be having dinner with a man who actually tried to kill his wife. This is boring."[41]

Upon his acquittal, von Bülow made his home in London while making occasional appearances at social events and Broadway opening nights in London for the rest of his life.[42]

Death edit

Bülow died on 25 May 2019 at his home in London, England.[43]

In popular culture edit

References edit

  1. ^ a b Leitch, Thomas (2002). "Reversal of Fortune and the Lawyer Film". Crime films. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780521646710. socialite Claus von Bülow
  2. ^ a b Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xxii. ISBN 0394539036. Sunny von Bülow recovered quickly from the first coma she suffered during the Christmas holiday in 1979 ... Sunny fell into an irreversible coma during the following Christmas season ... The prosecutor ... [presented] his own 'true or false' offense: 'true or false — Claus von Bülow administered ... insulin to his wife in an attempt to kill her on two separate occasions.' The jury [at the first trial] checked the 'true' box, convicting von Bülow of both crimes ... the Newport, Rhode Island, jury convict[ed] Claus von Bülow of twice attempting to murder his wife
  3. ^ a b State von Bülow, 475 A.2d 995 (R.I. 1984).
  4. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Jury Decides". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 237. ISBN 0394539036. the clerk asked the foreman of the jury 'On the charge that the defendant committed on December 27, 1979, the crime of assault with intent to murder, how do you find, guilty or not guilty?' Without pausing even for dramatic effect, the foreman responded, 'Not guilty.'
  5. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xix. ISBN 0394539036. Claus was born Claus Cecil Borberg ... His father, Svend Borberg, ... was tried as a Nazi collaborator and sentenced to four years in prison. Although he was eventually vindicated on appeal, he was imprisoned for more than a year and died shortly after his release.
  6. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xix. ISBN 0394539036. Claus ... entered Cambridge University at age sixteen and graduated after the war with a degree in law ... After graduation, Claus, who by this time had adopted his mother's name, joined the chambers of the noted British barrister Quintin Hogg (later Lord Hailsham), apprenticing at the barrister's trade.
  7. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xix. ISBN 0394539036. His mother, Jonna, was the daughter of Frits Bülow, a wealthy and prominent descendant of the illustrious German von Bülow family.
  8. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. pp. xix–xx. ISBN 0394539036. Claus ... entered Cambridge University at age sixteen and graduated after the war with a degree in law ... After graduation, Claus ... joined the chambers of the noted British barrister Quintin Hogg (later Lord Hailsham), apprenticing at the barrister's trade. Later he went to work for J. Paul Getty and eventually became one of his chief assistants.
  9. ^ a b c d e "The Claus Von Bülow Affair: Dead at Christmas". 26 December 2019.
  10. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xx. ISBN 0394539036. In 1957 Sunny Crawford married Prince Alfred Eduard Friedrich Vincenz Martin Maria von Auersperg ... The couple had two children during their eight-year marriage ... During a dinner party in London, an unhappily married Sunny met a debonair bachelor named Claus Bülow ... in 1966, following a two-year secret sexual liaison and Sunny's divorce from Prince Alfie, they were married.
  11. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Dramatis Personae". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xiii. ISBN 0394539036. Claus von Bülow ... Married Martha von Auersperg on June 6, 1966. His only child, Cosima von Bülow, was born in April 1967. Martha ("Sunny") von Bülow, née Crawford ... Married Prince Alfred ("Alfie") von Auersperg on July 20, 1977. The children of this marriage are Princess Annie Laurie Kneissl an Prince Alexander von Auersperg. Married Claus von Bülow on June 6, 1966. Their only child is Cosima.
  12. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xx. ISBN 0394539036. In 1957 Sunny Crawford married Prince Alfred Eduard Friedrich Vincenz Martin Maria von Auersperg ... The couple had two children during their eight-year marriage. The first, Princess Annie Laurie, named after Sunny's mother and nicknamed "Ala," was born in 1958. The second, Prince Alexander, was born in 1959 ... During a dinner party in London, an unhappily married Sunny met ... Claus Bulow ... in 1966, following a two-year secret sexual liaison and Sunny's divorce from Prince Alfie, they were married ... A year later their only child was born. They named her Cosima, after her godmother's daughter.
  13. ^ "Cosima Borberg von Bülow f. 15 apr. 1967 New York, USA: – Skeel-Holbek, Schaffalitzky de Muckadell". finnholbek.dk. Archived from the original on 26 May 2013. Retrieved 15 March 2013.
  14. ^ Goodley, Simon (5 October 2005). "People". The Guardian. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
  15. ^ a b Jenkins, David (27 April 2008). "Catching up with Claus von Bulow". The Telegraph. Retrieved 4 March 2016. Von Bulow, of course, was arrested, charged, found guilty on both counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail on 2 April 1982.
  16. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Doctors' Story: Blood Sugar and Insulin". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. pp. 24–27. ISBN 0394539036.
  17. ^ Marks, Vincent (2007). Insulin Murders: True life cases. RSM Press. p. 27. ISBN 978-1-85315-760-8.
  18. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Son's Story: The Search for the Black Bag". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. pp. 19–23. ISBN 0394539036. Claus's stepson Alex ... his major importance as a witness was in describing the quiet investigation conducted by the family after the second coma ... The family decided to send Alex to Newport along with a private investigator, hired by attorney Kuh ... They arranged for a locksmith to accompany them to Clarendon Court ... They had found what they were looking for — the possible 'attempted murder weapon' ... They had the 'smoking gun' in the insulin-encrusted needle
  19. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. pp. xxi–xxii. ISBN 0394539036. The prosecution's basic theory ... Claus was trapped in an unhappy marriage. He did not love his incredibly wealthy wife. But he did love her money ... He also loved Alexandra Isles ... According to the prosecution, Claus ... wanted both Sunny's money and Alexandra's hand. The only way this could be achieved was for Sunny to die a natural death. And so Claus arranged for Sunny to die a 'natural death' by surreptitiously injecting her with insulin, a substance that is naturally in the body and that is difficult to distinguish from an externally administered overdose.
  20. ^ "Experts from Alexandra Isles' Testimony". Associated Press News. 1985. He said that they had been having a long argument, talk, about divorce that had gone on late into the night. She had drunk a great deal of egg nog. And then he said, 'I saw her take the Seconal.' And then he said that the next day when she was unconscious that he watched her knowing that she was in a bad way, all day, and watched her and watched her. And finally, when she was at the point of dying he said that he couldn't go through with it and he called (the doctor) and saved her life."
  21. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. ISBN 0394539036.
  22. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Chronology". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 269. ISBN 0394539036. May 7, 1982 Von Bülow was sentenced to thirty years in prison but was granted $1 million bail, pending appeal.
  23. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xxviii. ISBN 0394539036. My job, as an appellate lawyer, begins after the jury has convicted the defendant. I played no role in the first trial, having been retained to represent Mr. von Bülow immediately after the initial jury rendered its guilty verdict. But I have had substantial responsibility for everything that happened from that point on.
  24. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Dramatis Personae". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xiv. ISBN 0394539036. Alan Dershowitz, chief counsel for the appeal and the new trial motion, and strategist and consultant for the second trial ... Thomas Puccio, Claus von Bülow's chief trial lawyer for the second trial. Former Abscam prosecutor
  25. ^ Masters, Brooke A. Spoiling for a Fight: The Rise of Eliot Spitzer. New York: Henry Holt & Co. (2006). p. 30
  26. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Preparing for the New Trial — with the Kuh Notes". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 172. ISBN 0394539036. At the retrial, we would attack the entire insulin theory head-on ... We would prove that Maria and Alex had not seen insulin and syringes in the black bag after Thanksgiving. We would prove that Sunny's blood did not contain high levels of insulin. We would prove there was no insulin on the needle found in the black bag in January. And we would prove that the prosecution's doctors were wrong in concluding that exogenous insulin had caused Sunny's comas ... Our defense was becoming single focused: there was no exogenous insulin involved in this case.
  27. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Trial and Error". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 107. ISBN 0394539036. the private detective, Edwin Lambert ... was hired to conduct the search and ... actually conducted it. His job was to find and preserve any and all evidence linking Claus von Bülow to Sunny's coma.
  28. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Son's Story: The Search for the Black Bag". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 21. ISBN 0394539036. After the final coma, Maria had searched for the black bag ... But it has vanished... Maybe it was in Uncle Claus's closet ... But the closet was locked. That seemed strange, since it was usually unlocked. The family decided to send Alex to Newport along with a private investigator, hired by attorney Kuh, to get into that closet.
  29. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Son's Story: The Search for the Black Bag". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 21. ISBN 0394539036. The family... arranged for a locksmith to accompany them to Clarendon Court.
  30. ^ a b c Nemy, Enid (6 December 2008). "Sunny von Bülow, 76, Focus of Society Drama, Dies". The New York Times.
  31. ^ State Von Bulow, 475 A.2d 995, 1001-1003, 1010-1018 (1984) (1. Defendant's right to materials used by prosecution's investigators. 2. Prosecution's conducting scientific tests on medicines and materials in a black bag of defendant's, without a search warrant.)
  32. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Reversals of Fortune". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 156,160–161. ISBN 0394539036. the court had reversed both counts on legal grounds ... the Rhode Island Supreme Court decision was rendered ...Even if the Rhode Island Supreme Court was wrong in its interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, von Bülow's conviction would have to stay reversed because it was based — independently — on the Rhode Island Constitution. As to its own constitution, the Rhode Island Supreme Court... is deemed to be infallible.
  33. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Chronology". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 270. ISBN 0394539036. April 27, 1984 The [Rhode Island] state Supreme Court reversed von Bulow's convictions.
  34. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Chronology". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 270. ISBN 0394539036. June 10, 1985 Claus von Bülow was acquitted on both counts of assault with intent to murder.
  35. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Dramatis Personae". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xv. ISBN 0394539036. Dr. Leo Dal Cortivo, chief toxicologist, Office of Suffolk County (New York) Medical Examiner, who provided an affidavit for the new-trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial.
  36. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Dramatis Personae". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xv. ISBN 0394539036. Dr. Harold Lebovitz, professor of medicine and head of endocrinology and diabetes at Downstate Medical Center in New York, who provided an affidavit for the new-trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial.
  37. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Dramatis Personae". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xv. ISBN 0394539036. Dr. Arthur Rubenstein, professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical School, who provided an affidavit for the new-trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial.
  38. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The True-or-False Defense". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 202. ISBN 0394539036. Cortivo ... As a live witness... employed his experience in forensic examinations to demonstrate why it was extremely unlikely that they needle found in the black bag could have been used to inject Sunny. If the needle had been injected, he explained to the jury as he had explained to us two years earlier, any residue would have been "wiped clean" when they needle was extracted from the skin.
  39. ^ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The True-or-False Defense". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 202. ISBN 0394539036. Dr. Dal Cortivo ... As a live witness... bolstered the defense contention that Sunny had taken "at least sixty-five aspirin tablets" during a half-hour period just three weeks before her final coma.
  40. ^ Trial transcripts, June 1984
  41. ^ Dershowitz, Alan (2013). Taking the Stand. New York: Crown Publishers. pp. 240/241. ISBN 978-0-307-71927-0.
  42. ^ Nemy, Enid (30 May 2019). "Claus von Bülow, Society Figure in High-Profile Case, Dies at 92". The New York Times.
  43. ^ Nemy, Enid (30 May 2019). "Claus von Bülow Dies at 92; Society Figure in High-Profile Case". The New York Times. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  44. ^ Melody Joy Kramer (12 October 2006). "A Series Of Unfortunate Literary Allusions". NPR.

January 01, 1970
claus, bülow, born, claus, cecil, borberg, august, 1926, 2019, danish, born, british, lawyer, consultant, socialite, 1982, convicted, both, attempted, murder, wife, sunny, bülow, born, martha, sharp, crawford, 1932, 2008, 1979, which, left, temporary, coma, we. Claus von Bulow born Claus Cecil Borberg 11 August 1926 25 May 2019 was a Danish born British lawyer consultant and socialite 1 In 1982 he was convicted of both the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bulow born Martha Sharp Crawford 1932 2008 in 1979 which had left her in a temporary coma as well as an alleged insulin overdose in 1980 that left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life 2 3 On appeal both convictions were reversed and Bulow was found not guilty at his second trial 4 3 Claus von BulowAppearing on After Dark in 1997BornClaus Cecil Borberg 1926 08 11 11 August 1926Copenhagen DenmarkDied25 May 2019 2019 05 25 aged 92 London EnglandAlma materTrinity College CambridgeOccupation s Lawyer consultant socialiteSpouseMartha Sharp Sunny Crawford m 1966 div 1987 wbr ChildrenCosima von Bulow PavoncelliParentSvend Borberg father RelativesBulow family Contents 1 Background 2 Attempted murder trials 3 Death 4 In popular culture 5 ReferencesBackground editBeginning life as Claus Cecil Borberg Bulow was the son of Jonna von Bulow Pluskow 1900 1959 and Danish playwright Svend Borberg 1888 1947 His father was accused though later cleared of being a Nazi collaborator for his activities during the Second World War in the German occupation of Denmark 5 After graduating from university with a degree in law and becoming an apprentice in the legal profession Claus chose to be known by his maternal surname Bulow instead of his father s surname Borberg 6 His mother was the daughter of Frits Bulow af Pluskow 7 Danish Minister of Justice from 1910 to 1913 president of the upper chamber of the Danish Parliament from 1920 to 1922 and a member of the old Danish German noble Bulow family originally from Mecklenburg nbsp Clarendon Court Yznaga Street and Bellevue Avenue Newport Rhode Island Bulow graduated from Trinity College Cambridge and practised law in London in the 1950s before working as a personal assistant to J Paul Getty 8 While he had a variety of duties for Getty Bulow became very familiar with the economics of the oil industry Getty wrote that Bulow showed remarkable forbearance and good nature as his occasional whipping boy and Bulow remained with Getty until 1968 9 On 6 June 1966 Bulow married Sunny the American ex wife of Prince Alfred von Auersperg 10 He worked on and off as a consultant to oil companies Sunny already had a son and a daughter from her first marriage together she and Bulow had a daughter Cosima von Bulow born on 15 April 1967 in New York City 11 12 13 Cosima married the Italian count Riccardo Pavoncelli in 1996 14 Attempted murder trials editIn 1982 Bulow was arrested and tried for the attempted murders of Sunny on two occasions in two consecutive years 2 15 The main medical and scientific evidence against him was that Sunny had low blood sugar common in many conditions but a blood test showed a high insulin level 16 The test was not repeated 17 A needle was used as evidence against Bulow in court 18 with the prosecution alleging that he had used it and a vial of insulin to try to kill his wife 19 His mistress of two years the soap opera actress Alexandra Isles testified He said that they had been having a long argument talk about divorce that had gone on late into the night She had drunk a great deal of egg nog And then he said I saw her take the Seconal And then he said that the next day when she was unconscious that he watched her knowing that she was in a bad way all day and watched her and watched her And finally when she was at the point of dying he said that he couldn t go through with it and he called the doctor and saved her life 20 The discovery of these items became the focal point of Bulow s appeal 21 At the trial in Newport Rhode Island Bulow was found guilty and sentenced to 30 years in prison 15 22 he appealed hiring Harvard Law School professor Alan Dershowitz to represent him 23 Dershowitz served as a consultant to the defense team led by Thomas Puccio a former federal prosecutor 24 Dershowitz s campaign to acquit Bulow was assisted by Jim Cramer and future New York attorney general and governor Eliot Spitzer who were then Harvard Law School students 25 Dershowitz and his team focused on the discovery of the bag containing the syringes and insulin 26 Sunny s family had hired a private investigator to look into her coma 27 The private investigator Edwin Lambert an associate of the Bulows lawyer Richard Kuh was told by several family members and a maid that Claus had recently been seen locking a closet in the Newport home that previously was always kept open 28 The family hired a locksmith to drive to the mansion with the intention of picking the closet lock to find what the closet contained 29 They had lied to the locksmith and told him that one of them owned the house 9 When the three arrived the locksmith insisted that they try again to find the key and after some searching Kuh found a key in Claus von Bulow s desk that unlocked the closet 30 At this point according to the three men in the original interviews the locksmith was paid for the trip and left before the closet was actually opened although the men would later recant that version and insist that the locksmith was present when they entered the closet 30 It was in the closet that the main evidence against Claus von Bulow was found 30 In 1984 the two convictions from the first trial were reversed by the Rhode Island Supreme Court 31 32 33 In 1985 after a second trial Bulow was found not guilty on all charges 34 At the second trial the defense called eight medical experts all university professors who testified that Sunny s two comas had not been caused by insulin but by a combination of ingested not injected drugs alcohol and chronic health conditions The experts were John Caronna chairman of neurology Cornell 9 Leo Dal Cortivo former president U S Toxicology Association 35 Ralph DeFronzo medicine Yale University 9 Kurt Dubowski forensic pathology University of Oklahoma Daniel Foster medicine University of Texas Southwestern Daniel Furst medicine University of Iowa Harold Lebovitz director of clinical research State University of New York 36 Vincent Marks clinical biochemistry Surrey vice president Royal College of Pathologists and president Association of Clinical Biochemistry 9 and Arthur Rubinstein medicine University of Chicago 37 Cortivo testified that the hypodermic needle tainted with insulin on the outside but not inside would have been dipped in insulin but not injected injecting it through flesh would have wiped it clean 38 Evidence also showed that Sunny s hospital admission three weeks before her final coma showed she had ingested at least 73 aspirin tablets a quantity that could only have been self administered and which indicated her state of mind 39 40 Dershowitz in his book Taking the Stand writes about Claus von Bulow s dinner party after he was found not guilty at his trial Dershowitz replied to the invitation that he would not attend if it was a victory party and Bulow assured him that it was only a dinner for several interesting friends Norman Mailer also attended the dinner where Dershowitz explained why the evidence pointed to Bulow not having attempted to murder his wife As Dershowitz recounted Mailer grabbed the arm of his wife Norris Church Mailer and said Let s get out of here I think this guy is innocent I thought we were going to be having dinner with a man who actually tried to kill his wife This is boring 41 Upon his acquittal von Bulow made his home in London while making occasional appearances at social events and Broadway opening nights in London for the rest of his life 42 Death editBulow died on 25 May 2019 at his home in London England 43 In popular culture editThe 1990 film Reversal of Fortune depicts the case and its surrounding fallout For his portrayal of Claus von Bulow Jeremy Irons won the Academy Award for Best Actor 1 Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events are named after Claus and Sunny von Bulow 44 References edit a b Leitch Thomas 2002 Reversal of Fortune and the Lawyer Film Crime films New York Cambridge University Press p 254 ISBN 9780521646710 socialite Claus von Bulow a b Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xxii ISBN 0394539036 Sunny von Bulow recovered quickly from the first coma she suffered during the Christmas holiday in 1979 Sunny fell into an irreversible coma during the following Christmas season The prosecutor presented his own true or false offense true or false Claus von Bulow administered insulin to his wife in an attempt to kill her on two separate occasions The jury at the first trial checked the true box convicting von Bulow of both crimes the Newport Rhode Island jury convict ed Claus von Bulow of twice attempting to murder his wife a b State von Bulow 475 A 2d 995 R I 1984 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The Jury Decides Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 237 ISBN 0394539036 the clerk asked the foreman of the jury On the charge that the defendant committed on December 27 1979 the crime of assault with intent to murder how do you find guilty or not guilty Without pausing even for dramatic effect the foreman responded Not guilty Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xix ISBN 0394539036 Claus was born Claus Cecil Borberg His father Svend Borberg was tried as a Nazi collaborator and sentenced to four years in prison Although he was eventually vindicated on appeal he was imprisoned for more than a year and died shortly after his release Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xix ISBN 0394539036 Claus entered Cambridge University at age sixteen and graduated after the war with a degree in law After graduation Claus who by this time had adopted his mother s name joined the chambers of the noted British barrister Quintin Hogg later Lord Hailsham apprenticing at the barrister s trade Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xix ISBN 0394539036 His mother Jonna was the daughter of Frits Bulow a wealthy and prominent descendant of the illustrious German von Bulow family Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House pp xix xx ISBN 0394539036 Claus entered Cambridge University at age sixteen and graduated after the war with a degree in law After graduation Claus joined the chambers of the noted British barrister Quintin Hogg later Lord Hailsham apprenticing at the barrister s trade Later he went to work for J Paul Getty and eventually became one of his chief assistants a b c d e The Claus Von Bulow Affair Dead at Christmas 26 December 2019 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xx ISBN 0394539036 In 1957 Sunny Crawford married Prince Alfred Eduard Friedrich Vincenz Martin Maria von Auersperg The couple had two children during their eight year marriage During a dinner party in London an unhappily married Sunny met a debonair bachelor named Claus Bulow in 1966 following a two year secret sexual liaison and Sunny s divorce from Prince Alfie they were married Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Dramatis Personae Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xiii ISBN 0394539036 Claus von Bulow Married Martha von Auersperg on June 6 1966 His only child Cosima von Bulow was born in April 1967 Martha Sunny von Bulow nee Crawford Married Prince Alfred Alfie von Auersperg on July 20 1977 The children of this marriage are Princess Annie Laurie Kneissl an Prince Alexander von Auersperg Married Claus von Bulow on June 6 1966 Their only child is Cosima Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xx ISBN 0394539036 In 1957 Sunny Crawford married Prince Alfred Eduard Friedrich Vincenz Martin Maria von Auersperg The couple had two children during their eight year marriage The first Princess Annie Laurie named after Sunny s mother and nicknamed Ala was born in 1958 The second Prince Alexander was born in 1959 During a dinner party in London an unhappily married Sunny met Claus Bulow in 1966 following a two year secret sexual liaison and Sunny s divorce from Prince Alfie they were married A year later their only child was born They named her Cosima after her godmother s daughter Cosima Borberg von Bulow f 15 apr 1967 New York USA Skeel Holbek Schaffalitzky de Muckadell finnholbek dk Archived from the original on 26 May 2013 Retrieved 15 March 2013 Goodley Simon 5 October 2005 People The Guardian Retrieved 11 February 2021 a b Jenkins David 27 April 2008 Catching up with Claus von Bulow The Telegraph Retrieved 4 March 2016 Von Bulow of course was arrested charged found guilty on both counts of attempted murder and sentenced to 30 years in jail on 2 April 1982 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The Doctors Story Blood Sugar and Insulin Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House pp 24 27 ISBN 0394539036 Marks Vincent 2007 Insulin Murders True life cases RSM Press p 27 ISBN 978 1 85315 760 8 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The Son s Story The Search for the Black Bag Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House pp 19 23 ISBN 0394539036 Claus s stepson Alex his major importance as a witness was in describing the quiet investigation conducted by the family after the second coma The family decided to send Alex to Newport along with a private investigator hired by attorney Kuh They arranged for a locksmith to accompany them to Clarendon Court They had found what they were looking for the possible attempted murder weapon They had the smoking gun in the insulin encrusted needle Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House pp xxi xxii ISBN 0394539036 The prosecution s basic theory Claus was trapped in an unhappy marriage He did not love his incredibly wealthy wife But he did love her money He also loved Alexandra Isles According to the prosecution Claus wanted both Sunny s money and Alexandra s hand The only way this could be achieved was for Sunny to die a natural death And so Claus arranged for Sunny to die a natural death by surreptitiously injecting her with insulin a substance that is naturally in the body and that is difficult to distinguish from an externally administered overdose Experts from Alexandra Isles Testimony Associated Press News 1985 He said that they had been having a long argument talk about divorce that had gone on late into the night She had drunk a great deal of egg nog And then he said I saw her take the Seconal And then he said that the next day when she was unconscious that he watched her knowing that she was in a bad way all day and watched her and watched her And finally when she was at the point of dying he said that he couldn t go through with it and he called the doctor and saved her life Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House ISBN 0394539036 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Chronology Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 269 ISBN 0394539036 May 7 1982 Von Bulow was sentenced to thirty years in prison but was granted 1 million bail pending appeal Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Setting the Stage Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xxviii ISBN 0394539036 My job as an appellate lawyer begins after the jury has convicted the defendant I played no role in the first trial having been retained to represent Mr von Bulow immediately after the initial jury rendered its guilty verdict But I have had substantial responsibility for everything that happened from that point on Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Dramatis Personae Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xiv ISBN 0394539036 Alan Dershowitz chief counsel for the appeal and the new trial motion and strategist and consultant for the second trial Thomas Puccio Claus von Bulow s chief trial lawyer for the second trial Former Abscam prosecutor Masters Brooke A Spoiling for a Fight The Rise of Eliot Spitzer New York Henry Holt amp Co 2006 p 30 Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Preparing for the New Trial with the Kuh Notes Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 172 ISBN 0394539036 At the retrial we would attack the entire insulin theory head on We would prove that Maria and Alex had not seen insulin and syringes in the black bag after Thanksgiving We would prove that Sunny s blood did not contain high levels of insulin We would prove there was no insulin on the needle found in the black bag in January And we would prove that the prosecution s doctors were wrong in concluding that exogenous insulin had caused Sunny s comas Our defense was becoming single focused there was no exogenous insulin involved in this case Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Trial and Error Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 107 ISBN 0394539036 the private detective Edwin Lambert was hired to conduct the search and actually conducted it His job was to find and preserve any and all evidence linking Claus von Bulow to Sunny s coma Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The Son s Story The Search for the Black Bag Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 21 ISBN 0394539036 After the final coma Maria had searched for the black bag But it has vanished Maybe it was in Uncle Claus s closet But the closet was locked That seemed strange since it was usually unlocked The family decided to send Alex to Newport along with a private investigator hired by attorney Kuh to get into that closet Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The Son s Story The Search for the Black Bag Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 21 ISBN 0394539036 The family arranged for a locksmith to accompany them to Clarendon Court a b c Nemy Enid 6 December 2008 Sunny von Bulow 76 Focus of Society Drama Dies The New York Times State Von Bulow 475 A 2d 995 1001 1003 1010 1018 1984 1 Defendant s right to materials used by prosecution s investigators 2 Prosecution s conducting scientific tests on medicines and materials in a black bag of defendant s without a search warrant Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Reversals of Fortune Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 156 160 161 ISBN 0394539036 the court had reversed both counts on legal grounds the Rhode Island Supreme Court decision was rendered Even if the Rhode Island Supreme Court was wrong in its interpretation of the U S Constitution von Bulow s conviction would have to stay reversed because it was based independently on the Rhode Island Constitution As to its own constitution the Rhode Island Supreme Court is deemed to be infallible Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Chronology Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 270 ISBN 0394539036 April 27 1984 The Rhode Island state Supreme Court reversed von Bulow s convictions Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Chronology Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 270 ISBN 0394539036 June 10 1985 Claus von Bulow was acquitted on both counts of assault with intent to murder Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Dramatis Personae Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xv ISBN 0394539036 Dr Leo Dal Cortivo chief toxicologist Office of Suffolk County New York Medical Examiner who provided an affidavit for the new trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Dramatis Personae Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xv ISBN 0394539036 Dr Harold Lebovitz professor of medicine and head of endocrinology and diabetes at Downstate Medical Center in New York who provided an affidavit for the new trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial Alan M Dershowitz 1986 Dramatis Personae Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p xv ISBN 0394539036 Dr Arthur Rubenstein professor and chairman of the Department of Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical School who provided an affidavit for the new trial motion and testified for the defense at the second trial Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The True or False Defense Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 202 ISBN 0394539036 Cortivo As a live witness employed his experience in forensic examinations to demonstrate why it was extremely unlikely that they needle found in the black bag could have been used to inject Sunny If the needle had been injected he explained to the jury as he had explained to us two years earlier any residue would have been wiped clean when they needle was extracted from the skin Alan M Dershowitz 1986 The True or False Defense Reversal of Fortune Inside the von Bulow Case New York Random House p 202 ISBN 0394539036 Dr Dal Cortivo As a live witness bolstered the defense contention that Sunny had taken at least sixty five aspirin tablets during a half hour period just three weeks before her final coma Trial transcripts June 1984 Dershowitz Alan 2013 Taking the Stand New York Crown Publishers pp 240 241 ISBN 978 0 307 71927 0 Nemy Enid 30 May 2019 Claus von Bulow Society Figure in High Profile Case Dies at 92 The New York Times Nemy Enid 30 May 2019 Claus von Bulow Dies at 92 Society Figure in High Profile Case The New York Times Retrieved 30 May 2019 Melody Joy Kramer 12 October 2006 A Series Of Unfortunate Literary Allusions NPR Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Claus von Bulow amp oldid 1212075441, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,

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