Text transcript

Q: What do you do?

A: I'm a writer. I'm a late-life writer. I didn't start until I was fifty. Before that I was in the film business. I was a movie producer. And I was a studio executive. But I'm a writer, totally and completely. And I am both a journalist and a novelist.

Q: What do you cover?

A: The rich and the powerful in a criminal situation. I cover trials. I've covered some of the biggest trials of the last quarter century, including the Menendez brothers, including the Robert Blake, including O.J. Simpson. I love those trials.

Q: How did you come to cover trials?

A: Well, I had never attended a trial, until I attended the trial of the man who murdered my daughter. And that was an experience that totally, utterly, completely changed my life, and changed the life of my wife and my two sons. What I saw in the courtroom was that the rights of the criminal exceed the rights of the victim. And the man who murdered my daughter got a slap on the wrist; he got a sentence of two and a half years. And I had a rage within me that I didn't know I was capable of having. I was thinking of hiring somebody to kill him when he got out of prison. I truly went through that whole thing.

And then I realized that I'd end up in prison for life. And I realized I had the talent to go on TV and talk about it. And that I had the talent to write about it. And the first magazine article I ever wrote was for Vanity Fair magazine, and it was called “Justice,” and it was about the ludicrous trial of the man who killed my daughter and got off.

Writing is a very strong form of revenge, also. I manage, every time I'm interviewed, to name the name John Sweeney, the murderer of my daughter, so that wherever he is, whatever young lady he's with now, knows about this man. We had a judge at that trial, on whom I totally blame the fact that the killer got off. He had had a personal vendetta with the lawyer, from the DA's office. Every ruling went against us. I kept such copious notes during that trial, and when I wrote it, the judge ceased to be a judge afterwards. And that's when I realized the power that I had in being able to write.

Q: Did you have certain preconceived notions going into that first trial?

A: I began to write about trials in a sort of different way than they were normally covered. The first trial I did was Claus Von Bulow's, and I began to cover a trial in a way that really hadn't been covered before. I included all the gossip at the trial. All what's going on between the families. It wasn't just what happened, and then the judge ruled, and then he took the stand. It was what happened at lunch, when this one got in a fight with that one. You see what I mean? And it, and I, and I turned it into a full story. And that's the way I've covered trials. It's a different way then most people do.

At the William Kennedy Smith [rape] trial in Palm Beach. What never came out of the trial is that they had both, both the victim and the rapist, were alleged to have taken a lot of cocaine that night. And a deal was made, and cocaine never came into the trial. That sort of thing drives me crazy. Just drives me crazy. And, you see, I think the jury ought to know everything.

At the Claus Von Bulow trial, I had a connection with Sonny Von Bulow's two children. The trial was in Providence, and I spent the night in the house where the attempted murder had taken place. I always have a connection somehow with these people. It's just the, the story of my life. And Phil Spector is a trial that is coming up that I am particularly interested in. He is a genius, he's brilliant, and he's mad. And I think it's going to be an utterly fascinating trial, because he's outspoken. I think he's going to speak out in the courtroom. I think that's why he's lost so many lawyers so far. Anyway, they keep postponing the trial.

Q: How do you decide on what trials you want to cover?

A: The day it happens, I know if I want to cover it or not. It's the most amazing thing. I wanted to cover the Von Bulow trial, from the minute I read about it. I mean I knew so many of the people in the background of the thing, and I, I was fascinated by it. On the day of the freeway chase [in the O.J. Simpson case], I happened to be in Las Vegas, and I was watching that, and I said, "I'm going to cover that trial." I read about the Menendez brothers shooting their parents in the mansion in Beverly Hills…I'm going to be there. I just know the ones, where there are other ones that don't grab me. I mean I was very interested in the Laci Peterson [case], but I never had any desire to cover that. And I become obsessed. And I'm always on the side of the victim. I make no bones about that. Although I must admit, that I felt a little sympathy for Robert Blake, at his trial. The victim was hard to feel sorry for.

Q: What is it about the cases of the wealthy and the powerful that you find compelling?

A: You know, Shakespeare wrote about kings, and you know, people are fascinated by the rich and the powerful. There's, there's no two ways about it. I wouldn't be any good covering street crime. I'm fortunate in the circumstances of my life that I have a front row seat at that world.

Q: Is there one particular trial that stands out? That shocked you, surprised you?

A: Well, I'll tell you, the greatest trial, and I don't think we're ever going to see its equal again, is the O.J. Simpson trial. If he had been convicted, I think there could have been a race riot. I've never had an experience like that that lasted as long. I mean that was a year. There were crowds of people always outside the courthouse. And I used to get booed, because I was so outspoken. I mean I just believed he was guilty. I still believe he's guilty. I don't care if he's acquitted or not. He's guilty. I have no fear of saying that.

And people became stars. People became famous. And uh, you know, there's a fame of accomplishment, and event fame. And when you become famous at a murder trial, it's event fame. Judge Ito became famous. Marcia Clark became a star. Faye Resnick was on Larry King every night of the week.

Johnny Cochran was the most charismatic man I ever saw in a courtroom. Before he died, by the way, we had a big hug and a make-up, and had lunch together, and he dialed his phone, we were in New York, and he called his wife Dale, in California, and he said, I got somebody here for you to talk to, and he handed me the phone. That was a nice ending. That was the last time I saw him before he died.

Q: Do the rich have a different view of justice?

A: The fact remains that if you have money and power, and you get involved in a criminal situation, you are able to have million dollar lawyers. You are able to afford expert witnesses. You're able to have things that the average person couldn't afford to have, and some of these million dollar defense lawyers are brilliant, just absolutely brilliant. And very often the prosecution lawyer is over-worked and under-paid. I think that's why so many people get off.

Q: Covering the wealthy, how do you keep the perspective?

A: I literally always feel like an outsider, and I never want to lose that. I mean that's what gives you the ability to write about it. I think my whole life, I've felt like an outsider. I was born in a well to do Irish Catholic family. And we grew up as the only Irish, sort of well to do Irish Catholics in a totally WASP community. Do you understand? I've never lost that. And, and I think it's very important to have that.

Q: Do you ever feel sorry for any of these defendants?

A: Well, it drives me crazy when a killer gets off. I'll tell you that. I mean I go berserk. And, uh, I can remember when O.J. was acquitted, that day. I mean, there's footage of me that was on TV with my mouth just hanging open. I mean it, legally, I guess I knew it had to be that way, but I couldn't believe, I couldn't believe they would acquit him.