The eyes of the world were upon these historic trials. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most infamous and sensational legal trials that dominated the media and cultural landscape.
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00 [News Anchor] "Football Hall of Famer O.J. Simpson tried for their murder in what was called the 'Trial of the Century'."
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the most infamous and sensational legal trials that dominated the media and cultural landscape.
00:15 [News Anchor] "24 high-ranking Nazis were charged and made to stand trial in the German city of Nuremberg."
00:26 During the 1968 Democratic National Convention, thousands of demonstrators gathered to protest America's involvement in the Vietnam War.
00:33 [News Anchor] "The nation was in turmoil over civil rights split over the Vietnam War."
00:38 These protests soon escalated into riots, resulting in the indictment of eight suspected ringleaders on federal charges, including conspiracy.
00:46 The ensuing trial devolved into a debacle, with criticism directed at presiding judge Julius Hoffman for his perceived bias against the defendants.
00:54 In one notable instance, Hoffman ordered Black Panthers co-founder Bobby Seale to be bound and gagged after he accused the judge of racism.
01:02 But the trial was a very different experience for the lone Black defendant, Bobby Seale.
01:07 Seale wound up representing himself, and he clashed with Judge Julius Hoffman.
01:12 [Judge] "Bobby Seale was gagged and chained today for refusing to obey the judge."
01:16 This action resulted in a mistrial for Seale, leaving the Chicago 7 defendants who were all acquitted of the conspiracy charge.
01:22 Five were convicted of some charges, but all were overturned on appeal.
01:27 The raucous courtroom proceedings later became the basis for the Oscar-nominated film, The Trial of the Chicago 7.
01:34 Number 9. The Leopold and Loeb Trial.
01:37 Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb, two wealthy and brilliant students, became obsessed with committing the, quote, "perfect crime."
01:44 [Leopold] "A couple silver spoon Chicagoans decide that they are so intellectually superior that they can commit the perfect crime."
01:51 "Just coming to terms with the idea that people would actually kill somebody just to see if they could."
01:56 In 1924, they brought their obsession to life by kidnapping and murdering Bobby Franks, their teenage neighbor.
02:02 They may have gotten away with it, if not for Leopold's glasses being found near the victim's body.
02:08 "The case hinged on the glass hinges, specific to only three in Chicago. Only Leopold didn't have an alibi."
02:15 To defend their sons, Leopold and Loeb's parents hired the best criminal attorney money could buy,
02:21 Clarence Darrow. Instead of a jury trial, Darrow opted to plead guilty,
02:25 hoping to sway a judge into sparing his client's lives.
02:29 His revered eight-hour speech argued that Leopold and Loeb were driven by forces beyond their control.
02:35 "And what at first seemed a simple matter of evil, gradually would give way to a complex assessment of the murderer's minds,
02:44 and a searing indictment of the forces that had shaped them."
02:48 Darrow's compelling defense managed to convince the judge to impose a life sentence instead of the death penalty.
02:54 Number 8. The Casey Anthony Murder Trial.
02:57 The 2011 trial of Casey Anthony for the murder of her toddler, Kaylee, received such immense media attention
03:03 that it was named the social media trial of the century.
03:06 "From the prosecution, a cold-hearted party girl who danced while her daughter was supposedly missing.
03:12 From the defense, the image of a caring mother devastated by her child's loss."
03:16 Due to the extensive coverage, the jury had to be sequestered to prevent external influences.
03:21 The case first came to public attention in 2008,
03:24 when Kaylee went missing and Anthony was indicted on first-degree murder charges.
03:28 "They had poured hundreds of thousands of dollars and countless man-hours into trying to prove her guilty,
03:34 but struggled to prove cause of death."
03:37 "Any way you slice it, Casey Anthony is guilty of murder in the first degree."
03:43 After the toddler's remains were found in December 2008, prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty.
03:49 They argued that Anthony intentionally killed Kaylee,
03:51 while the defense claimed the child accidentally drowned in the family pool.
03:55 Following a sensational trial, Anthony was found not guilty of the murder charges,
04:00 a verdict that left many stunned.
04:03 "As to the charge of first-degree murder, verdict as to count one,
04:07 we the jury find the defendant not guilty, so say we all,
04:11 dated at Orlando, Orange County, Florida, on this 5th day of July, 2011."
04:16 Number 7. The Lindbergh Kidnapping Trial
04:19 In the late 1920s, Charles Lindbergh achieved national hero status
04:24 by becoming the first solo pilot to fly non-stop across the Atlantic Ocean.
04:28 "His newfound fame sends him on speaking tours around the world as an aviation icon."
04:34 So, when his first-born child, Charles Jr., was kidnapped from his crib in March 1932,
04:39 it quickly became front-page news.
04:41 The infant's body was found two months later after a $50,000 ransom had been paid.
04:46 "A family and a nation mourns, but becomes resolved
04:50 to locating the murderer and bringing him to justice."
04:54 Following an intense investigation, authorities arrested Bruno Richard Hauptmann,
04:58 a German immigrant for the crime.
05:00 The subsequent trial unfolded in Flemington, New Jersey,
05:03 attracting a swarm of reporters who occupied every available hotel room in the town.
05:08 Although the evidence against Hauptmann was largely circumstantial,
05:12 he was convicted and sentenced to death.
05:14 Hauptmann maintained his innocence, however, until his execution on April 3rd, 1936.
05:20 "In 1935, Bruno Richard Hauptmann was convicted of one count of murder in the first degree.
05:26 The following year, he was executed."
05:29 Number 6. The Julius and Ethel Rosenberg Espionage Trial
05:33 In 1951, amid heightened Cold War tensions between the U.S. and the Soviet Union,
05:38 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, an American couple, stood trial for espionage.
05:42 "Julius Rosenberg has a small machine shop in the Bronx.
05:45 He's arrested in July 1950.
05:49 His wife Ethel, David Greenglass's sister, a month later."
05:54 Julius, formerly an engineer with the U.S. Army,
05:57 was discharged after his ties to the Communist Party were discovered.
06:00 In 1942, he began spying for the Soviet Union and eventually brought in Ethel's brother,
06:06 David Greenglass, who was involved with the Manhattan Project.
06:09 "They have little chance, especially when Ethel's brother, David Greenglass,
06:13 testifies against them. Both are found guilty and sentenced to death."
06:19 During their trial, Greenglass implicated Ethel in the espionage
06:23 and testified that he had given Julius confidential information.
06:26 The Rosenbergs' steadfast denial of the allegations, coupled with the specter of
06:31 nuclear espionage, fueled the sensational media coverage.
06:34 In the end, they were both convicted and executed on June 19, 1953.
06:40 "There were multiple attempts to plead for
06:42 pardoning or clemency or commutation of sentencing. All of this was rejected.
06:47 Julius and Ethel Rosenberg are executed in Sing Sing Prison by electric chair."
06:53 Number 5. President Bill Clinton's Impeachment Hearings
06:56 The words "I did not have sexual relations with that woman"
06:59 are forever enshrined in the minds of many Americans.
07:02 "But I want to say one thing to the American people.
07:05 I want you to listen to me. I'm going to say this again.
07:08 I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Ms. Lewinsky."
07:16 They were famously uttered in January 1998 by then-President Bill Clinton,
07:20 after allegations of an extramarital affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky came to light.
07:25 Clinton later faced charges of perjury and obstruction of justice,
07:29 resulting in his impeachment by the House of Representatives.
07:32 "The president allegedly subverting the legal system
07:34 by getting others to lie and obstructing justice."
07:38 "The evidence suggests that the president
07:40 repeatedly tried to thwart the legal process in the Jones matter."
07:46 In January 1999, a highly publicized impeachment trial began in the Senate.
07:51 The televised hearings and grand jury testimonies exposed intimate details
07:55 about a president's personal life in such an unprecedented way.
07:59 Despite this, the prosecution fell short of securing even a simple majority on either charge,
08:04 allowing Clinton to complete his term in office.
08:06 "I want the American people to know today that I am still committed
08:10 to working with people of good faith and goodwill of both parties
08:14 to do what's best for our country.
08:16 It's what I've tried to do for six years. It's what I intend to do for two more."
08:22 Number 4. The Manson Family Murder Trial
08:25 In August 1969, cult leader Charles Manson orchestrated a series of murders
08:30 that gained international attention.
08:32 "The next night around midnight, the city news ticker jumped to life."
08:36 "The city of Los Angeles has had another multiple murder."
08:40 "And I shouted across the newsroom, 'It's happened again.'"
08:44 The victims included pregnant actress Sharon Tate and four of her house guests,
08:48 as well as supermarket executive Lino Lampianca and his wife Rosemary.
08:52 The case swiftly became a media sensation, a factor Manson attempted to use to his advantage.
08:58 But by that time, the stage was set for a trial that would both
09:01 fascinate and disgust those who watched.
09:04 "It was insanity from beginning to end. It was a circus."
09:09 "It was on television every night. It was spectacle."
09:12 During the trial, the leader and his followers carved X's into their foreheads
09:16 and blatantly tried to intimidate witnesses to prevent them from testifying.
09:20 In one striking incident, Manson attempted to provoke a mistrial
09:24 by displaying a newspaper with the headline,
09:27 "Manson Guilty," Nixon declares to the jury.
09:29 Despite their bizarre antics, the jury unanimously convicted
09:33 all four defendants on the charges brought against them.
09:35 "Eventually, all five were found guilty of murder and sentenced to death."
09:40 The 1893 murder trial of Lizzie Borden was one of the first legal cases
09:47 ever referred to as the trial of the century.
09:49 Borden was accused of killing her father and stepmother
09:52 in their Fall River, Massachusetts home.
09:54 "They had to find a suspect, and they fastened upon Lizzie Borden as an obvious choice."
09:59 "She is the only one that could have committed these crimes."
10:03 Her conflicting testimonies and apparent calmness during the investigation
10:06 led many to believe that she was the perpetrator.
10:09 And after three weeks, the trial ended with closing arguments.
10:12 But before the jury was charged, Lizzie did have the last word.
10:19 "And she says, 'I am innocent. I leave it to my counsel to speak for me.'"
10:23 The violent nature of the crime, as well as the fact that they were allegedly committed
10:27 by a seemingly ordinary family member, gripped the public and split opinions
10:32 about Borden's innocence.
10:33 After deliberating for just about an hour and a half, a jury found her not guilty.
10:38 "Whether or not someone like Lizzie Borden could have committed these brutal crimes."
10:46 "And in 1893, a jury of 12 men agreed she couldn't,
10:51 returning a unanimous verdict of not guilty."
10:55 Nevertheless, Borden remained ostracized by her community
10:59 and lived largely in isolation until her death in 1927.
11:02 It all started with a low-speed car chase that was watched by nearly 100 million people.
11:12 "The iconic image broadcast to 95 million people across every television network."
11:18 "Down there on the ground is a white Ford Bronco."
11:22 "Dozens of police cars are in pursuit, OJ Simpson in the back seat."
11:26 That kicked off the case against OJ Simpson, a renowned actor and former football star,
11:31 accused of murdering his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ronald Goldman.
11:36 The ensuing trial, which was televised live, is now regarded as the most publicized
11:40 criminal trial in human history.
11:43 "But perhaps the defense's biggest win is the prosecution's biggest blunder."
11:48 "They ask him to try on the bloody glove found at the scene of the crime."
11:52 "Nearly everyone knows what happens next."
11:55 Prosecutors presented compelling evidence, including DNA,
11:59 hair and clothing fibers allegedly linking Simpson to the crime scene.
12:03 The defense, famously known as the Dream Team, cast doubt on the credibility of the evidence,
12:08 claiming that it had been planted by corrupt cops.
12:11 Simpson's trial became a cultural phenomenon, drawing millions of viewers worldwide,
12:16 and ultimately ending in a polarizing, not guilty verdict.
12:20 "Orenthal James Simpson, not guilty of the crime of murder."
12:23 Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel and ring the bell to get
12:30 notified about our latest videos.
12:32 You have the option to be notified for occasional videos or all of them.
12:36 If you're on your phone, make sure you go into your settings and switch on notifications.
12:40 The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals that prosecuted
12:49 several high-ranking officials of the Third Reich following World War II.
12:53 The Nuremberg Trials were a series of international prosecutions
12:56 that decided the fates of Nazi war criminals.
12:59 Why hold these trials in the German city of Nuremberg?
13:01 Well, for one, unlike a lot of German towns,
13:04 Nuremberg was relatively undamaged by the war.
13:06 The trials were conducted by the International Military Tribunal,
13:10 which comprised judges from the U.S., UK, France, and the Soviet Union.
13:15 The former Nazi leaders were charged with conspiracy,
13:18 crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace.
13:20 The tribunal heard testimony and reviewed evidence for 216 court sessions.
13:25 The horrors and crimes of the Nazis were put on display for all the world to see.
13:30 Ultimately, 12 defendants were sentenced to death.
13:33 Seven were issued varying prison terms, and three were acquitted.
13:37 Other Nazi officials, such as SS Lieutenant Colonel Adolf Eichmann,
13:41 also faced publicized trials in subsequent years.
13:44 Eichmann is found guilty of crimes against the Jewish people,
13:47 crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
13:50 Adolf Eichmann would be convicted and hanged.
13:54 Despite an initial mixed reception,
13:56 the Nuremberg proceedings exposed the true extent of Nazi atrocities
14:01 and laid the groundwork for international criminal law.
14:04 Did you watch any of these infamous trials live?
14:07 Let us know in the comments.
14:08 By the time Johnny Depp and Amber Heard fronted up to court in the U.S. in April this year,
14:13 they'd been at war far longer than they'd been in love.
14:17 [Music]