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Netflix's latest docuseries Trial By Media focuses on six different court cases that turned into media circuses. Produced by George Clooney and Court TV News EP Steven Brill, Trial By Media examines some of the most memorable and sensational trials covered in recent history.
One episode was dedicated to The Jenny Jones Show, which triggered a 1995 murder trial and subsequent civil trial regarding her show's culpability. Another episode was focused on Bernhard Goetz, the controversial folk hero who shot and wounded four men on a subway.
Here are some other cases the true crime series could cover in a second season:
John Gotti
In the 1980s and 90s, John Gotti was the most infamous mob boss since Al Capone. The Bronx native got involved in organized crime as a teenager and rose through the ranks of the Gambino family, ultimately seizing power in 1985. He was known as the "Teflon Don" after he escaped three high-profile trials in the 80s, and was reported to have an annual income no less than $5 million, although it was probably closer to $10 million.
Gotti worked hard to maintain a public image as a tabloid celebrity for his brushes with the law and dapper suits, in order to downplay any negative press that might pop up. His crime family made hundreds of millions of dollars through illegal activities such as racketeering, hijacking, loan sharking, drug trafficking, bookmaking, prostitution and extortion.
After the three courtroom victories, his reign as an untouchable mobster finally came to an end in 1992. Gotti was ultimately convicted of five murders, conspiracy to commit murder, racketeering, obstruction of justice, tax evasion, illegal gambling, extortion, and loansharking. He was sentenced to life in prison without parole, and died in 2002.
Robert Chambers
Also known as the Preppy Killer, Chambers was charged with the killing of 18-year-old Jennifer Levin. The case gained massive media attention, with extensive victim shaming. According to People, Levin's both was found half-naked and showing marks of a violent struggle behind the Metropolitan Museum of Art in August 1986. Not long after the body was found, Chambers was interrogated by police, since he and Levin were dating at the time of the murder.
Chambers claimed that Jennifer hurt him and he pushed her off of him during sex, which killed her in the process. However, the New York Times eventually reported that she officially died from "asphyxia by strangulation."
He was dubbed the Preppy Killer by the tabloids for his All-American looks and privileged upbringing. His ruthless lawyer, Jack Litman, crafted a story to make Levin seem promiscuous and the instigator of the incident.
"I remember the cover of New York magazine being what looked like a headshot of Robert," Peter Davis, a friend of Levin's, told Fox News. "And then the photo of Jennifer was like a postage stamp. That sums up the coverage. It was all about him ... There were countless photos of him... It was as they were talking about a different person, not the Jennifer I knew. These people were writing about someone you knew so well and they were completely wrong."
Chambers was initially released on bail during the trial, but a disturbing videotape of him strangling a doll surfaced which angered the public. Eventually he struck a deal with the prosecutors for a lesser charge of manslaughter in the first degree and 15 years in prison.
Years after his release in from prison for Levin's murder, Chambers was sentenced to 19 years for drug charges, which was a longer sentence than he got for killing Levin. His earliest release date is not until 2024.
Phil Spector
In 2003 after a night of drinking, Spector, whose trademark was the "Wall of Sound," murdered the struggling actress Lana Clarkson in his mansion located in the LA suburb of Alhambra. According to The New York Times, he shot Clarkson in the mouth when she tried to spurn his unwanted advances. Spector had a history of pulling a gun out on women, according to the prosecution.
His first trial was dramatic. He dressed in flashy clothes, had a tirade on the steps of the courthouse, and even asserted that Turner committed suicide in interviews before the first trial. Spector went through three sets of attorneys.
When he was first tried in 2007, the jury was hung after 15 days of deliberation. The following year, he was tried again, this time with a smaller legal team, and a much more subdued wardrobe. In 2009, he was found guilty for second degree murder and illegally discharging a firearm. Spector was sentenced to 19 years to life in prison.
"If this were not Phil Spector, with a lot of money to spend, a trial like this would never have gone on for so long," Jean Rosenbluth, a law professor at the University of Southern California, said at the time. "Cases don't usually go to trial when there is this much evidence against the defendant."
McMartin Preschool Trial
In the 1980s, workers at the McMartin Preschool of Manhattan Beach, California was charged with numerous acts of sexual abuse of the children in their care. The trial was part of the daycare sex-abuse hysteria, which resulted from the panic over the alleged Satanic ritual abuse in the 1980s and early 1990s. Children who went to the McMartin Preschool reportedly described being abused, and bizarre allegations were made including Satanic rituals, child pornography and human sacrifice. Similar stories turned up nationwide, which became known as "the Satanic Panic."
In 1984, Virginia McMartin, Peggy McMartin Buckey, Ray Buckey, Ray's sister Peggy Ann Buckey and teachers Mary Ann Jackson, Betty Raidor, and Babette Spitler were charged with 115 counts of child abuse. The original number ballooned to 321 counts of child abuse involving 48 children.
Many children were interviewed during the trial, and there was much controversy surrounding how professionals could coax certain answers and implant memories. The case today is still cited as an example of how dangerous and difficult it is to use children's testimonies. Regardless of whether or not these recollections were fabricated, they are incredibly chilling.
At the time, the New York Times reported that the trial "attracted national attention when the authorities speculated that hundreds of children might have been molested and subjected to satanic rituals," and "has teetered on the brink of mistrial." The case, which lasted seven years and cost millions of dollars, had all charges dropped in 1990.
Tawana Brawley
In 1987, 15-year old African American Tawana Brawley was found in a trash bag, with racial slurs written on her and covered in feces. She alleged that four white men abducted her and raped her (including police officers and a prosecuting attorney). The charges received immense media attention due to her age, race, and after the Reverend Al Sharpton, along with attorneys C. Vernon Mason and Alton Maddox took up her case.
There was little concrete evidence of Brawley's accusations, and her counsel started making wild accusations against the Assistant District Attorney Stephen Pagones and Special Prosecutor Robert Abrams. After seven months of hearing from dozens of witness and reviewing the evidence, the grand jury concluded in October 1988 that Brawley had not been the victim of a forcible sexual assault and that she might have fabricated the appearance of such an attack. She was also later sued for defamation by Pagones, and is still paying him back.
Sharpton spoke about the case in 2013 with NPR, and claimed he wasn't in the wrong to defend Brawley. "What do I have to apologize for? I believed her," he said.
