kellabeck
08-27-2009, 12:13 PM
I just can't think of the names of the people involved!!
Here are the facts:
A wealthy widow dies on the floor at the base of the sweeping staircase in her mansion in Texas. Her son (3 names and Jr.) claims that it was an accident. Says that he brought/returned a VCR to his mother and they quarreled. He claims that she grabbed this (large) machine from him and rushed up the stairs (in her floor-length pegnoir), he following behind her. Upstairs in the hall they were face-to-face next to the bannister. He claims that she swung the VCR out of his reach and that made her lose her balance and she flew over the bannister and down the stairs.
This was a fascinating trial, broadcast on the old Court TV, one of the first that absorbed me. I recall quite distinctly that the prosecution recreated the hall bannister to prove that his story was ludicrous. And as one of her friends said, "Xxxxxx would never pick up a VCR."
I found the idea of her with a heavy VCR in both hands rushing upstairs in a long gown preposterous. Only someone who has never worn a long dress and walked upstairs -- in other words a man -- would suggest such a thing.
The son, who by the way was accompanied by his daughter, her granddaughter, was tried for murder. The daughter backed up her father. Despite that, he was convicted, as I recall.
The son was an only child, the failed scion of a successful father, Xxxxxx Yyyyy Zzzzzz Jr. probably called "Yyyyyy." The parents were socially prominent. I think the late father was in real estate. The mother thought of herself as Scarlet O'Hara. The son tried going to another town to make his mark but failed and wound up coming home and wanting money from mommy.
That was the motive. Does this sound familiar??
Here are the facts:
A wealthy widow dies on the floor at the base of the sweeping staircase in her mansion in Texas. Her son (3 names and Jr.) claims that it was an accident. Says that he brought/returned a VCR to his mother and they quarreled. He claims that she grabbed this (large) machine from him and rushed up the stairs (in her floor-length pegnoir), he following behind her. Upstairs in the hall they were face-to-face next to the bannister. He claims that she swung the VCR out of his reach and that made her lose her balance and she flew over the bannister and down the stairs.
This was a fascinating trial, broadcast on the old Court TV, one of the first that absorbed me. I recall quite distinctly that the prosecution recreated the hall bannister to prove that his story was ludicrous. And as one of her friends said, "Xxxxxx would never pick up a VCR."
I found the idea of her with a heavy VCR in both hands rushing upstairs in a long gown preposterous. Only someone who has never worn a long dress and walked upstairs -- in other words a man -- would suggest such a thing.
The son, who by the way was accompanied by his daughter, her granddaughter, was tried for murder. The daughter backed up her father. Despite that, he was convicted, as I recall.
The son was an only child, the failed scion of a successful father, Xxxxxx Yyyyy Zzzzzz Jr. probably called "Yyyyyy." The parents were socially prominent. I think the late father was in real estate. The mother thought of herself as Scarlet O'Hara. The son tried going to another town to make his mark but failed and wound up coming home and wanting money from mommy.
That was the motive. Does this sound familiar??