The Jury Find Aileen Wuornos Guilty | Snapped | Felony Files — Transcript

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1. 0:00In January 1992, charged with the murder
2. 0:03of her first victim, Richard Mallory,
3. 0:06Aileen Wuornos stands trial.
4. 0:09Ms. Wuornos was only on trial for the
5. 0:11Mallory murder.
6. 0:12But the jury was presented with this
7. 0:14very hyperbolized idea that this is this
8. 0:19female serial killer, and it is very
9. 0:22difficult to believe that a lay jury is
10. 0:26going to be able to put those other
11. 0:27cases aside
12. 0:29and truly evaluate her self-defense
13. 0:32claim.
14. 0:33And then he said, "You're going to do
15. 0:35everything I tell you to do, and if you
16. 0:37don't, I'll kill you right now."
17. 0:40Her defense was self-defense, and it was
18. 0:43predicated on her claim that the man she
19. 0:46felt she had to kill
20. 0:49convinced her he had hurt other women,
21. 0:52and he would do it to her as well.
22. 0:54She ran around to the front of the car.
23. 0:57She shot him again.
24. 1:00What we were able to do is show from the
25. 1:02manner of some of the homicides that
26. 1:04some of these men were shot in the back.
27. 1:06Hard to argue that is self-defense when
28. 1:08someone is running away from you and you
29. 1:10put a bullet in his brain.
30. 1:11The case was pretty cut and dry. She was
31. 1:16uh convicted before
32. 1:18the trial, actually.
33. 1:27She had every right to shoot Mr.
34. 1:29Mallory. She was terrified, and she
35. 1:31defended herself.
36. 1:32In Ms. Wuornos's case, when we got to
37. 1:34the end and the closings were going to
38. 1:36be done, what I wanted to do was portray
39. 1:39her for the person I believe she was.
40. 1:42This was a serial killer. This was a
41. 1:44woman who killed at will, whenever she
42. 1:46wanted, and I really wasn't fearful that
43. 1:49she wasn't going to be found guilty.
44. 1:51This is a story of a person who's been
45. 1:53victimized her whole life and never
46. 1:56escapes that trauma and our justice
47. 1:59system is not well set up for that kind
48. 2:02of a scenario and because of that
49. 2:04justice is not served obviously for the
50. 2:06defendant. But justice is not served for
51. 2:09the victims or anybody else.
52. 2:15The jury left the courtroom to
53. 2:16deliberate.
54. 2:19In a hot second later, they're back.
55. 2:22It took the seven-woman, five-man jury
56. 2:24under two hours to reach its verdict.
57. 2:26Count one verdict. We the jury find the
58. 2:29defendant Aileen Carol Wuornos guilty
59. 2:33of first-degree premeditated murder and
60. 2:36first-degree felony murder of Richard
61. 2:37Mallory as charged in count one of the
62. 2:40indictment.
63. 2:41I think the jury was only out for two
64. 2:43hours because
65. 2:45the case was so overwhelming against
66. 2:47her. There was really nothing to debate.
67. 2:50Given the fact that really no evidence
68. 2:53was even brought in for the Mallory case
69. 2:55when she was found guilty, it was crazy.
70. 2:59Even though Aileen was only on trial for
71. 3:01the murder of her first victim, the
72. 3:03judge had allowed the prosecution to
73. 3:05introduce similar fact evidence of the
74. 3:07other murders at the trial.
75. 3:08Judge Blount said we should consider the
76. 3:12case at hand and not factor in the other
77. 3:17cases, which is impossible. I struggled
78. 3:21with that.
79. 3:23I think it served to seal the fate of
80. 3:27Aileen Wuornos.
81. 3:30When they convicted her, I was so
82. 3:32relieved
83. 3:34because at least she was going to have
84. 3:37to pay.
85. 3:39The 35-year-old defendant is visibly
86. 3:42angered by the verdict.
87. 3:45Once the verdict came in that Ms.
88. 3:47Wuornos was guilty, she screamed out to
89. 3:49the jury that she had been raped and
90. 3:52that she had defended herself.
91. 3:54I was raped. I hope you get raped.
92. 3:57Scumbags of America.
93. 3:59Scumbags of America.
94. 4:02That's what she said. I was taken back
95. 4:06by it, really.
96. 4:07She had nothing going for her and
97. 4:12caused me to
98. 4:14really resent her.
99. 4:16She basically said to the jury, you
100. 4:18know, "F you." It was not a way to
101. 4:22endear yourself to a jury that would
102. 4:25weigh in on if you're going to live or
103. 4:26die.