Claus von Bülow
Claus von Bülow (born Claus Cecil Borberg; 11 August 1926 – 25 May 2019) was a Danish-British socialite.[1]
Claus von Bülow | |
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![]() Appearing on After Dark in 1997 | |
Born | Claus Cecil Borberg 11 August 1926 |
Died | 25 May 2019 | (aged 92)
Alma mater | Trinity College, Cambridge |
Occupation(s) | Lawyer, socialite, critic |
Spouse | Sunny von Bülow (1966–1987) |
Children | Cosima von Bülow Pavoncelli |
He was known for being accused of the attempted murder of his wife Sunny von Bülow in 1979 which had left her in a coma from which she never recovered.[2] However, that conviction in the first trial was reversed and he was found not guilty at his second trial.[3]
In the same trial he was also convicted for the attempted murder of his wife by insulin overdose in 1980 which left her in a persistent vegetative state for the rest of her life, but that conviction in the first trial was also reversed and he was found not guilty at his second trial.[4]
He was a friend and personal assistant to J. Paul Getty.[5]
The characters Klaus and Sunny Baudelaire from A Series of Unfortunate Events are named after Claus and Sunny von Bülow.[6]
References
change- ↑ Leitch, Thomas (2002). "Reversal of Fortune and the Lawyer Film". Crime films. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 254. ISBN 9780521646710.
socialite Claus von Bülow
- ↑ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. xxii. ISBN 0394539036.
Sunny von Bülow recovered quickly from the first coma she suffered during the Christmas holiday in 1979 ... Sunny fell into an irreversible coma during the following Christmas season ... The prosecutor ... [presented] his own "true or false" offense: "true or false - Claus von Bülow administered ... insulin to his wife in an attempt to kill her on two separate occasions." The jury [at the first trial] checked the "true" box, convicting von Bülow of both crimes ... the Newport, Rhode Island, jury convict[ed] Claus von Bülow of twice attempting to murder his wife
- ↑ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "The Jury Decides". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. p. 237. ISBN 0394539036.
'the clerk asked the foreman of the jury "On the charge that the defendant committed on December 27, 1979, the crime of assault with intent to murder, how do you find, guilty or not guilty?" Without pausing even for dramatic effect, the foreman responded, "Not guilty."
- ↑ State v. von Bülow, 475 A.2d 995 (R.I. 1984).
- ↑ Alan M. Dershowitz (1986). "Setting the Stage". Reversal of Fortune: Inside the von Bülow Case. New York: Random House. pp. xix–xx. ISBN 0394539036.
Claus ... entered Cambridge University at age sixteen and graduated after the war with a degree in law ... After graduation, Claus ... joined the chambers of the noted British barrister Quintin Hogg (later Lord Hailsham), apprenticing at the barrister's trade. Later he went to work for J. Paul Getty and eventually became one of his chief assistants.
- ↑ Melody Joy Kramer (12 October 2006). "A Series Of Unfortunate Literary Allusions". NPR.
- ↑ Claus von Bülow, cultivated socialite and man-about-town who was convicted, then acquitted, of the attempted murder of his wife in two sensational trials – obituary (registration required)