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Speaker 1: Hey there, everybody. Just a quick disclaimer before we get going.

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Speaker 1: So this episode contains discussions of domestic abuse and violence

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Speaker 1: and might not be appropriate for all listeners. If you

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Speaker 1: yourself are someone who is at risk of domestic violence

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Speaker 1: or are dealing with it now, please call the National

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Speaker 1: Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to

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Speaker 1: nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven ninety nine seven

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Speaker 1: two three three. Thanks for listening. You're listening to Facing Evil,

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Speaker 1: a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and

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Speaker 1: opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the

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Speaker 1: individuals participating in the show and do not represent those

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Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV. This podcast contains subject matter

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Speaker 1: which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.

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Speaker 2: Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV

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Speaker 2: and iHeartRadio. We are your host, and of course I

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Speaker 2: am you bet.

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Speaker 3: Gent Tila, and I'm Roschia Peccuerero, and as always, our

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Speaker 3: amazing producer Trevor Young is with us here as well.

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Speaker 2: Hello, Hello, aloha.

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Speaker 1: I know we usually use this opening section to talk

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Speaker 1: about things that we've been doing recently or just chit

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Speaker 1: chat for a minute. So one of the things I

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Speaker 1: maybe want to start doing is just like talking about

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Speaker 1: cool things we've seen or heard or read about recently.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that.

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Speaker 1: And one of those things for me just kind of

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Speaker 1: like a show recommendation. It's not true crime related, it's

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Speaker 1: just like an amazing show I stumbled upon that I

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Speaker 1: want to promote. I'm not being sponsored by anybody, but

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Speaker 1: are you No, I'm not, I really I'm not. I

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Speaker 1: just think it's a great show. And it's called The

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Speaker 1: Bear and it's on Hulu.

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Speaker 2: Oh my god, Trevor, do.

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Speaker 1: You know about the show? I assume you know about

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Speaker 1: the show, dude.

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Speaker 2: I binge the gino and I my husband and I

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Speaker 2: binge the entire season and I can't I cannot wait

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Speaker 2: for the next season. It is so good, right, Yeah, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: It's great. And I kind of wasn't expecting it to be,

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Speaker 1: you know. I heard people online being like, oh, this

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Speaker 1: is the most realistic representation of like being in a

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Speaker 1: kitchen working in a kitchen. And I watched like the

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Speaker 1: first few episodes and I was like, yeah, I can

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Speaker 1: see that this seems like maybe a little over the

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Speaker 1: top at times, especially with like the cousin character who's

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Speaker 1: just like a total jackass. I was like, oh, yeah, okay,

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Speaker 1: I could see how this is like super gritty and realistic.

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Speaker 1: But then like the last two episodes just like really

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Speaker 1: hooked me in. Like the finale especially was just like

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Speaker 1: one of the best season finales of a show I've

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Speaker 1: seen in a long time.

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Speaker 2: So I agree, Rassia, you have to watch it. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I have to watch it.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. It's great because I mean, it's about cooking, but

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Speaker 1: it's also about like all these very interesting people, and

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Speaker 1: it's like the kitchen's more just like a background family. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: for like these other bigger emotional family stories that are

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Speaker 1: going on, and they all just like tie together really

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Speaker 1: nicely by the end.

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Speaker 2: I couldn't agree with you more, Trevor. It's so good.

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Speaker 2: It's really fast paced, which I love. My husband was

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Speaker 2: like a.

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Speaker 1: Little bit like, I don't know if i's oriented. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I think that's the point though it's supposed to be

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Speaker 1: a little bit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, but I loved it. It was there was such

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Speaker 2: a rawness to it, you know, and the acting is fantastic.

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Speaker 3: I need to watch it. I've been busy watching only

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Speaker 3: murders in the building. All right, well, that is amazing recommendation, Trevor.

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Speaker 3: So with all of that being.

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Speaker 2: Said, will you please take us through today's case.

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Speaker 4: They had a romance and he stopped her.

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Speaker 2: She became frightened. She never told us she was abusive

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Speaker 2: to her, and he killeder.

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Speaker 4: She was so great, She was such a charming, adorable girl,

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Speaker 4: and you just can't believe that she somebody would ever

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Speaker 4: want to hurt her, and here we were burying her.

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Speaker 4: Part of this case was whether or not this was

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Speaker 4: murder or mat slaughter, and within that construct was whether

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Speaker 4: or not there was malice which is necessary for murder,

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Speaker 4: or on the alternative, the killing was in the heated passion.

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Speaker 1: On the evening of October thirtieth, nineteen eighty two, actor

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Speaker 1: Dominique Dunn was at her house rehearsing scenes from the

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Speaker 1: miniseries V with her co star. A role in Poltergeist

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Speaker 1: had recently made the twenty two year old actor a star,

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Speaker 1: but their rehearsal was interrupted by a visit from Dominique's

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Speaker 1: ex boyfriend, John Sweeney. Sweeney had violent tendencies, and their

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Speaker 1: argument outside the house escalated. Dominique's co star called the police,

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Speaker 1: but when he went outside, he found Dominique lying on

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Speaker 1: the ground unconscious. John Sweeney was kneeling over her, and

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Speaker 1: in that moment, Sweeney reportedly confessed to her murder. But

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Speaker 1: after a bizarre trial, Sweeney was only ever convicted of

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Speaker 1: voluntary manslaughter and after a short stint in prison, he

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Speaker 1: walked free. And so what led to the murder of

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Speaker 1: Dominique Dunn, How did this young promising actor come to

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Speaker 1: be involved with Sweeney and what led to what many

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Speaker 1: believed to be an infamous miscarriage of justice.

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Speaker 3: It's so sad to me how common stories like Dominique's are,

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Speaker 3: These stories of women being abused by their life partners.

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Speaker 3: And I know, you know, people of all genders experience abuse,

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Speaker 3: but it's it's definitely heavier on, you know, the female

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Speaker 3: presenting side. And I had no idea until we were

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Speaker 3: doing research for this case that her killer only served

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Speaker 3: a few years.

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Speaker 2: In prison, Like do you remember when this happened? Event?

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Speaker 2: I mean I remember, I should say I remember Dominique,

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Speaker 2: you know, from Poltergeist, because I was in tenth grade

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Speaker 2: and that was such a you know, a huge movie,

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Speaker 2: and I remember always being afraid to turn the TV

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Speaker 2: on and if it started fuzzing up, was shit, what's

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Speaker 2: gonna happen? But I did not know, you know, and

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Speaker 2: we'll get into that later, you know, in the show

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Speaker 2: about you know, how much time this man actually served

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Speaker 2: for killing you know, Dominique. It's it's it's devastating.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. I didn't know anything really about this case until

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Speaker 1: maybe a couple of months ago when we first started

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Speaker 1: researching and looking into it. And man, what a horrible

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Speaker 1: way for this to end, you know, I mean, all

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Speaker 1: of it is horrible, but particularly just like the trial

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Speaker 1: part of this I think was the most shocking part

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Speaker 1: for me.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I.

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Speaker 1: Mean looking into it, it was clear I think from

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Speaker 1: the very beginning that you know, John Sweeney was a

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Speaker 1: very violent person. You know, as we'll learn he even

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Speaker 1: abused partners before Dominique, And like Rashia was saying, I mean,

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Speaker 1: especially in you know, places like Hollywood, this sort of

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Speaker 1: thing happens just like all the time.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's right, Trevor, And is a sobering statistic for you.

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Speaker 3: In twenty seventeen, eighty seven thousand women around the world

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Speaker 3: were killed intentionally, and more than half of those women,

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Speaker 3: a full fifty eight percent of them were killed by

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Speaker 3: intimate partners or family members. So that means that every

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Speaker 3: single day, one hundred and thirty seven women around the

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Speaker 3: world are killed by a family member or an intimate partner.

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Speaker 3: Every single day, a woman is killed by someone who's

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Speaker 3: supposed to love them, every single day.

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Speaker 2: Those are crazy numbers, and it's just so sad because

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Speaker 2: you know, so many women are in situations and obviously,

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Speaker 2: and I'm sure they want to get out, but sometimes

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Speaker 2: you just you know, you don't know how to get out,

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Speaker 2: you know, because of fear, because of things like this

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Speaker 2: that obviously do happen, And it just seems like there's

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Speaker 2: such a double standard in many ways that it it

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Speaker 2: allows this type of violent to persist, you know, and

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Speaker 2: that's something that I think we really should get into today,

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Speaker 2: and we really need to address this, you know, this

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Speaker 2: domestic violence.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, agreed, And the numbers themselves are staggering, but let's

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Speaker 3: jump in and take a look at the facts of

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Speaker 3: Dominique Dunn's life. So obviously, Dominique Dounn was more than

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Speaker 3: a statistic. She was more than just a number. She

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Speaker 3: was a person, a really promising actor from a prominent

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Speaker 3: and beautiful family. And she actually grew up right in California,

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Speaker 3: surrounded by the entire Hollywood scene, right, Trevor, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: Not far from where I live and I'm sitting right now.

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Speaker 1: So about her family, Dominique's parents were Dominick done and

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Speaker 1: he was an influential writer and producer. And then her

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Speaker 1: mother was Ellen Dunn, who throughout the story you'll hear

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Speaker 1: us refer to her as Lenny. That was her nickname.

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Speaker 1: So dominic Dunn's brother was actually married to the celebrated

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Speaker 1: writer Joan Didion, which is interesting. And growing up, Dominique

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Speaker 1: Dunn was privy to all of these different famous Hollywood people,

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Speaker 1: you know, through her family and through her dad.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, And after she graduated from high school, Dominique decided

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Speaker 3: to pursue acting. She was in a TV movie called

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Speaker 3: Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. And in that movie, I

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Speaker 3: saw a clip of it. Over the weekend we watched

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Speaker 3: Yvett and I were together in San Francisco and watched

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Speaker 3: an old episode of E true Hollywood story from the

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Speaker 3: late nineties about Dominique, and ironically she was beaten up

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Speaker 3: and raped in that first movie. I mean her character writer,

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Speaker 3: you know, Yeah, her character was, and she also appeared

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Speaker 3: in a number of shows like lou Grant and Yvette's

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Speaker 3: Favorite Fame.

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Speaker 2: My Favorite Fame.

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Speaker 3: And then she actually got her big breakout role playing

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Speaker 3: the teenage daughter in Poltergeist, which was filmed in nineteen

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Speaker 3: eighty one and came out in nineteen eighty two. So

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Speaker 3: if anyone knows who Dominiqu Dunn was, they probably know

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Speaker 3: her from Poultergeist.

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Speaker 2: It was a huge blockbuster hit.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and I guess all this story kind of takes

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Speaker 1: place like right at the culmination of her new fame.

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Speaker 2: Right right, right. But it's nineteen eighty two, and she

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Speaker 2: attends a party in Los Angeles, like you know many

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Speaker 2: starlets do, and she meets John Sweeney. So Trevor tell

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Speaker 2: us who this guy is.

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Speaker 1: Well, John Sweeney was a twenty seven year old Sioux

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Speaker 1: chef at a French restaurant called Ma Maison, which I

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Speaker 1: assume was a French place, and it was just a

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Speaker 1: super trendy restaurant at the time. So this is actually

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Speaker 1: where Wolfgang Puck got his start back in the seventies

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Speaker 1: and basically invented the whole California novelle cuisine there. So

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Speaker 1: it made sense that a current ma maison chef would

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Speaker 1: be at this hip Hollywood party, and this is where

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Speaker 1: he meets Dominique done. So the two started dating and

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Speaker 1: moved in together just a few months into their relationship.

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Speaker 2: Right, and this is where we start to get a

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Speaker 2: sense that things might not be okay, you know, they

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Speaker 2: might not be so great. We have the sense that

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Speaker 2: John Sweeney, you know, was head over heels for Dominique.

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Speaker 2: Obviously it seems like he was definitely more in love

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Speaker 2: with her than she with him. And you know it,

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Speaker 2: his affections bordered on excessive jealousy and you know, like

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Speaker 2: hovering over her, so to speak. And I know that

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Speaker 2: feeling all too well. But anyhow, Russia, I'll let you

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Speaker 2: jump in here.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, an example of that, that hovering and you know

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Speaker 3: jealous demeanor that John had towards Dominique. So, one of

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Speaker 3: Dominique's brothers, Alex, had told his parents of an incident

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Speaker 3: that took place when like a fan came up to

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Speaker 3: Dominique in a restaurant. Again, she had just come out

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Speaker 3: with Poltergeiss. This particular fan happened to me Mail, he was,

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Speaker 3: you know, fanning out over Oh my god, it's Dominique

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Speaker 3: done for Poltergeist. Yeah, and John Sweeney like freaked out

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Speaker 3: and when he saw this man talking to his girlfriend, Dominique,

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Speaker 3: he became enraged, and Alex told his parents and he

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Speaker 3: told the press quote, he picked up the man and

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Speaker 3: shook him. Sweeney's reaction was out of all proportion to

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Speaker 3: the incident going on end quote. And Alex Dominique's brother

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Speaker 3: called it scary.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, of course. And I think like he when I

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Speaker 2: was reading this article, you know, I think he shook

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Speaker 2: him and he actually like threw him like on a table,

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Speaker 2: like it was crazy. And her father, Dominic, had a

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Speaker 2: similar experience. He was going to meet the couple for

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Speaker 2: lunch and John and Dominique were running a bit late,

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Speaker 2: and when they got this it was clear that Dominique

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Speaker 2: had been crying and her father could sense that there

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Speaker 2: was a great deal of tension between the two. What

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Speaker 2: he could see is that it's going to be really

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Speaker 2: hard for her to get away from this man because

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Speaker 2: he was that controlling. And he just said he had

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Speaker 2: the feeling that he was just creepy.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, it kind of it takes me back, right, I

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Speaker 3: hadn't really thought about everything like that. You and I

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Speaker 3: have been through writing it like over the years until

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Speaker 3: we were you know, looking into Dominique's case, and it

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Speaker 3: just makes me think about how violence against you know,

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Speaker 3: stereotypically and the numbers show this, but how violence against

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Speaker 3: women by their male partners is incredibly normalized by our society.

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Speaker 4: Right.

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Speaker 3: So, just when you were talking about how Dominique's dad,

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Speaker 3: you know, saw like tears in her eyes, Like right,

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Speaker 3: I can remember an incident when we were living together

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Speaker 3: in la and he shall remain nameless, but I moved,

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Speaker 3: you know, from Portland to Los Angeles to be with

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Speaker 3: you know, mom and Anne Yvette, and I brought along

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Speaker 3: a boyfriend with me because this is before I came

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Speaker 3: out at the age of thirty, and I had been

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Speaker 3: in an abusive relationship and I didn't even remember that

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Speaker 3: until we were looking into Dominique, and I was like,

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Speaker 3: oh shit, like I've been there, but I thought it

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Speaker 3: was my fault.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, first of all, I'm sorry to hear that, although I, like,

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Speaker 1: I guess I'm not surprised, you know, I think it's

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Speaker 1: just a thing men do, and I think women go

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Speaker 1: through and I do think, you know, one of the

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Speaker 1: good things here is that you know, you both of

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Speaker 1: you had each other and you had a family environment

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Speaker 1: where you could, you know, have each other's back.

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Speaker 2: We had help.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, exactly. And in the case of you know, Dominique,

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Speaker 1: it's it's interesting because she also had that, but it

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Speaker 1: ends up not being enough. And I think that's because

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Speaker 1: this case, you know, John Sweeney, he kind of is

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Speaker 1: just too aggressive, right, like, you know, he just keeps

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Speaker 1: coming back. And this is something you see I think

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Speaker 1: a lot in domestic abuse is, you know, they don't

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Speaker 1: know how to take no for an answer. They don't

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Speaker 1: like that, Yeah, they don't like go, you know, And

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Speaker 1: Dominique's mother in this case kind of catches this on

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Speaker 1: one occasion. There's one night where Dominique kind of flees

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Speaker 1: to her mom's house in tears, and this is after

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Speaker 1: a fight where John Sweeney was attacking her, pulling out

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Speaker 1: clumps of her hair, supposedly, and her mom gave this

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Speaker 1: really kind of chilling quote where she says he had

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Speaker 1: such a terrible temper, he smashes furniture and throws dishes

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Speaker 1: end quote. And so when Lenny done, the mom pointed

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Speaker 1: out that Sweeney seemed dangerous. Dominique responded by saying, oh,

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Speaker 1: he'd never hurt me, as though she heard self has

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Speaker 1: like internalized this idea that like this is just.

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Speaker 2: Normal, right, yeah, right, as if he hasn't heard her already,

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Speaker 2: in which we know that he has, but she's in

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Speaker 2: her mind rationalizing, you know what he's done, right.

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Speaker 1: I Mean.

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Speaker 2: The one thing that this makes me think about is

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Speaker 2: we always ask why battered women just don't leave the relationships,

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Speaker 2: you know, And I'll bet some listeners are shouting out

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Speaker 2: right now, right leave him, like why didn't you leave him?

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Speaker 2: But the fact of the matter is it takes time,

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Speaker 2: you know, to navigate out of those situations, and you know,

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Speaker 2: and especially in the situation with Dominique, like she didn't

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Speaker 2: tell her parents. They just witnessed some things.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I don't think she even really accepted it herself.

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Speaker 3: You know, yeah, exactly exactly, just by that quote to

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Speaker 3: her mom's he would never have her hurt me, you know,

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Speaker 3: like he's already hurt you.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 3: And when you are in an abusive relationship, like thoughts,

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Speaker 3: you know, they they're all over the place, just like me.

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Speaker 3: Like I remember even having the conversation with the VET

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Speaker 3: a few days ago, and I was like, oh no,

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Speaker 3: like you know, I was in his face, like I

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Speaker 3: made him hit me. And she's like no, no, like no,

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Speaker 3: it doesn't matter what you say, you know, like I

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Speaker 3: never hit him first, you know, like yeah, no, there's

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Speaker 3: no excuse period. And oftentimes, like you're so controlled or

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Speaker 3: you're so traumatized, or it's like what is that that

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Speaker 3: syndrome where you end up like thank you, Stockholm syndrome

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Speaker 3: where you end up, you know, in love with your abuser,

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Speaker 3: Like I think that might be what was going on here,

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Speaker 3: and you think that, like.

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Speaker 2: Even like me, like you think you deserve it, Yeah,

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Speaker 2: when you don't. No one deserves to be physically or

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Speaker 2: abused in any way. But yeah, right, But I.

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Speaker 1: Mean the sad truth is that the situation with Dominique

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Speaker 1: kind of just gets worse from here. And we'll talk

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Speaker 1: about where this goes after we take a quick break.

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Speaker 3: Okay, So it's nineteen eighty two and Dominique Dunn is

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Speaker 3: caught in a relationship with her abuser, John Sweeney. It's

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Speaker 3: in September of that year that a another argument turned violent.

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Speaker 1: Right, So this one takes place at the couple's house

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Speaker 1: that they live at together. And supposedly John Sweeney threw

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Speaker 1: Dominique done to the floor and started to choke her.

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Speaker 1: And there was a friend staying with him at the time,

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Speaker 1: and he remembers coming into the room after hearing what

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Speaker 1: they described as quote, loud gagging sounds. So at this point,

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Speaker 1: after a bunch of back and forth, Dominique manages to

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Speaker 1: escape out of the apartment. So there's a big scene

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Speaker 1: where he runs outside and tries to throw himself onto

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Speaker 1: the hood of her car as she's like pulling out

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Speaker 1: of the driveway. Luckily, she does escape and she is

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Speaker 1: able to stay with her mother for the next few weeks.

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Speaker 1: But you know, she does break up with him at

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Speaker 1: this point understandably.

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Speaker 2: Oh good job, she ye, yep.

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Speaker 1: So she asked him to move out, and after he

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Speaker 1: moves out, she returned back to that apartment in West

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Speaker 1: Hollywood and had the locks changed.

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Speaker 2: And I just hate that That's not the end of

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Speaker 2: her story.

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Speaker 1: Right, This is probably where it should have ended, but

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Speaker 1: it doesn't. It's now October and Dominique is at her

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Speaker 1: house rehearsing with a coworker. She has just been cast

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Speaker 1: in the new sci fi TV show V with her

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Speaker 1: co star David Packer, and they're going through scenes together

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Speaker 1: in her living room. So at one point she's on

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Speaker 1: the phone with a friend and the operator cuts through

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Speaker 1: to interrupt the call, and the person calling is John Sweeney, right, So.

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Speaker 3: At this time Dominique says to her friend David, quote,

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Speaker 3: oh god, it's Sweeney. Let me get him off the phone.

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Speaker 3: End quote.

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Speaker 2: And these are the last documented words we have from

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Speaker 2: Dominique Done.

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Speaker 3: So. Ten minutes after John Sweeney, her violent ex boyfriend,

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Speaker 3: called Dominie Done, he showed up at her house because

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Speaker 3: he was only walking distance from where they lived from

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Speaker 3: the restaurant restaurant where he was at.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and we know what happened because David Packer, which

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Speaker 2: was her co star from B was there at the house.

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Speaker 2: They were rehearsing the scene and then you know who shows.

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Speaker 3: Up, right, So she first is talking to John, you know,

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Speaker 3: through basically her she had protection because she had that door.

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Speaker 3: It was just kind of opened up a little bit

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Speaker 3: because she had the latch on it, so she had

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Speaker 3: that little layer of protection. But then she agreed to

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Speaker 3: step outside and talk to John Sweeney while David just

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Speaker 3: waits inside and Trevor, this is where things got really bad, right, Yeah.

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Speaker 1: So David Packer says he heard them start to argue

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Speaker 1: from outside, and then he heard the sound of quote smacks,

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Speaker 1: a scream, and then a thud. So he calls the police,

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Speaker 1: but they first told him that Dominique's house is out

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Speaker 1: of their jurisdiction.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

377
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Speaker 1: So David Packer gets really scared. He calls a friend

378
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Speaker 1: and leaves a message on this friend's answering machine saying, quote,

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Speaker 1: if I die tonight, it was by John Sweeney end quote.

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Speaker 2: Wow.

381
00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:19,159
Speaker 1: So David Packer decides to leave the house through the

382
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Speaker 1: back door, and he walks down the driveway, and that

383
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Speaker 1: is when he spotted Dominique unconscious and lying in the bushes,

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Speaker 1: with Sweeney kneeling over her. So they kind of lock eyes.

385
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Speaker 1: There's kind of an understanding as to what's going on,

386
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Speaker 1: and Sweeney tells David to call the police, which he did,

387
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Speaker 1: and I guess they come this time. So when the

388
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Speaker 1: cops arrived, John Sweeney was standing in the driveway, his

389
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Speaker 1: arms raised above his head, and he reportedly told them

390
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Speaker 1: quote I killed my girlfriend and I tried to kill

391
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Speaker 1: myself end quote. And he was arrested on the scene

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Speaker 1: and charged with attempted murder.

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Speaker 2: And isn't that a confession right there, you guys, Yeah, yeah.

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Speaker 1: I mean you have a confession, you have a witness,

395
00:22:03,600 --> 00:22:05,639
Speaker 1: you have a history of abuse. I mean this is

396
00:22:05,640 --> 00:22:07,320
Speaker 1: all going to come into play later. But I mean

397
00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:10,000
Speaker 1: one interesting thing here and Russia, I know you have

398
00:22:10,040 --> 00:22:13,400
Speaker 1: some feelings about this is you know, why didn't her

399
00:22:13,440 --> 00:22:17,120
Speaker 1: co star David Packers step into do anything. Right, He's

400
00:22:17,160 --> 00:22:21,320
Speaker 1: just kind of you know, he heard the commotion outside

401
00:22:21,320 --> 00:22:22,560
Speaker 1: and just decided to bail.

402
00:22:23,280 --> 00:22:25,919
Speaker 3: Yeah, I mean at least he called, at least he

403
00:22:25,960 --> 00:22:26,840
Speaker 3: picked up the phone.

404
00:22:27,000 --> 00:22:30,080
Speaker 2: But still, yeah, we do know what was going through

405
00:22:30,119 --> 00:22:33,120
Speaker 2: his mind. He was scared, you know, he was scared

406
00:22:33,280 --> 00:22:36,320
Speaker 2: for his life. But still you know, yeah.

407
00:22:36,119 --> 00:22:39,200
Speaker 1: I mean just it's possible though that, you know, Dominique

408
00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:42,199
Speaker 1: would still be with us today had he just like intervened,

409
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Speaker 1: you know, right, yes, he could have just even scared

410
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Speaker 1: John Off, you know, like whatever.

411
00:22:47,520 --> 00:22:51,480
Speaker 3: Yeah, yeah, and who knows what the dynamic was, right, Yeah.

412
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Speaker 2: I think that's interesting too, is when he called nine

413
00:22:54,119 --> 00:22:58,359
Speaker 2: to one one and they said that, you know, well,

414
00:22:58,400 --> 00:23:02,240
Speaker 2: out out of our jeers, Dick, Like, I mean, that's

415
00:23:02,320 --> 00:23:06,080
Speaker 2: just crazy. Well, get somebody in the jurisdiction to get there,

416
00:23:06,280 --> 00:23:08,679
Speaker 2: you know, like hatch a mop should respond to this

417
00:23:08,760 --> 00:23:12,119
Speaker 2: then yeah, yeah, you know that wasn't David's fault in

418
00:23:12,160 --> 00:23:14,960
Speaker 2: that sense, no, because you know, David did the right thing.

419
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Speaker 2: He called nine to one one.

420
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Speaker 4: Yeah.

421
00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:19,480
Speaker 1: Yeah, there's just like a lot of failures that happened,

422
00:23:20,400 --> 00:23:22,800
Speaker 1: but at the end of the day, it's still primarily

423
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Speaker 1: John Sweeney's responsibility.

424
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Speaker 3: Oh yeah, he's the one that took Dominique's life. And

425
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Speaker 3: right after that confession, Dominique was taken immediately to Cedar

426
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Speaker 3: Sinaide Medical Center, where she was placed on life support

427
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Speaker 3: and apparently she was almost completely unrecognizable to her family.

428
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Speaker 3: She had tubes everywhere, her head was shaved, and there

429
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Speaker 3: was a large bolt that was screwed into her skull

430
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Speaker 3: to help relieve some of the pressure on her brain

431
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Speaker 3: because you know, she was we believe strangled and.

432
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Speaker 2: On her neck.

433
00:24:02,320 --> 00:24:06,040
Speaker 3: Her family could still see the bruises of the handmarks

434
00:24:06,400 --> 00:24:13,159
Speaker 3: from John Sweeney's hands, as her father wrote after the fact,

435
00:24:13,520 --> 00:24:17,600
Speaker 3: and this is a quote from the prolific writer Dominic

436
00:24:17,720 --> 00:24:21,640
Speaker 3: Dunn quote, it was nearly impossible to look at her,

437
00:24:22,440 --> 00:24:24,679
Speaker 3: but also impossible to look away.

438
00:24:25,280 --> 00:24:29,480
Speaker 2: End quote. Yeah, you know, I read an article and

439
00:24:29,520 --> 00:24:33,480
Speaker 2: if you get a chance, read the article that her father,

440
00:24:33,640 --> 00:24:38,800
Speaker 2: Dominic Dunn wrote. It's so powerful and you know, he

441
00:24:38,920 --> 00:24:42,639
Speaker 2: talks about this moment when they were going to the

442
00:24:42,680 --> 00:24:45,800
Speaker 2: hospital and they were really worried about the mother, Lenny

443
00:24:45,920 --> 00:24:49,520
Speaker 2: because at the time, Lenny was in a wheelchair, so

444
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:53,960
Speaker 2: they were worried that this would you know, impact her

445
00:24:54,000 --> 00:24:56,959
Speaker 2: help by seeing you know, her daughter like this. And

446
00:24:57,840 --> 00:25:02,120
Speaker 2: you know, it was Dominic, Lenny and the two brothers,

447
00:25:02,880 --> 00:25:09,879
Speaker 2: Alex and Griffin, and they opened the door and she

448
00:25:10,200 --> 00:25:14,000
Speaker 2: was the one that he said was the strong one, Lenny,

449
00:25:14,119 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 2: and Lenny was the strong one. The boys, the men

450
00:25:18,040 --> 00:25:20,919
Speaker 2: were just like it just destroyed them, you know, to

451
00:25:21,000 --> 00:25:25,400
Speaker 2: see their sister like that. But Lenny took Dominique's hand

452
00:25:25,480 --> 00:25:28,479
Speaker 2: in hers and she just started talking to her. And

453
00:25:28,560 --> 00:25:32,840
Speaker 2: this this was a release, you know for the family

454
00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,800
Speaker 2: to kind of let go of that shock, you know,

455
00:25:35,920 --> 00:25:39,760
Speaker 2: in that moment, right and just just speak to their sister.

456
00:25:40,359 --> 00:25:43,040
Speaker 2: And as her father wrote, and this is a quote,

457
00:25:43,119 --> 00:25:47,240
Speaker 2: we prayed for her to live, even though we knew

458
00:25:47,280 --> 00:25:51,080
Speaker 2: that it would be best for her to die. That's

459
00:25:51,119 --> 00:25:56,199
Speaker 2: a hard thing to say for a parent. Right on

460
00:25:56,280 --> 00:25:57,480
Speaker 2: November fourth.

461
00:25:57,320 --> 00:26:01,560
Speaker 3: Just a few days after the attack, Dominique's family does

462
00:26:01,600 --> 00:26:04,840
Speaker 3: agree to take her off of life support. They say

463
00:26:04,880 --> 00:26:07,919
Speaker 3: goodbye to her for the last time, and her organs

464
00:26:07,960 --> 00:26:11,240
Speaker 3: are donated before her body is turned over to the

465
00:26:11,280 --> 00:26:15,960
Speaker 3: Corner for the autopsy. And two days later they held

466
00:26:16,000 --> 00:26:20,520
Speaker 3: her funeral in Beverly Hills at a beautiful Catholic church.

467
00:26:20,560 --> 00:26:22,399
Speaker 3: And I even saw footage of the funeral, and there

468
00:26:22,440 --> 00:26:26,719
Speaker 3: were hundreds of people there and so many you know,

469
00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:30,800
Speaker 3: actors and producers and directors and all kinds of people

470
00:26:30,880 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 3: who loved Dominique, this young twenty two year old human

471
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:36,880
Speaker 3: who has taken from us too soon.

472
00:26:36,960 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 2: And it's so sad, right, Yeah, it's very sad. And again,

473
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,119
Speaker 2: you know, she was just you know, at the peak

474
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:49,560
Speaker 2: right of her career of you know, completely you know,

475
00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:54,080
Speaker 2: thrusting into stardom. So, like I said, I was just

476
00:26:54,160 --> 00:26:57,720
Speaker 2: speaking about that article that Dominic Dunn had wrote from

477
00:26:57,760 --> 00:27:02,199
Speaker 2: Vanity Fair. And this is after the trial. So now

478
00:27:02,440 --> 00:27:07,000
Speaker 2: let's let's talk about this crazy trial and how it begins.

479
00:27:07,440 --> 00:27:09,800
Speaker 1: Yes, it is quite a crazy trial, and that is

480
00:27:09,840 --> 00:27:12,399
Speaker 1: exactly what we'll talk about after we take another quick break.

481
00:27:17,560 --> 00:27:22,640
Speaker 2: John Sweeney's trial is presided over by Judge Burton s Katz,

482
00:27:23,240 --> 00:27:27,000
Speaker 2: And it began August nineteen eighty three, and it's can

483
00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:31,000
Speaker 2: I just say it's dramatic from the beginning to the end.

484
00:27:32,240 --> 00:27:36,760
Speaker 3: Yes, And the prosecutor actually placed a lot of emphasis

485
00:27:36,880 --> 00:27:40,240
Speaker 3: on the time that it took for John Sweeney to

486
00:27:40,359 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 3: strangle Dominique done. In fact, he began by starting a

487
00:27:46,200 --> 00:27:51,760
Speaker 3: stopwatch and having it run, and it was completely silent

488
00:27:51,880 --> 00:27:55,000
Speaker 3: in that packed courtroom, and he let that stopwatch run

489
00:27:55,200 --> 00:28:00,680
Speaker 3: for four minutes because essentially that is how long John

490
00:28:00,760 --> 00:28:04,720
Speaker 3: Sweeney strangled Dominique Dunne. And that's how long it took

491
00:28:04,760 --> 00:28:08,120
Speaker 3: for her to die, because she essentially went brain dead

492
00:28:08,720 --> 00:28:11,240
Speaker 3: when she was strangled by him in those four minutes.

493
00:28:11,680 --> 00:28:16,160
Speaker 2: Think about that. Four minutes is a very long time.

494
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:21,040
Speaker 2: And the thing about that is is your intention has

495
00:28:21,119 --> 00:28:25,520
Speaker 2: to be to kill her if you are strangling her

496
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:26,560
Speaker 2: for that long.

497
00:28:27,240 --> 00:28:30,639
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't premeditated, then probably you know,

498
00:28:30,920 --> 00:28:33,520
Speaker 1: I don't know, a couple seconds into it, you'd be like, oh, wait,

499
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:34,400
Speaker 1: I shouldn't be doing.

500
00:28:34,359 --> 00:28:36,679
Speaker 2: This, right, yeah, oh shit, oh gilling her?

501
00:28:36,920 --> 00:28:39,760
Speaker 1: But nope, he keeps going. He just keeps going.

502
00:28:40,080 --> 00:28:40,280
Speaker 2: Yeah.

503
00:28:40,280 --> 00:28:42,920
Speaker 3: And that's the point that the prosecutor wanted to make

504
00:28:42,920 --> 00:28:43,760
Speaker 3: in that court realm.

505
00:28:44,520 --> 00:28:47,120
Speaker 2: And this part is where.

506
00:28:48,440 --> 00:28:50,120
Speaker 3: I'm gonna get mad even thinking about it, Like I

507
00:28:50,120 --> 00:28:52,520
Speaker 3: can't even say the name Judge Katz and not be

508
00:28:52,680 --> 00:28:57,240
Speaker 3: angry whenever I think about this. So the prosecutor brought

509
00:28:57,280 --> 00:29:02,120
Speaker 3: in Lilyan Pierce, and Lily was an ex girlfriend of Sweeney's,

510
00:29:02,200 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 3: and she testified really movingly about John's history of violent

511
00:29:08,760 --> 00:29:11,760
Speaker 3: behavior towards his partner, right, Trevor.

512
00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:15,520
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean not that we needed Lillian Pierce's testimony

513
00:29:15,560 --> 00:29:18,960
Speaker 1: to prove his guilt, right, and that said it should

514
00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,320
Speaker 1: have and could have been the final nail in his coffin.

515
00:29:22,200 --> 00:29:26,160
Speaker 1: So Lillian Pierce testifies that they had been together for

516
00:29:26,200 --> 00:29:30,000
Speaker 1: two years and that on ten separate occasions during that time,

517
00:29:30,240 --> 00:29:33,360
Speaker 1: he beat her to some degree. She had quote been

518
00:29:33,440 --> 00:29:37,960
Speaker 1: hospitalized twice, once for six days, once for four days.

519
00:29:38,760 --> 00:29:42,640
Speaker 1: Sweeney had broken her notes, punctured her ear drum, collapsed

520
00:29:42,680 --> 00:29:45,200
Speaker 1: her lung, and thrown rocks at her when she tried

521
00:29:45,200 --> 00:29:48,120
Speaker 1: to escape from him. She had seen him, she said,

522
00:29:48,280 --> 00:29:51,440
Speaker 1: foam at the mouth when he lost control and smashed

523
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:55,880
Speaker 1: furniture and pictures. And as she spoke, the courtroom was

524
00:29:55,920 --> 00:30:01,959
Speaker 1: absolutely silent. I mean, come on, yeah, And so at

525
00:30:02,000 --> 00:30:07,040
Speaker 1: one point during Pierce's testimony, Sweeney became enraged listening to this,

526
00:30:07,320 --> 00:30:10,080
Speaker 1: and so he jumped out of his heat and tried

527
00:30:10,120 --> 00:30:13,560
Speaker 1: to escape out of the courtroom. So he was tackled

528
00:30:13,560 --> 00:30:17,200
Speaker 1: by the bailiff and restrained in his chair. This is

529
00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:20,120
Speaker 1: where things get weird, though, because the judge did really

530
00:30:20,160 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 1: little to admonish or punish him in any way. He

531
00:30:24,440 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 1: reportedly just told Sweeney that he knew how much pressure

532
00:30:27,360 --> 00:30:30,200
Speaker 1: he was under, you know, like showing him sympathy, you know,

533
00:30:30,400 --> 00:30:32,080
Speaker 1: and kind of like gave him a little slap on

534
00:30:32,120 --> 00:30:37,040
Speaker 1: the wrist. The other important thing to know about this

535
00:30:37,240 --> 00:30:41,600
Speaker 1: testimony from Lillian Pearce is that the defense made an

536
00:30:41,640 --> 00:30:46,400
Speaker 1: emotion to not have the jury listen to that testimony,

537
00:30:46,800 --> 00:30:50,800
Speaker 1: and Judge Katz allowed that to stand. So the jury

538
00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,920
Speaker 1: wasn't actually in the room when Lillian Pierce gave that

539
00:30:53,960 --> 00:30:56,080
Speaker 1: testimony about how abusive he was.

540
00:30:56,840 --> 00:31:00,400
Speaker 2: And that is why Judge Katz pissed me off.

541
00:31:00,640 --> 00:31:05,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, his career was ruined after this trial, and rightfully so.

542
00:31:06,160 --> 00:31:08,280
Speaker 3: I mean even in what you just said, Trevor.

543
00:31:08,480 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 2: Like he was like, oh, you're okay, he was.

544
00:31:11,520 --> 00:31:15,040
Speaker 3: Like making sure that John Sweeney was all right after

545
00:31:15,080 --> 00:31:19,680
Speaker 3: that horrific outburst, and then he doesn't let Lilian's testimony,

546
00:31:19,800 --> 00:31:21,520
Speaker 3: he doesn't let the jury here.

547
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,520
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that's it's just crazy. It's like watching Law

548
00:31:24,560 --> 00:31:27,120
Speaker 2: and Order. Can I just say, and you have the

549
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:30,800
Speaker 2: crazy guy you know, on the stand who has an outburst,

550
00:31:30,840 --> 00:31:33,120
Speaker 2: and it's like the judge would be like, you know,

551
00:31:33,320 --> 00:31:35,520
Speaker 2: ordering the court, ordering the court bailiff, you know what

552
00:31:35,560 --> 00:31:40,080
Speaker 2: I mean. Like, instead, this judge is like, oh, it's okay,

553
00:31:40,480 --> 00:31:43,400
Speaker 2: I know this is you know, stressing on you Like

554
00:31:43,480 --> 00:31:47,360
Speaker 2: what yeah, you know, Dominique's family is there.

555
00:31:47,440 --> 00:31:52,320
Speaker 3: And Lillian Pierce is there, who was horrifically abused by him.

556
00:31:52,600 --> 00:31:58,040
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean it's just ridiculous, like ridiculous, right.

557
00:31:58,320 --> 00:32:02,840
Speaker 1: So Sweeney's attorney makes another request that the judge again grants,

558
00:32:03,040 --> 00:32:05,680
Speaker 1: which is that there is not sufficient evidence to charge

559
00:32:05,680 --> 00:32:09,000
Speaker 1: Sweeney with first degree murder and that the jury should

560
00:32:09,040 --> 00:32:12,680
Speaker 1: only be allowed to consider charges of manslaughter and second

561
00:32:12,720 --> 00:32:17,640
Speaker 1: degree murder. And the defense's reasoning for this was quote

562
00:32:18,080 --> 00:32:22,480
Speaker 1: there is no premeditation or deliberation in this case end quote.

563
00:32:22,560 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 1: And again Judge Katz agrees to do this, Like.

564
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,960
Speaker 2: What is up with this judge. You know again, I

565
00:32:31,040 --> 00:32:34,240
Speaker 2: go back to the article that Dominique Wroten he writes

566
00:32:34,280 --> 00:32:37,800
Speaker 2: about this judge, and from what I understand, like he's

567
00:32:37,840 --> 00:32:43,080
Speaker 2: a very arrogant kind of almost like similar to John Sweeney,

568
00:32:43,160 --> 00:32:45,640
Speaker 2: like in personality like that. I'm sure there are buds

569
00:32:45,920 --> 00:32:50,520
Speaker 2: right right, exactly what I'm seeing, because you know, it

570
00:32:50,560 --> 00:32:54,520
Speaker 2: took four minutes, right for her to die. He choked

571
00:32:54,520 --> 00:32:59,280
Speaker 2: her out for four minutes, so that they just pretty

572
00:32:59,360 --> 00:33:01,840
Speaker 2: much discount out of that, and he gave a confession

573
00:33:02,040 --> 00:33:06,320
Speaker 2: to the police. They discounted that, and the ex girlfriend

574
00:33:07,320 --> 00:33:10,920
Speaker 2: t you know, testifies and the jury doesn't get to

575
00:33:10,960 --> 00:33:11,240
Speaker 2: hear that.

576
00:33:11,720 --> 00:33:13,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, this should have been a slam dunk case.

577
00:33:13,640 --> 00:33:16,720
Speaker 1: I mean they had everything you need to convict someone

578
00:33:16,760 --> 00:33:19,120
Speaker 1: a first degree murder, like literally everything you could ever

579
00:33:19,160 --> 00:33:23,320
Speaker 1: want in a case, everything, Trevor, It's so insane and.

580
00:33:23,760 --> 00:33:26,400
Speaker 2: It makes me so mad even saying these words.

581
00:33:27,160 --> 00:33:30,520
Speaker 3: The defense kept saying, oh, John Sweeney was just caught

582
00:33:30,600 --> 00:33:32,680
Speaker 3: up in quote the heat of passion.

583
00:33:33,000 --> 00:33:34,160
Speaker 2: I'm sorry, bullshit.

584
00:33:34,280 --> 00:33:37,440
Speaker 3: Yeah, no, f that, And they're saying that he was

585
00:33:37,560 --> 00:33:41,160
Speaker 3: not aware of what he was doing. Okay, again, you know,

586
00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,680
Speaker 3: arguably right, I have to say, like I think this

587
00:33:44,840 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 3: is part of rape culture, right. A lot of times men,

588
00:33:48,920 --> 00:33:51,360
Speaker 3: you know, get away with rape or get away with

589
00:33:51,440 --> 00:33:53,720
Speaker 3: violence or abuse because they're like, oh, they were just

590
00:33:53,720 --> 00:33:56,440
Speaker 3: caught up in the moment. They couldn't stop themselves. They're

591
00:33:56,480 --> 00:34:00,840
Speaker 3: not a wild animal. Yeah, you know, like, I'm sorry,

592
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:05,840
Speaker 3: but you absolutely can control your actions. And in those

593
00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:10,400
Speaker 3: four minutes that John was strangling Dominique, he could have

594
00:34:10,520 --> 00:34:12,480
Speaker 3: made that decision to stop.

595
00:34:12,960 --> 00:34:13,640
Speaker 2: Yeah.

596
00:34:13,640 --> 00:34:16,160
Speaker 1: And even if you like really can't control your emotions,

597
00:34:16,200 --> 00:34:18,040
Speaker 1: like if you are literally foaming at the mouth like

598
00:34:18,040 --> 00:34:22,600
Speaker 1: supposedly John Sweeney was, that is no one else's responsibility,

599
00:34:22,840 --> 00:34:24,799
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, Like, you don't just get

600
00:34:24,800 --> 00:34:28,840
Speaker 1: a free pass, right, you know, from murdering someone because

601
00:34:29,320 --> 00:34:32,279
Speaker 1: you can't control yourself. You know, you still need to

602
00:34:32,320 --> 00:34:35,480
Speaker 1: be punished for that and learn lessons. And this guy doesn't,

603
00:34:35,600 --> 00:34:37,319
Speaker 1: and no one ever gives him a chance to learn

604
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:39,200
Speaker 1: a lesson because he keeps getting off the hook.

605
00:34:39,640 --> 00:34:42,719
Speaker 3: Yeah, And that's the toxic boys will be boys mentality,

606
00:34:42,760 --> 00:34:45,160
Speaker 3: And I think that's what Judge Katz was perpetuating.

607
00:34:45,800 --> 00:34:49,319
Speaker 2: And it's just disgusting he was in that same paternity

608
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:52,799
Speaker 2: because he's allowing all of this. Yeah, you know, it's

609
00:34:52,840 --> 00:34:55,920
Speaker 2: just it's sickening, and you know, it's just what happened

610
00:34:55,960 --> 00:35:00,839
Speaker 2: to Dominique. It just jarred their entire family. Now they

611
00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:05,799
Speaker 2: have to sit through this trial and watch this bullshit.

612
00:35:06,280 --> 00:35:06,480
Speaker 4: Right.

613
00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:08,839
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's pretty much a sham by this point, and

614
00:35:09,040 --> 00:35:12,440
Speaker 1: it doesn't get any better. So the jerry deliberates for

615
00:35:12,480 --> 00:35:16,239
Speaker 1: eight days and then lo and behold they decide to

616
00:35:16,360 --> 00:35:18,560
Speaker 1: a quit Sweeney of second degree murder.

617
00:35:18,719 --> 00:35:19,040
Speaker 3: Wow.

618
00:35:19,120 --> 00:35:22,239
Speaker 1: And instead they only find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter

619
00:35:22,760 --> 00:35:25,120
Speaker 1: as well as a small misdemeanor charge from when he

620
00:35:25,160 --> 00:35:29,279
Speaker 1: attacks Dominique in September, the earlier incident in nineteen eighty two.

621
00:35:30,920 --> 00:35:35,520
Speaker 2: In that courtroom, there was I mean an audible gasp

622
00:35:35,760 --> 00:35:40,920
Speaker 2: of disbelief. This is years later and we are still

623
00:35:41,120 --> 00:35:44,920
Speaker 2: ourselves in disbelief. Can you imagine sitting there in that

624
00:35:44,960 --> 00:35:47,120
Speaker 2: courtroom and hearing this nonsense?

625
00:35:47,960 --> 00:35:50,560
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean going back to dominic Dunn, the writer,

626
00:35:51,000 --> 00:35:54,680
Speaker 1: he said, quote, the maximum sentence for the two charges

627
00:35:54,880 --> 00:35:57,480
Speaker 1: is six and a half years, and with good time

628
00:35:57,640 --> 00:36:01,000
Speaker 1: and work time, the convict is paroled automatically when he

629
00:36:01,040 --> 00:36:03,640
Speaker 1: has served half his sentence without having to go through

630
00:36:03,640 --> 00:36:06,680
Speaker 1: a parole hearing. Since the time spent in jail between

631
00:36:06,680 --> 00:36:10,160
Speaker 1: the arrest and the sentence encounted as time served, Sweeney

632
00:36:10,200 --> 00:36:12,200
Speaker 1: could be free in two and a half years.

633
00:36:12,719 --> 00:36:21,640
Speaker 3: End quote WTF. Dominique's father, Dominic Dunn, was pissed. He

634
00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:27,160
Speaker 3: was enraged all of the things. And he writes, quote,

635
00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:31,239
Speaker 3: I could not believe I had heard Judge CAATs thank

636
00:36:31,520 --> 00:36:35,040
Speaker 3: the jury on behalf of my family for reducing the

637
00:36:35,160 --> 00:36:39,520
Speaker 3: murder of my daughter to manslaughter. Not for our family,

638
00:36:39,600 --> 00:36:42,160
Speaker 3: Judge CAATs, I shouted end.

639
00:36:42,080 --> 00:36:47,360
Speaker 2: Quote damn straight right? I mean, so John Sweeney is

640
00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:51,240
Speaker 2: sentenced to six years in prison, and the jury foreman

641
00:36:51,320 --> 00:36:56,560
Speaker 2: later said that if they'd heard Lillian Pierce's testimony, they

642
00:36:56,600 --> 00:37:02,600
Speaker 2: would have convicted him of murder. So, Trevor John Sweeney

643
00:37:02,719 --> 00:37:07,240
Speaker 2: was sentenced, what became of him?

644
00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:09,719
Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, he wasn't sentenced to a lot so,

645
00:37:10,080 --> 00:37:12,680
Speaker 1: I mean, he went to a medium security prison and

646
00:37:12,800 --> 00:37:15,640
Speaker 1: was released on parole after just three years. So almost

647
00:37:15,719 --> 00:37:20,400
Speaker 1: exactly how Dominic Dunn predicted. So he then got hired

648
00:37:20,800 --> 00:37:24,280
Speaker 1: as a head chef at a upscale restaurant in Santa Monica,

649
00:37:25,000 --> 00:37:28,440
Speaker 1: and he was working under an assumed name. But Dominiqu

650
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:32,120
Speaker 1: Dunn's parents were able to find him and they drew

651
00:37:32,400 --> 00:37:35,840
Speaker 1: these huge crowds out to protest outside of the restaurant.

652
00:37:36,320 --> 00:37:39,520
Speaker 1: So this drive Sweeney to quit the restaurant and eventually

653
00:37:39,640 --> 00:37:44,399
Speaker 1: leave Los Angeles. So at one point Dominic Dunn goes

654
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:47,359
Speaker 1: through the process of hiring a PI, a private investigator

655
00:37:47,719 --> 00:37:51,600
Speaker 1: to track down Sweeney with the intent of having him killed. Wow,

656
00:37:52,160 --> 00:37:53,880
Speaker 1: but he does change his mind, thankfully.

657
00:37:54,080 --> 00:37:54,560
Speaker 2: Yeah.

658
00:37:54,640 --> 00:37:57,480
Speaker 1: So a dozen or so years later, he gets a

659
00:37:57,520 --> 00:38:00,000
Speaker 1: call from a man in Florida who believes his own

660
00:38:00,000 --> 00:38:03,360
Speaker 1: his own daughter is engaged to John Sweeney and Dominic

661
00:38:03,440 --> 00:38:07,560
Speaker 1: Dunn tries to stop the wedding. Sweeney then accuses Dun

662
00:38:07,560 --> 00:38:12,080
Speaker 1: of harassing him. Okay, so I believe this falls apart.

663
00:38:12,480 --> 00:38:16,879
Speaker 1: But today anyways, Sweeney is supposedly living under a different name,

664
00:38:17,400 --> 00:38:19,960
Speaker 1: and Dominic Dunn says he has no idea where he is.

665
00:38:20,000 --> 00:38:22,600
Speaker 1: So it sounds like John or whatever his name is

666
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:25,760
Speaker 1: now has essentially gone off the grid gone into hiding,

667
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,279
Speaker 1: which is probably, I guess the only option he had

668
00:38:30,320 --> 00:38:31,120
Speaker 1: available to him.

669
00:38:31,040 --> 00:38:31,920
Speaker 2: At this point.

670
00:38:32,840 --> 00:38:36,600
Speaker 3: A big takeaway here for me is that what happened

671
00:38:36,600 --> 00:38:42,279
Speaker 3: to Dominique Dunn and others like her is inexcusable.

672
00:38:42,000 --> 00:38:43,320
Speaker 2: Plain and simple.

673
00:38:43,960 --> 00:38:48,320
Speaker 3: But also, you know, we have to thank God, the goddesses,

674
00:38:48,400 --> 00:38:51,879
Speaker 3: whoever you believe in. You know, we have to look

675
00:38:51,880 --> 00:38:54,719
Speaker 3: at the light in the darkness of this case. We

676
00:38:54,880 --> 00:38:59,239
Speaker 3: have made progress since Dominique's murder in nineteen ninety four.

677
00:38:59,440 --> 00:39:02,399
Speaker 3: The Violence Against Women Act was passed in reaction to

678
00:39:02,440 --> 00:39:06,200
Speaker 3: the many, many crimes like this one. And it seems

679
00:39:06,239 --> 00:39:09,240
Speaker 3: like it, or at least I hope, that we've made

680
00:39:09,320 --> 00:39:13,400
Speaker 3: progress as a culture. But at the same time, it's

681
00:39:13,840 --> 00:39:14,640
Speaker 3: not over yet.

682
00:39:15,000 --> 00:39:18,480
Speaker 2: No, it's never over. And I would just like to say,

683
00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:22,440
Speaker 2: like back in the eighties, Lenny Dunn, Dominique's mom, she

684
00:39:22,520 --> 00:39:25,120
Speaker 2: actually started her own group back then and it was

685
00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:30,040
Speaker 2: called the California Center for Victims of Homicide. So we

686
00:39:30,160 --> 00:39:33,520
Speaker 2: fast forward and we have the Me Too movement and

687
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:37,279
Speaker 2: all that continues to come to light about assault and

688
00:39:37,360 --> 00:39:43,200
Speaker 2: women's inequality. It demonstrates that we have a long way

689
00:39:43,360 --> 00:39:46,640
Speaker 2: to go, and we will keep fighting and we will

690
00:39:46,760 --> 00:39:51,880
Speaker 2: keep perservaring.

691
00:39:53,920 --> 00:39:57,600
Speaker 3: And this brings us to our Emua, our final message

692
00:39:57,680 --> 00:39:59,000
Speaker 3: of hope and healing.

693
00:40:00,239 --> 00:40:02,839
Speaker 2: So this week, our Emua is dedicated.

694
00:40:02,280 --> 00:40:06,160
Speaker 3: To victims of domestic and partner violence everywhere.

695
00:40:06,560 --> 00:40:09,440
Speaker 2: That's right. Dominique Dunn was striving to move beyond one

696
00:40:09,440 --> 00:40:13,000
Speaker 2: of the worst chapters of her life, and she didn't

697
00:40:13,040 --> 00:40:17,400
Speaker 2: make it. But today we lift her up. She was

698
00:40:17,480 --> 00:40:19,320
Speaker 2: more than the worst part of her story.

699
00:40:19,680 --> 00:40:24,520
Speaker 3: She was a bright, young, talented, beautiful human filled with

700
00:40:24,600 --> 00:40:27,440
Speaker 3: hopes and dreams. So for those of you out there

701
00:40:27,520 --> 00:40:31,399
Speaker 3: who have been abused, we see you. We cannot take

702
00:40:31,400 --> 00:40:33,920
Speaker 3: away your pain, but we are holding you in the

703
00:40:34,000 --> 00:40:37,399
Speaker 3: light and we want you to find your way out

704
00:40:37,440 --> 00:40:38,480
Speaker 3: of the darkness.

705
00:40:39,040 --> 00:40:41,640
Speaker 2: You are more than the worst thing that has ever

706
00:40:41,760 --> 00:40:47,000
Speaker 2: happened to you. You are light, You are strength, and

707
00:40:47,080 --> 00:40:57,360
Speaker 2: you are never alone. Onward and upward, Emua Emua.

708
00:40:58,880 --> 00:41:03,760
Speaker 3: Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence. If you're in danger,

709
00:41:03,960 --> 00:41:07,760
Speaker 3: there are caring people who can help. Call the National

710
00:41:07,800 --> 00:41:11,480
Speaker 3: Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to

711
00:41:11,560 --> 00:41:15,720
Speaker 3: nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven nine nine seven

712
00:41:15,800 --> 00:41:20,040
Speaker 3: two three three. Well, that's our show for today. We'd

713
00:41:20,080 --> 00:41:22,640
Speaker 3: love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and

714
00:41:22,719 --> 00:41:24,759
Speaker 3: if there's a case you'd like for us to cover,

715
00:41:25,360 --> 00:41:28,600
Speaker 3: find us on social media at Facing Evil Pod or

716
00:41:28,680 --> 00:41:32,080
Speaker 3: email us at Facingevil Pod at tenderfoot dot tv.

717
00:41:32,800 --> 00:41:34,960
Speaker 2: Until next time. Aloha.

718
00:41:42,080 --> 00:41:45,760
Speaker 1: Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.

719
00:41:46,640 --> 00:41:49,680
Speaker 1: The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero in Avet Gentile,

720
00:41:50,520 --> 00:41:54,200
Speaker 1: Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf

721
00:41:54,239 --> 00:41:59,000
Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald

722
00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:03,080
Speaker 1: Albright in Payinlin our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,

723
00:42:03,600 --> 00:42:09,520
Speaker 1: alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico. Original

724
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:13,040
Speaker 1: music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social

725
00:42:13,080 --> 00:42:17,400
Speaker 1: media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.

726
00:42:18,320 --> 00:42:22,279
Speaker 1: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the

727
00:42:22,320 --> 00:42:26,399
Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your

728
00:42:26,440 --> 00:42:27,160
Speaker 1: favorite shows,