Sunny Hostin, co-host of "The View," has addressed resurfaced reports that question her account of being a holdout juror in a 1991 murder trial. Hostin discussed the matter on the show's "Behind the Table" podcast, explaining that while reports have focused on a male holdout juror, she herself was a holdout on a different count within the same case.
During the podcast, Hostin's producer, Brian Teta, noted that a Daily News article from 1991 profiled a different individual as the holdout juror. Hostin recalled the case, which involved three counts: second-degree murder, insanity defense, and desecration of remains. She stated her strong belief that the defendant should have been found guilty of desecrating the victim's remains, but the jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on that specific count.
"He was insane when he killed her," Hostin said on the podcast. "And he said that, he confessed that he didn't realize that she was even dead. But then he decides to dismember her. I just thought that was so clear and gruesome and despicable to do that to someone's remains. I thought that he should be found guilty of that. And everyone else did too, except for this one guy. And we were like kind of looking at him like, 'That was the easy one.' It was always the easy one. But we could not reach a unanimous verdict on that count."
Hostin had previously shared her experience of being a holdout juror on "The View" in September, referencing a case where a man murdered his roommate and dismembered her. She identified herself as the holdout on the count related to the insanity defense, stating, "That was me. It was because I saw clearly that he was psychotic."
However, The New York Post reported that contemporaneous accounts from other outlets and jurors identified an unemployed man as the principal holdout juror. These reports suggested that this man was motivated by receiving daily pay for his jury service. One juror, Valerie Holmes, was quoted as saying the holdout juror "was unemployed and liked the $15 a day and the three free meals." A law enforcement source also told The Post that the holdout was described as a man.
The Post also noted that while Hostin was quoted as a juror in news clips from the time, she did not identify herself as the holdout, and fellow jurors who spoke to the press did not mention her in that role. Her statements to Newsday at the time were also cited as seemingly contradicting her later account.
Responding to criticism that she was proud of letting the defendant avoid jail time, Hostin clarified on the podcast, "Why would I be proud of that? It's an experience that I had that I shared so that people would understand better. I think our lived experiences are a very good way on this show, in particular, to explain to people, current events, right?"
The discussion on "The View" initially stemmed from comments about the holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case, whose defense attorney had criticized the juror involved.