How the O.J. Simpson verdict swayed justice in a Minnesota murder case
The 1979 death of a young woman, Denise Daly, who fell from a moving grain truck in Carlton County, Minnesota, was initially thought to be a suicide or an accident. That was until an anonymous tip nearly 15 years later connected the incident to the 1983 fire that claimed the life of her sister, Mary Daly, and infant nephew, Christopher Daly, in Superior, Wisconsin.
First-degree murder charges against two individuals were dismissed in 1996 because of irregularities in the grand jury proceedings, Sixth Judicial District Judge Donovan Frank ruled. The grand jury returned the indictments about five hours after they watched the O.J. Simpson verdict on TV at the Carlton County Courthouse.
"Both cases involved a male member of a racial minority allegedly killing a Caucasian woman with whom he was intimately involved in a brutal fit of rage," Frank wrote in his decision. "The court agrees with the defendants that O.J. Simpson verdict —and the emotions it incited —injected prejudice or the appearance of prejudice into the grand jury deliberations. As a result, this event compromised the integrity of this grand jury process."
The State of Minnesota unsuccessfully appealed the trial court's decision Jan. 21, 1997.
The arson investigation continued regardless of the decision to drop the incitements in Denise's murder case. New evidence in the arson case surfaced in fall 1995 that eliminated some suspects and raised questions about others, but it remains unsolved.
Written by: Brielle Bredsten
Hosted by: Trisha Taurinskas
Full story: www.inforum.com/thevault
View all episodes
4.8
6464 ratings
The 1979 death of a young woman, Denise Daly, who fell from a moving grain truck in Carlton County, Minnesota, was initially thought to be a suicide or an accident. That was until an anonymous tip nearly 15 years later connected the incident to the 1983 fire that claimed the life of her sister, Mary Daly, and infant nephew, Christopher Daly, in Superior, Wisconsin.
First-degree murder charges against two individuals were dismissed in 1996 because of irregularities in the grand jury proceedings, Sixth Judicial District Judge Donovan Frank ruled. The grand jury returned the indictments about five hours after they watched the O.J. Simpson verdict on TV at the Carlton County Courthouse.
"Both cases involved a male member of a racial minority allegedly killing a Caucasian woman with whom he was intimately involved in a brutal fit of rage," Frank wrote in his decision. "The court agrees with the defendants that O.J. Simpson verdict —and the emotions it incited —injected prejudice or the appearance of prejudice into the grand jury deliberations. As a result, this event compromised the integrity of this grand jury process."
The State of Minnesota unsuccessfully appealed the trial court's decision Jan. 21, 1997.
The arson investigation continued regardless of the decision to drop the incitements in Denise's murder case. New evidence in the arson case surfaced in fall 1995 that eliminated some suspects and raised questions about others, but it remains unsolved.
Written by: Brielle Bredsten
Hosted by: Trisha Taurinskas
Full story: www.inforum.com/thevault
More shows like The Vault
View all20/20
10,717 Listeners
True Crime Garage
34,201 Listeners
The Vanished Podcast
15,432 Listeners
Up and Vanished
62,680 Listeners
Crime Junkie
359,493 Listeners
Dakota Spotlight
796 Listeners
Dateline NBC
48,614 Listeners
CounterClock
33,384 Listeners
Paper Ghosts: The Ozarks
5,969 Listeners
Anatomy of Murder
19,524 Listeners
Midwest Murder
772 Listeners
Unraveled
10,575 Listeners
The Deck
10,914 Listeners
Who Killed Jennifer Judd?
3,462 Listeners
Three
4,326 Listeners