Claus von Bulow, cleared in attempted murder of wife, dies

Associated Press

LONDON

Danish-born socialite Claus von Bulow, who was convicted but later acquitted of trying to kill his wealthy wife in two trials that drew intense international attention in the 1980s, has died. He was 92.

Von Bulow, who moved to London after he was cleared, died at his home there on Saturday, his son-in-law, Riccardo Pavoncelli, told The New York Times.

The tall, aristocratic von Bulow was charged with putting his wife, Martha “Sunny” von Bulow, into an irreversible coma to gain her fortune so he could live with his mistress, a raven-haired soap opera actress. He was convicted of attempted murder in 1982 at a trial in Newport, Rhode Island, that was widely followed with its high society overtones about possible attempted murder by insulin injection.

The conviction was overturned on appeal and he was acquitted at his second trial in 1985.

The case split his family: Sunny von Bulow’s two children from her first marriage to an Austrian prince accused their stepfather of attempted murder, while the couple’s daughter maintained her father was innocent. That loyalty nearly cost her millions — she was for several years excluded from her wealthy grandmother’s will because of her belief in her father’s innocence.

The jury in the first case endorsed the prosecution claim that Sunny von Bulow’s coma was caused by insulin injections administered surreptitiously by her husband, Claus, but the second jury did not reach the same conclusion.

Sunny von Bulow died in 2008, nearly 28 years after she became comatose.

Claus von Bulow, who was portrayed by Oscar-winner Jeremy Irons in a film about the attempted murder case, always maintained his innocence. He did not testify at his criminal trials, but did deny wrongdoing under oath in a civil case brought by his stepchildren.

He rarely spoke about the case, in part because an eventual financial settlement reached with his stepchildren required him to keep mum.

“If I give an interview, it will be a $5 million interview,” he told The Associated Press in 2012, referring to a fine he said he might face if he discussed the matter with the press.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, who represented von Bulow and kept in touch with him for decades, said he scrupulously avoided the spotlight.

When he was found not guilty at the second trial, von Bulow announced plans to permanently leave the United States for Europe. He also expressed an interest in staying out of the public eye.

“I want to be forgotten and live peacefully,” he said.