September 1, 2022 • 42 mins
Dominique Dunne was a budding actor who was killed by her boyfriend in 1982. Rasha and Yvette talk about the dangers of domestic abuse, and how the punishment for these types of offenses rarely fits the crime.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hey there, everybody. Just a quick disclaimer before we get going.
So this episode contains discussions of domestic abuse and violence
and might not be appropriate for all listeners. If you
yourself are someone who is at risk of domestic violence
or are dealing with it now, please call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to
nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven ninety nine seven
(00:23):
two three three. Thanks for listening. You're listening to Facing Evil,
a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and
opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
individuals participating in the show and do not represent those
of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV. This podcast contains subject matter
(00:47):
which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio. We are your host, and of course I
am you bet.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Gent Tila, and I'm Roschia Peccuerero, and as always, our
amazing producer Trevor Young is with us here as well.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hello, Hello, aloha.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I know we usually use this opening section to talk
about things that we've been doing recently or just chit
chat for a minute. So one of the things I
maybe want to start doing is just like talking about
cool things we've seen or heard or read about recently.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And one of those things for me just kind of
like a show recommendation. It's not true crime related, it's
just like an amazing show I stumbled upon that I
want to promote. I'm not being sponsored by anybody, but
are you No, I'm not, I really I'm not. I
just think it's a great show. And it's called The
Bear and it's on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh my god, Trevor, do.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
You know about the show? I assume you know about
the show, dude.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I binge the gino and I my husband and I
binge the entire season and I can't I cannot wait
for the next season. It is so good, right, Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's great. And I kind of wasn't expecting it to be,
you know. I heard people online being like, oh, this
is the most realistic representation of like being in a
kitchen working in a kitchen. And I watched like the
first few episodes and I was like, yeah, I can
see that this seems like maybe a little over the
top at times, especially with like the cousin character who's
just like a total jackass. I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
(02:21):
I could see how this is like super gritty and realistic.
But then like the last two episodes just like really
hooked me in. Like the finale especially was just like
one of the best season finales of a show I've
seen in a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I agree, Rassia, you have to watch it. Yeah,
I have to watch it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah. It's great because I mean, it's about cooking, but
it's also about like all these very interesting people, and
it's like the kitchen's more just like a background family. Yeah,
for like these other bigger emotional family stories that are
going on, and they all just like tie together really
nicely by the end.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I couldn't agree with you more, Trevor. It's so good.
It's really fast paced, which I love. My husband was
like a.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Little bit like, I don't know if i's oriented. Yeah,
I think that's the point though it's supposed to be
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, but I loved it. It was there was such
a rawness to it, you know, and the acting is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I need to watch it. I've been busy watching only
murders in the building. All right, well, that is amazing recommendation, Trevor.
So with all of that being.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Said, will you please take us through today's case.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
They had a romance and he stopped her.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
She became frightened. She never told us she was abusive
to her, and he killeder.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
She was so great, She was such a charming, adorable girl,
and you just can't believe that she somebody would ever
want to hurt her, and here we were burying her.
Part of this case was whether or not this was
murder or mat slaughter, and within that construct was whether
or not there was malice which is necessary for murder,
(04:03):
or on the alternative, the killing was in the heated passion.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
On the evening of October thirtieth, nineteen eighty two, actor
Dominique Dunn was at her house rehearsing scenes from the
miniseries V with her co star. A role in Poltergeist
had recently made the twenty two year old actor a star,
but their rehearsal was interrupted by a visit from Dominique's
ex boyfriend, John Sweeney. Sweeney had violent tendencies, and their
(04:31):
argument outside the house escalated. Dominique's co star called the police,
but when he went outside, he found Dominique lying on
the ground unconscious. John Sweeney was kneeling over her, and
in that moment, Sweeney reportedly confessed to her murder. But
after a bizarre trial, Sweeney was only ever convicted of
(04:53):
voluntary manslaughter and after a short stint in prison, he
walked free. And so what led to the murder of
Dominique Dunn, How did this young promising actor come to
be involved with Sweeney and what led to what many
believed to be an infamous miscarriage of justice.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's so sad to me how common stories like Dominique's are,
These stories of women being abused by their life partners.
And I know, you know, people of all genders experience abuse,
but it's it's definitely heavier on, you know, the female
presenting side. And I had no idea until we were
(05:36):
doing research for this case that her killer only served
a few years.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
In prison, Like do you remember when this happened? Event?
I mean I remember, I should say I remember Dominique,
you know, from Poltergeist, because I was in tenth grade
and that was such a you know, a huge movie,
and I remember always being afraid to turn the TV
on and if it started fuzzing up, was shit, what's
(06:01):
gonna happen? But I did not know, you know, and
we'll get into that later, you know, in the show
about you know, how much time this man actually served
for killing you know, Dominique. It's it's it's devastating.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah. I didn't know anything really about this case until
maybe a couple of months ago when we first started
researching and looking into it. And man, what a horrible
way for this to end, you know, I mean, all
of it is horrible, but particularly just like the trial
part of this I think was the most shocking part
for me.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Mean looking into it, it was clear I think from
the very beginning that you know, John Sweeney was a
very violent person. You know, as we'll learn he even
abused partners before Dominique, And like Rashia was saying, I mean,
especially in you know, places like Hollywood, this sort of
thing happens just like all the time.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, that's right, Trevor, And is a sobering statistic for you.
In twenty seventeen, eighty seven thousand women around the world
were killed intentionally, and more than half of those women,
a full fifty eight percent of them were killed by
intimate partners or family members. So that means that every
(07:20):
single day, one hundred and thirty seven women around the
world are killed by a family member or an intimate partner.
Every single day, a woman is killed by someone who's
supposed to love them, every single day.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Those are crazy numbers, and it's just so sad because
you know, so many women are in situations and obviously,
and I'm sure they want to get out, but sometimes
you just you know, you don't know how to get out,
you know, because of fear, because of things like this
that obviously do happen, And it just seems like there's
(07:56):
such a double standard in many ways that it it
allows this type of violent to persist, you know, and
that's something that I think we really should get into today,
and we really need to address this, you know, this
domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, agreed, And the numbers themselves are staggering, but let's
jump in and take a look at the facts of
Dominique Dunn's life. So obviously, Dominique Dounn was more than
a statistic. She was more than just a number. She
was a person, a really promising actor from a prominent
(08:34):
and beautiful family. And she actually grew up right in California,
surrounded by the entire Hollywood scene, right, Trevor, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Not far from where I live and I'm sitting right now.
So about her family, Dominique's parents were Dominick done and
he was an influential writer and producer. And then her
mother was Ellen Dunn, who throughout the story you'll hear
us refer to her as Lenny. That was her nickname.
So dominic Dunn's brother was actually married to the celebrated
(09:04):
writer Joan Didion, which is interesting. And growing up, Dominique
Dunn was privy to all of these different famous Hollywood people,
you know, through her family and through her dad.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, And after she graduated from high school, Dominique decided
to pursue acting. She was in a TV movie called
Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. And in that movie, I
saw a clip of it. Over the weekend we watched
Yvett and I were together in San Francisco and watched
an old episode of E true Hollywood story from the
late nineties about Dominique, and ironically she was beaten up
(09:38):
and raped in that first movie. I mean her character writer,
you know, Yeah, her character was, and she also appeared
in a number of shows like lou Grant and Yvette's
Favorite Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
My Favorite Fame.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And then she actually got her big breakout role playing
the teenage daughter in Poltergeist, which was filmed in nineteen
eighty one and came out in nineteen eighty two. So
if anyone knows who Dominiqu Dunn was, they probably know
her from Poultergeist.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It was a huge blockbuster hit.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, and I guess all this story kind of takes
place like right at the culmination of her new fame.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Right right, right. But it's nineteen eighty two, and she
attends a party in Los Angeles, like you know many
starlets do, and she meets John Sweeney. So Trevor tell
us who this guy is.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Well, John Sweeney was a twenty seven year old Sioux
chef at a French restaurant called Ma Maison, which I
assume was a French place, and it was just a
super trendy restaurant at the time. So this is actually
where Wolfgang Puck got his start back in the seventies
and basically invented the whole California novelle cuisine there. So
(10:54):
it made sense that a current ma maison chef would
be at this hip Hollywood party, and this is where
he meets Dominique done. So the two started dating and
moved in together just a few months into their relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Right, and this is where we start to get a
sense that things might not be okay, you know, they
might not be so great. We have the sense that
John Sweeney, you know, was head over heels for Dominique.
Obviously it seems like he was definitely more in love
with her than she with him. And you know it,
(11:30):
his affections bordered on excessive jealousy and you know, like
hovering over her, so to speak. And I know that
feeling all too well. But anyhow, Russia, I'll let you
jump in here.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, an example of that, that hovering and you know
jealous demeanor that John had towards Dominique. So, one of
Dominique's brothers, Alex, had told his parents of an incident
that took place when like a fan came up to
Dominique in a restaurant. Again, she had just come out
with Poltergeiss. This particular fan happened to me Mail, he was,
(12:07):
you know, fanning out over Oh my god, it's Dominique
done for Poltergeist. Yeah, and John Sweeney like freaked out
and when he saw this man talking to his girlfriend, Dominique,
he became enraged, and Alex told his parents and he
told the press quote, he picked up the man and
shook him. Sweeney's reaction was out of all proportion to
(12:30):
the incident going on end quote. And Alex Dominique's brother
called it scary.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, of course. And I think like he when I
was reading this article, you know, I think he shook
him and he actually like threw him like on a table,
like it was crazy. And her father, Dominic, had a
similar experience. He was going to meet the couple for
lunch and John and Dominique were running a bit late,
(12:58):
and when they got this it was clear that Dominique
had been crying and her father could sense that there
was a great deal of tension between the two. What
he could see is that it's going to be really
hard for her to get away from this man because
he was that controlling. And he just said he had
(13:22):
the feeling that he was just creepy.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, it kind of it takes me back, right, I
hadn't really thought about everything like that. You and I
have been through writing it like over the years until
we were you know, looking into Dominique's case, and it
just makes me think about how violence against you know,
stereotypically and the numbers show this, but how violence against
(13:47):
women by their male partners is incredibly normalized by our society.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So, just when you were talking about how Dominique's dad,
you know, saw like tears in her eyes, Like right,
I can remember an incident when we were living together
in la and he shall remain nameless, but I moved,
you know, from Portland to Los Angeles to be with
you know, mom and Anne Yvette, and I brought along
(14:16):
a boyfriend with me because this is before I came
out at the age of thirty, and I had been
in an abusive relationship and I didn't even remember that
until we were looking into Dominique, and I was like,
oh shit, like I've been there, but I thought it
was my fault.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, first of all, I'm sorry to hear that, although I, like,
I guess I'm not surprised, you know, I think it's
just a thing men do, and I think women go
through and I do think, you know, one of the
good things here is that you know, you both of
you had each other and you had a family environment
where you could, you know, have each other's back.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We had help.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And in the case of you know, Dominique,
it's it's interesting because she also had that, but it
ends up not being enough. And I think that's because
this case, you know, John Sweeney, he kind of is
just too aggressive, right, like, you know, he just keeps
coming back. And this is something you see I think
(15:13):
a lot in domestic abuse is, you know, they don't
know how to take no for an answer. They don't
like that, Yeah, they don't like go, you know, And
Dominique's mother in this case kind of catches this on
one occasion. There's one night where Dominique kind of flees
to her mom's house in tears, and this is after
(15:34):
a fight where John Sweeney was attacking her, pulling out
clumps of her hair, supposedly, and her mom gave this
really kind of chilling quote where she says he had
such a terrible temper, he smashes furniture and throws dishes
end quote. And so when Lenny done, the mom pointed
out that Sweeney seemed dangerous. Dominique responded by saying, oh,
(15:58):
he'd never hurt me, as though she heard self has
like internalized this idea that like this is just.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Normal, right, yeah, right, as if he hasn't heard her already,
in which we know that he has, but she's in
her mind rationalizing, you know what he's done, right.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I Mean.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The one thing that this makes me think about is
we always ask why battered women just don't leave the relationships,
you know, And I'll bet some listeners are shouting out
right now, right leave him, like why didn't you leave him?
But the fact of the matter is it takes time,
you know, to navigate out of those situations, and you know,
(16:37):
and especially in the situation with Dominique, like she didn't
tell her parents. They just witnessed some things.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I don't think she even really accepted it herself.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
You know, yeah, exactly exactly, just by that quote to
her mom's he would never have her hurt me, you know,
like he's already hurt you.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
And when you are in an abusive relationship, like thoughts,
you know, they they're all over the place, just like me.
Like I remember even having the conversation with the VET
a few days ago, and I was like, oh no,
like you know, I was in his face, like I
made him hit me. And she's like no, no, like no,
it doesn't matter what you say, you know, like I
never hit him first, you know, like yeah, no, there's
(17:20):
no excuse period. And oftentimes, like you're so controlled or
you're so traumatized, or it's like what is that that
syndrome where you end up like thank you, Stockholm syndrome
where you end up, you know, in love with your abuser,
Like I think that might be what was going on here,
and you think that, like.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Even like me, like you think you deserve it, Yeah,
when you don't. No one deserves to be physically or
abused in any way. But yeah, right, But I.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Mean the sad truth is that the situation with Dominique
kind of just gets worse from here. And we'll talk
about where this goes after we take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Okay, So it's nineteen eighty two and Dominique Dunn is
caught in a relationship with her abuser, John Sweeney. It's
in September of that year that a another argument turned violent.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Right, So this one takes place at the couple's house
that they live at together. And supposedly John Sweeney threw
Dominique done to the floor and started to choke her.
And there was a friend staying with him at the time,
and he remembers coming into the room after hearing what
they described as quote, loud gagging sounds. So at this point,
(18:38):
after a bunch of back and forth, Dominique manages to
escape out of the apartment. So there's a big scene
where he runs outside and tries to throw himself onto
the hood of her car as she's like pulling out
of the driveway. Luckily, she does escape and she is
able to stay with her mother for the next few weeks.
But you know, she does break up with him at
this point understandably.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Oh good job, she ye, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So she asked him to move out, and after he
moves out, she returned back to that apartment in West
Hollywood and had the locks changed.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And I just hate that That's not the end of
her story.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Right, This is probably where it should have ended, but
it doesn't. It's now October and Dominique is at her
house rehearsing with a coworker. She has just been cast
in the new sci fi TV show V with her
co star David Packer, and they're going through scenes together
in her living room. So at one point she's on
the phone with a friend and the operator cuts through
(19:35):
to interrupt the call, and the person calling is John Sweeney, right, So.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
At this time Dominique says to her friend David, quote,
oh god, it's Sweeney. Let me get him off the phone.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And these are the last documented words we have from
Dominique Done.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
So. Ten minutes after John Sweeney, her violent ex boyfriend,
called Dominie Done, he showed up at her house because
he was only walking distance from where they lived from
the restaurant restaurant where he was at.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, and we know what happened because David Packer, which
was her co star from B was there at the house.
They were rehearsing the scene and then you know who shows.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Up, right, So she first is talking to John, you know,
through basically her she had protection because she had that door.
It was just kind of opened up a little bit
because she had the latch on it, so she had
that little layer of protection. But then she agreed to
step outside and talk to John Sweeney while David just
(20:42):
waits inside and Trevor, this is where things got really bad, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So David Packer says he heard them start to argue
from outside, and then he heard the sound of quote smacks,
a scream, and then a thud. So he calls the police,
but they first told him that Dominique's house is out
of their jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So David Packer gets really scared. He calls a friend
and leaves a message on this friend's answering machine saying, quote,
if I die tonight, it was by John Sweeney end quote.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So David Packer decides to leave the house through the
back door, and he walks down the driveway, and that
is when he spotted Dominique unconscious and lying in the bushes,
with Sweeney kneeling over her. So they kind of lock eyes.
There's kind of an understanding as to what's going on,
and Sweeney tells David to call the police, which he did,
(21:39):
and I guess they come this time. So when the
cops arrived, John Sweeney was standing in the driveway, his
arms raised above his head, and he reportedly told them
quote I killed my girlfriend and I tried to kill
myself end quote. And he was arrested on the scene
and charged with attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And isn't that a confession right there, you guys, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I mean you have a confession, you have a witness,
you have a history of abuse. I mean this is
all going to come into play later. But I mean
one interesting thing here and Russia, I know you have
some feelings about this is you know, why didn't her
co star David Packers step into do anything. Right, He's
just kind of you know, he heard the commotion outside
and just decided to bail.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean at least he called, at least he
picked up the phone.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
But still, yeah, we do know what was going through
his mind. He was scared, you know, he was scared
for his life. But still you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I mean just it's possible though that, you know, Dominique
would still be with us today had he just like intervened,
you know, right, yes, he could have just even scared
John Off, you know, like whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, yeah, and who knows what the dynamic was, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I think that's interesting too, is when he called nine
to one one and they said that, you know, well,
out out of our jeers, Dick, Like, I mean, that's
just crazy. Well, get somebody in the jurisdiction to get there,
you know, like hatch a mop should respond to this
then yeah, yeah, you know that wasn't David's fault in
(23:12):
that sense, no, because you know, David did the right thing.
He called nine to one one.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, there's just like a lot of failures that happened,
but at the end of the day, it's still primarily
John Sweeney's responsibility.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Oh yeah, he's the one that took Dominique's life. And
right after that confession, Dominique was taken immediately to Cedar
Sinaide Medical Center, where she was placed on life support
and apparently she was almost completely unrecognizable to her family.
(23:46):
She had tubes everywhere, her head was shaved, and there
was a large bolt that was screwed into her skull
to help relieve some of the pressure on her brain
because you know, she was we believe strangled and.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
On her neck.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Her family could still see the bruises of the handmarks
from John Sweeney's hands, as her father wrote after the fact,
and this is a quote from the prolific writer Dominic
Dunn quote, it was nearly impossible to look at her,
(24:22):
but also impossible to look away.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
End quote. Yeah, you know, I read an article and
if you get a chance, read the article that her father,
Dominic Dunn wrote. It's so powerful and you know, he
talks about this moment when they were going to the
hospital and they were really worried about the mother, Lenny
(24:45):
because at the time, Lenny was in a wheelchair, so
they were worried that this would you know, impact her
help by seeing you know, her daughter like this. And
you know, it was Dominic, Lenny and the two brothers,
Alex and Griffin, and they opened the door and she
(25:10):
was the one that he said was the strong one, Lenny,
and Lenny was the strong one. The boys, the men
were just like it just destroyed them, you know, to
see their sister like that. But Lenny took Dominique's hand
in hers and she just started talking to her. And
this this was a release, you know for the family
(25:33):
to kind of let go of that shock, you know,
in that moment, right and just just speak to their sister.
And as her father wrote, and this is a quote,
we prayed for her to live, even though we knew
that it would be best for her to die. That's
a hard thing to say for a parent. Right on
(25:56):
November fourth.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Just a few days after the attack, Dominique's family does
agree to take her off of life support. They say
goodbye to her for the last time, and her organs
are donated before her body is turned over to the
Corner for the autopsy. And two days later they held
her funeral in Beverly Hills at a beautiful Catholic church.
(26:20):
And I even saw footage of the funeral, and there
were hundreds of people there and so many you know,
actors and producers and directors and all kinds of people
who loved Dominique, this young twenty two year old human
who has taken from us too soon.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And it's so sad, right, Yeah, it's very sad. And again,
you know, she was just you know, at the peak
right of her career of you know, completely you know,
thrusting into stardom. So, like I said, I was just
speaking about that article that Dominic Dunn had wrote from
(26:57):
Vanity Fair. And this is after the trial. So now
let's let's talk about this crazy trial and how it begins.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yes, it is quite a crazy trial, and that is
exactly what we'll talk about after we take another quick break.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
John Sweeney's trial is presided over by Judge Burton s Katz,
And it began August nineteen eighty three, and it's can
I just say it's dramatic from the beginning to the end.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yes, And the prosecutor actually placed a lot of emphasis
on the time that it took for John Sweeney to
strangle Dominique done. In fact, he began by starting a
stopwatch and having it run, and it was completely silent
in that packed courtroom, and he let that stopwatch run
(27:55):
for four minutes because essentially that is how long John
Sweeney strangled Dominique Dunne. And that's how long it took
for her to die, because she essentially went brain dead
when she was strangled by him in those four minutes.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Think about that. Four minutes is a very long time.
And the thing about that is is your intention has
to be to kill her if you are strangling her
for that long.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't premeditated, then probably you know,
I don't know, a couple seconds into it, you'd be like, oh, wait,
I shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
This, right, yeah, oh shit, oh gilling her?
Speaker 1 (28:36):
But nope, he keeps going. He just keeps going.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
And that's the point that the prosecutor wanted to make
in that court realm.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
And this part is where.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I'm gonna get mad even thinking about it, Like I
can't even say the name Judge Katz and not be
angry whenever I think about this. So the prosecutor brought
in Lilyan Pierce, and Lily was an ex girlfriend of Sweeney's,
and she testified really movingly about John's history of violent
(29:08):
behavior towards his partner, right, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, I mean not that we needed Lillian Pierce's testimony
to prove his guilt, right, and that said it should
have and could have been the final nail in his coffin.
So Lillian Pierce testifies that they had been together for
two years and that on ten separate occasions during that time,
he beat her to some degree. She had quote been
(29:33):
hospitalized twice, once for six days, once for four days.
Sweeney had broken her notes, punctured her ear drum, collapsed
her lung, and thrown rocks at her when she tried
to escape from him. She had seen him, she said,
foam at the mouth when he lost control and smashed
furniture and pictures. And as she spoke, the courtroom was
(29:55):
absolutely silent. I mean, come on, yeah, And so at
one point during Pierce's testimony, Sweeney became enraged listening to this,
and so he jumped out of his heat and tried
to escape out of the courtroom. So he was tackled
by the bailiff and restrained in his chair. This is
(30:17):
where things get weird, though, because the judge did really
little to admonish or punish him in any way. He
reportedly just told Sweeney that he knew how much pressure
he was under, you know, like showing him sympathy, you know,
and kind of like gave him a little slap on
the wrist. The other important thing to know about this
(30:37):
testimony from Lillian Pearce is that the defense made an
emotion to not have the jury listen to that testimony,
and Judge Katz allowed that to stand. So the jury
wasn't actually in the room when Lillian Pierce gave that
testimony about how abusive he was.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And that is why Judge Katz pissed me off.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, his career was ruined after this trial, and rightfully so.
I mean even in what you just said, Trevor.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Like he was like, oh, you're okay, he was.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Like making sure that John Sweeney was all right after
that horrific outburst, and then he doesn't let Lilian's testimony,
he doesn't let the jury here.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, yeah, that's it's just crazy. It's like watching Law
and Order. Can I just say, and you have the
crazy guy you know, on the stand who has an outburst,
and it's like the judge would be like, you know,
ordering the court, ordering the court bailiff, you know what
I mean. Like, instead, this judge is like, oh, it's okay,
I know this is you know, stressing on you Like
(31:43):
what yeah, you know, Dominique's family is there.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
And Lillian Pierce is there, who was horrifically abused by him.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yes, I mean it's just ridiculous, like ridiculous, right.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
So Sweeney's attorney makes another request that the judge again grants,
which is that there is not sufficient evidence to charge
Sweeney with first degree murder and that the jury should
only be allowed to consider charges of manslaughter and second
degree murder. And the defense's reasoning for this was quote
there is no premeditation or deliberation in this case end quote.
(32:22):
And again Judge Katz agrees to do this, Like.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
What is up with this judge. You know again, I
go back to the article that Dominique Wroten he writes
about this judge, and from what I understand, like he's
a very arrogant kind of almost like similar to John Sweeney,
like in personality like that. I'm sure there are buds
right right, exactly what I'm seeing, because you know, it
(32:50):
took four minutes, right for her to die. He choked
her out for four minutes, so that they just pretty
much discount out of that, and he gave a confession
to the police. They discounted that, and the ex girlfriend
t you know, testifies and the jury doesn't get to
(33:10):
hear that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, this should have been a slam dunk case.
I mean they had everything you need to convict someone
a first degree murder, like literally everything you could ever
want in a case, everything, Trevor, It's so insane and.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It makes me so mad even saying these words.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
The defense kept saying, oh, John Sweeney was just caught
up in quote the heat of passion.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
I'm sorry, bullshit.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, no, f that, And they're saying that he was
not aware of what he was doing. Okay, again, you know,
arguably right, I have to say, like I think this
is part of rape culture, right. A lot of times men,
you know, get away with rape or get away with
violence or abuse because they're like, oh, they were just
caught up in the moment. They couldn't stop themselves. They're
(33:56):
not a wild animal. Yeah, you know, like, I'm sorry,
but you absolutely can control your actions. And in those
four minutes that John was strangling Dominique, he could have
made that decision to stop.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And even if you like really can't control your emotions,
like if you are literally foaming at the mouth like
supposedly John Sweeney was, that is no one else's responsibility,
you know what I mean, Like, you don't just get
a free pass, right, you know, from murdering someone because
you can't control yourself. You know, you still need to
be punished for that and learn lessons. And this guy doesn't,
(34:35):
and no one ever gives him a chance to learn
a lesson because he keeps getting off the hook.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, And that's the toxic boys will be boys mentality,
And I think that's what Judge Katz was perpetuating.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
And it's just disgusting he was in that same paternity
because he's allowing all of this. Yeah, you know, it's
just it's sickening, and you know, it's just what happened
to Dominique. It just jarred their entire family. Now they
have to sit through this trial and watch this bullshit.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, it's pretty much a sham by this point, and
it doesn't get any better. So the jerry deliberates for
eight days and then lo and behold they decide to
a quit Sweeney of second degree murder.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And instead they only find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter
as well as a small misdemeanor charge from when he
attacks Dominique in September, the earlier incident in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
In that courtroom, there was I mean an audible gasp
of disbelief. This is years later and we are still
ourselves in disbelief. Can you imagine sitting there in that
courtroom and hearing this nonsense?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean going back to dominic Dunn, the writer,
he said, quote, the maximum sentence for the two charges
is six and a half years, and with good time
and work time, the convict is paroled automatically when he
has served half his sentence without having to go through
a parole hearing. Since the time spent in jail between
the arrest and the sentence encounted as time served, Sweeney
(36:10):
could be free in two and a half years.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
End quote WTF. Dominique's father, Dominic Dunn, was pissed. He
was enraged all of the things. And he writes, quote,
I could not believe I had heard Judge CAATs thank
the jury on behalf of my family for reducing the
(36:35):
murder of my daughter to manslaughter. Not for our family,
Judge CAATs, I shouted end.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Quote damn straight right? I mean, so John Sweeney is
sentenced to six years in prison, and the jury foreman
later said that if they'd heard Lillian Pierce's testimony, they
would have convicted him of murder. So, Trevor John Sweeney
(37:02):
was sentenced, what became of him?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, I mean, he wasn't sentenced to a lot so,
I mean, he went to a medium security prison and
was released on parole after just three years. So almost
exactly how Dominic Dunn predicted. So he then got hired
as a head chef at a upscale restaurant in Santa Monica,
and he was working under an assumed name. But Dominiqu
(37:28):
Dunn's parents were able to find him and they drew
these huge crowds out to protest outside of the restaurant.
So this drive Sweeney to quit the restaurant and eventually
leave Los Angeles. So at one point Dominic Dunn goes
through the process of hiring a PI, a private investigator
to track down Sweeney with the intent of having him killed. Wow,
(37:52):
but he does change his mind, thankfully.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So a dozen or so years later, he gets a
call from a man in Florida who believes his own
his own daughter is engaged to John Sweeney and Dominic
Dunn tries to stop the wedding. Sweeney then accuses Dun
of harassing him. Okay, so I believe this falls apart.
But today anyways, Sweeney is supposedly living under a different name,
(38:17):
and Dominic Dunn says he has no idea where he is.
So it sounds like John or whatever his name is
now has essentially gone off the grid gone into hiding,
which is probably, I guess the only option he had
available to him.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
At this point.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
A big takeaway here for me is that what happened
to Dominique Dunn and others like her is inexcusable.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Plain and simple.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
But also, you know, we have to thank God, the goddesses,
whoever you believe in. You know, we have to look
at the light in the darkness of this case. We
have made progress since Dominique's murder in nineteen ninety four.
The Violence Against Women Act was passed in reaction to
the many, many crimes like this one. And it seems
(39:06):
like it, or at least I hope, that we've made
progress as a culture. But at the same time, it's
not over yet.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
No, it's never over. And I would just like to say,
like back in the eighties, Lenny Dunn, Dominique's mom, she
actually started her own group back then and it was
called the California Center for Victims of Homicide. So we
fast forward and we have the Me Too movement and
all that continues to come to light about assault and
(39:37):
women's inequality. It demonstrates that we have a long way
to go, and we will keep fighting and we will
keep perservaring.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
And this brings us to our Emua, our final message
of hope and healing.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So this week, our Emua is dedicated.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
To victims of domestic and partner violence everywhere.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
That's right. Dominique Dunn was striving to move beyond one
of the worst chapters of her life, and she didn't
make it. But today we lift her up. She was
more than the worst part of her story.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
She was a bright, young, talented, beautiful human filled with
hopes and dreams. So for those of you out there
who have been abused, we see you. We cannot take
away your pain, but we are holding you in the
light and we want you to find your way out
of the darkness.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You are more than the worst thing that has ever
happened to you. You are light, You are strength, and
you are never alone. Onward and upward, Emua Emua.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence. If you're in danger,
there are caring people who can help. Call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to
nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven nine nine seven
two three three. Well, that's our show for today. We'd
(41:20):
love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and
if there's a case you'd like for us to cover,
find us on social media at Facing Evil Pod or
email us at Facingevil Pod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Until next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero in Avet Gentile,
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald
Albright in Payinlin our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,
(42:03):
alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico. Original
music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social
media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(42:26):
favorite shows,
Hey there, everybody. Just a quick disclaimer before we get going.
So this episode contains discussions of domestic abuse and violence
and might not be appropriate for all listeners. If you
yourself are someone who is at risk of domestic violence
or are dealing with it now, please call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to
nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven ninety nine seven
(00:23):
two three three. Thanks for listening. You're listening to Facing Evil,
a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV. The views and
opinions expressed in this podcast are solely those of the
individuals participating in the show and do not represent those
of iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV. This podcast contains subject matter
(00:47):
which may not be suitable for everyone. Listener discretion is advised.
Speaker 2 (00:55):
Hi, everyone, welcome back to Facing Evil from Tenderfoot TV
and iHeartRadio. We are your host, and of course I
am you bet.
Speaker 3 (01:02):
Gent Tila, and I'm Roschia Peccuerero, and as always, our
amazing producer Trevor Young is with us here as well.
Speaker 2 (01:09):
Hello, Hello, aloha.
Speaker 1 (01:11):
I know we usually use this opening section to talk
about things that we've been doing recently or just chit
chat for a minute. So one of the things I
maybe want to start doing is just like talking about
cool things we've seen or heard or read about recently.
Speaker 2 (01:26):
Yeah, I love that.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
And one of those things for me just kind of
like a show recommendation. It's not true crime related, it's
just like an amazing show I stumbled upon that I
want to promote. I'm not being sponsored by anybody, but
are you No, I'm not, I really I'm not. I
just think it's a great show. And it's called The
Bear and it's on Hulu.
Speaker 2 (01:45):
Oh my god, Trevor, do.
Speaker 1 (01:48):
You know about the show? I assume you know about
the show, dude.
Speaker 2 (01:50):
I binge the gino and I my husband and I
binge the entire season and I can't I cannot wait
for the next season. It is so good, right, Yeah, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (02:00):
It's great. And I kind of wasn't expecting it to be,
you know. I heard people online being like, oh, this
is the most realistic representation of like being in a
kitchen working in a kitchen. And I watched like the
first few episodes and I was like, yeah, I can
see that this seems like maybe a little over the
top at times, especially with like the cousin character who's
just like a total jackass. I was like, oh, yeah, okay,
(02:21):
I could see how this is like super gritty and realistic.
But then like the last two episodes just like really
hooked me in. Like the finale especially was just like
one of the best season finales of a show I've
seen in a long time.
Speaker 2 (02:34):
So I agree, Rassia, you have to watch it. Yeah,
I have to watch it.
Speaker 1 (02:38):
Yeah. It's great because I mean, it's about cooking, but
it's also about like all these very interesting people, and
it's like the kitchen's more just like a background family. Yeah,
for like these other bigger emotional family stories that are
going on, and they all just like tie together really
nicely by the end.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
I couldn't agree with you more, Trevor. It's so good.
It's really fast paced, which I love. My husband was
like a.
Speaker 1 (03:02):
Little bit like, I don't know if i's oriented. Yeah,
I think that's the point though it's supposed to be
a little bit.
Speaker 2 (03:09):
Yeah, but I loved it. It was there was such
a rawness to it, you know, and the acting is fantastic.
Speaker 3 (03:17):
I need to watch it. I've been busy watching only
murders in the building. All right, well, that is amazing recommendation, Trevor.
So with all of that being.
Speaker 2 (03:27):
Said, will you please take us through today's case.
Speaker 4 (03:32):
They had a romance and he stopped her.
Speaker 2 (03:36):
She became frightened. She never told us she was abusive
to her, and he killeder.
Speaker 4 (03:41):
She was so great, She was such a charming, adorable girl,
and you just can't believe that she somebody would ever
want to hurt her, and here we were burying her.
Part of this case was whether or not this was
murder or mat slaughter, and within that construct was whether
or not there was malice which is necessary for murder,
(04:03):
or on the alternative, the killing was in the heated passion.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
On the evening of October thirtieth, nineteen eighty two, actor
Dominique Dunn was at her house rehearsing scenes from the
miniseries V with her co star. A role in Poltergeist
had recently made the twenty two year old actor a star,
but their rehearsal was interrupted by a visit from Dominique's
ex boyfriend, John Sweeney. Sweeney had violent tendencies, and their
(04:31):
argument outside the house escalated. Dominique's co star called the police,
but when he went outside, he found Dominique lying on
the ground unconscious. John Sweeney was kneeling over her, and
in that moment, Sweeney reportedly confessed to her murder. But
after a bizarre trial, Sweeney was only ever convicted of
(04:53):
voluntary manslaughter and after a short stint in prison, he
walked free. And so what led to the murder of
Dominique Dunn, How did this young promising actor come to
be involved with Sweeney and what led to what many
believed to be an infamous miscarriage of justice.
Speaker 3 (05:14):
It's so sad to me how common stories like Dominique's are,
These stories of women being abused by their life partners.
And I know, you know, people of all genders experience abuse,
but it's it's definitely heavier on, you know, the female
presenting side. And I had no idea until we were
(05:36):
doing research for this case that her killer only served
a few years.
Speaker 2 (05:40):
In prison, Like do you remember when this happened? Event?
I mean I remember, I should say I remember Dominique,
you know, from Poltergeist, because I was in tenth grade
and that was such a you know, a huge movie,
and I remember always being afraid to turn the TV
on and if it started fuzzing up, was shit, what's
(06:01):
gonna happen? But I did not know, you know, and
we'll get into that later, you know, in the show
about you know, how much time this man actually served
for killing you know, Dominique. It's it's it's devastating.
Speaker 1 (06:17):
Yeah. I didn't know anything really about this case until
maybe a couple of months ago when we first started
researching and looking into it. And man, what a horrible
way for this to end, you know, I mean, all
of it is horrible, but particularly just like the trial
part of this I think was the most shocking part
for me.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Yeah, yeah, yeah, but I.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Mean looking into it, it was clear I think from
the very beginning that you know, John Sweeney was a
very violent person. You know, as we'll learn he even
abused partners before Dominique, And like Rashia was saying, I mean,
especially in you know, places like Hollywood, this sort of
thing happens just like all the time.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
Yeah, that's right, Trevor, And is a sobering statistic for you.
In twenty seventeen, eighty seven thousand women around the world
were killed intentionally, and more than half of those women,
a full fifty eight percent of them were killed by
intimate partners or family members. So that means that every
(07:20):
single day, one hundred and thirty seven women around the
world are killed by a family member or an intimate partner.
Every single day, a woman is killed by someone who's
supposed to love them, every single day.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
Those are crazy numbers, and it's just so sad because
you know, so many women are in situations and obviously,
and I'm sure they want to get out, but sometimes
you just you know, you don't know how to get out,
you know, because of fear, because of things like this
that obviously do happen, And it just seems like there's
(07:56):
such a double standard in many ways that it it
allows this type of violent to persist, you know, and
that's something that I think we really should get into today,
and we really need to address this, you know, this
domestic violence.
Speaker 3 (08:12):
Yeah, agreed, And the numbers themselves are staggering, but let's
jump in and take a look at the facts of
Dominique Dunn's life. So obviously, Dominique Dounn was more than
a statistic. She was more than just a number. She
was a person, a really promising actor from a prominent
(08:34):
and beautiful family. And she actually grew up right in California,
surrounded by the entire Hollywood scene, right, Trevor, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Not far from where I live and I'm sitting right now.
So about her family, Dominique's parents were Dominick done and
he was an influential writer and producer. And then her
mother was Ellen Dunn, who throughout the story you'll hear
us refer to her as Lenny. That was her nickname.
So dominic Dunn's brother was actually married to the celebrated
(09:04):
writer Joan Didion, which is interesting. And growing up, Dominique
Dunn was privy to all of these different famous Hollywood people,
you know, through her family and through her dad.
Speaker 3 (09:15):
Yeah, And after she graduated from high school, Dominique decided
to pursue acting. She was in a TV movie called
Diary of a Teenage Hitchhiker. And in that movie, I
saw a clip of it. Over the weekend we watched
Yvett and I were together in San Francisco and watched
an old episode of E true Hollywood story from the
late nineties about Dominique, and ironically she was beaten up
(09:38):
and raped in that first movie. I mean her character writer,
you know, Yeah, her character was, and she also appeared
in a number of shows like lou Grant and Yvette's
Favorite Fame.
Speaker 2 (09:49):
My Favorite Fame.
Speaker 3 (09:53):
And then she actually got her big breakout role playing
the teenage daughter in Poltergeist, which was filmed in nineteen
eighty one and came out in nineteen eighty two. So
if anyone knows who Dominiqu Dunn was, they probably know
her from Poultergeist.
Speaker 2 (10:08):
It was a huge blockbuster hit.
Speaker 1 (10:11):
Yeah, and I guess all this story kind of takes
place like right at the culmination of her new fame.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
Right right, right. But it's nineteen eighty two, and she
attends a party in Los Angeles, like you know many
starlets do, and she meets John Sweeney. So Trevor tell
us who this guy is.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Well, John Sweeney was a twenty seven year old Sioux
chef at a French restaurant called Ma Maison, which I
assume was a French place, and it was just a
super trendy restaurant at the time. So this is actually
where Wolfgang Puck got his start back in the seventies
and basically invented the whole California novelle cuisine there. So
(10:54):
it made sense that a current ma maison chef would
be at this hip Hollywood party, and this is where
he meets Dominique done. So the two started dating and
moved in together just a few months into their relationship.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
Right, and this is where we start to get a
sense that things might not be okay, you know, they
might not be so great. We have the sense that
John Sweeney, you know, was head over heels for Dominique.
Obviously it seems like he was definitely more in love
with her than she with him. And you know it,
(11:30):
his affections bordered on excessive jealousy and you know, like
hovering over her, so to speak. And I know that
feeling all too well. But anyhow, Russia, I'll let you
jump in here.
Speaker 3 (11:45):
Yeah, an example of that, that hovering and you know
jealous demeanor that John had towards Dominique. So, one of
Dominique's brothers, Alex, had told his parents of an incident
that took place when like a fan came up to
Dominique in a restaurant. Again, she had just come out
with Poltergeiss. This particular fan happened to me Mail, he was,
(12:07):
you know, fanning out over Oh my god, it's Dominique
done for Poltergeist. Yeah, and John Sweeney like freaked out
and when he saw this man talking to his girlfriend, Dominique,
he became enraged, and Alex told his parents and he
told the press quote, he picked up the man and
shook him. Sweeney's reaction was out of all proportion to
(12:30):
the incident going on end quote. And Alex Dominique's brother
called it scary.
Speaker 2 (12:36):
Yeah, of course. And I think like he when I
was reading this article, you know, I think he shook
him and he actually like threw him like on a table,
like it was crazy. And her father, Dominic, had a
similar experience. He was going to meet the couple for
lunch and John and Dominique were running a bit late,
(12:58):
and when they got this it was clear that Dominique
had been crying and her father could sense that there
was a great deal of tension between the two. What
he could see is that it's going to be really
hard for her to get away from this man because
he was that controlling. And he just said he had
(13:22):
the feeling that he was just creepy.
Speaker 3 (13:25):
Yeah, it kind of it takes me back, right, I
hadn't really thought about everything like that. You and I
have been through writing it like over the years until
we were you know, looking into Dominique's case, and it
just makes me think about how violence against you know,
stereotypically and the numbers show this, but how violence against
(13:47):
women by their male partners is incredibly normalized by our society.
Speaker 4 (13:53):
Right.
Speaker 3 (13:53):
So, just when you were talking about how Dominique's dad,
you know, saw like tears in her eyes, Like right,
I can remember an incident when we were living together
in la and he shall remain nameless, but I moved,
you know, from Portland to Los Angeles to be with
you know, mom and Anne Yvette, and I brought along
(14:16):
a boyfriend with me because this is before I came
out at the age of thirty, and I had been
in an abusive relationship and I didn't even remember that
until we were looking into Dominique, and I was like,
oh shit, like I've been there, but I thought it
was my fault.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
Yeah, first of all, I'm sorry to hear that, although I, like,
I guess I'm not surprised, you know, I think it's
just a thing men do, and I think women go
through and I do think, you know, one of the
good things here is that you know, you both of
you had each other and you had a family environment
where you could, you know, have each other's back.
Speaker 2 (14:51):
We had help.
Speaker 1 (14:52):
Yeah, yeah, exactly. And in the case of you know, Dominique,
it's it's interesting because she also had that, but it
ends up not being enough. And I think that's because
this case, you know, John Sweeney, he kind of is
just too aggressive, right, like, you know, he just keeps
coming back. And this is something you see I think
(15:13):
a lot in domestic abuse is, you know, they don't
know how to take no for an answer. They don't
like that, Yeah, they don't like go, you know, And
Dominique's mother in this case kind of catches this on
one occasion. There's one night where Dominique kind of flees
to her mom's house in tears, and this is after
(15:34):
a fight where John Sweeney was attacking her, pulling out
clumps of her hair, supposedly, and her mom gave this
really kind of chilling quote where she says he had
such a terrible temper, he smashes furniture and throws dishes
end quote. And so when Lenny done, the mom pointed
out that Sweeney seemed dangerous. Dominique responded by saying, oh,
(15:58):
he'd never hurt me, as though she heard self has
like internalized this idea that like this is just.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Normal, right, yeah, right, as if he hasn't heard her already,
in which we know that he has, but she's in
her mind rationalizing, you know what he's done, right.
Speaker 1 (16:15):
I Mean.
Speaker 2 (16:15):
The one thing that this makes me think about is
we always ask why battered women just don't leave the relationships,
you know, And I'll bet some listeners are shouting out
right now, right leave him, like why didn't you leave him?
But the fact of the matter is it takes time,
you know, to navigate out of those situations, and you know,
(16:37):
and especially in the situation with Dominique, like she didn't
tell her parents. They just witnessed some things.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Yeah, I don't think she even really accepted it herself.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
You know, yeah, exactly exactly, just by that quote to
her mom's he would never have her hurt me, you know,
like he's already hurt you.
Speaker 2 (16:55):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (16:57):
And when you are in an abusive relationship, like thoughts,
you know, they they're all over the place, just like me.
Like I remember even having the conversation with the VET
a few days ago, and I was like, oh no,
like you know, I was in his face, like I
made him hit me. And she's like no, no, like no,
it doesn't matter what you say, you know, like I
never hit him first, you know, like yeah, no, there's
(17:20):
no excuse period. And oftentimes, like you're so controlled or
you're so traumatized, or it's like what is that that
syndrome where you end up like thank you, Stockholm syndrome
where you end up, you know, in love with your abuser,
Like I think that might be what was going on here,
and you think that, like.
Speaker 2 (17:39):
Even like me, like you think you deserve it, Yeah,
when you don't. No one deserves to be physically or
abused in any way. But yeah, right, But I.
Speaker 1 (17:49):
Mean the sad truth is that the situation with Dominique
kind of just gets worse from here. And we'll talk
about where this goes after we take a quick break.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
Okay, So it's nineteen eighty two and Dominique Dunn is
caught in a relationship with her abuser, John Sweeney. It's
in September of that year that a another argument turned violent.
Speaker 1 (18:17):
Right, So this one takes place at the couple's house
that they live at together. And supposedly John Sweeney threw
Dominique done to the floor and started to choke her.
And there was a friend staying with him at the time,
and he remembers coming into the room after hearing what
they described as quote, loud gagging sounds. So at this point,
(18:38):
after a bunch of back and forth, Dominique manages to
escape out of the apartment. So there's a big scene
where he runs outside and tries to throw himself onto
the hood of her car as she's like pulling out
of the driveway. Luckily, she does escape and she is
able to stay with her mother for the next few weeks.
But you know, she does break up with him at
this point understandably.
Speaker 2 (18:58):
Oh good job, she ye, yep.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
So she asked him to move out, and after he
moves out, she returned back to that apartment in West
Hollywood and had the locks changed.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
And I just hate that That's not the end of
her story.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
Right, This is probably where it should have ended, but
it doesn't. It's now October and Dominique is at her
house rehearsing with a coworker. She has just been cast
in the new sci fi TV show V with her
co star David Packer, and they're going through scenes together
in her living room. So at one point she's on
the phone with a friend and the operator cuts through
(19:35):
to interrupt the call, and the person calling is John Sweeney, right, So.
Speaker 3 (19:41):
At this time Dominique says to her friend David, quote,
oh god, it's Sweeney. Let me get him off the phone.
End quote.
Speaker 2 (19:49):
And these are the last documented words we have from
Dominique Done.
Speaker 3 (19:55):
So. Ten minutes after John Sweeney, her violent ex boyfriend,
called Dominie Done, he showed up at her house because
he was only walking distance from where they lived from
the restaurant restaurant where he was at.
Speaker 2 (20:09):
Yeah, and we know what happened because David Packer, which
was her co star from B was there at the house.
They were rehearsing the scene and then you know who shows.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
Up, right, So she first is talking to John, you know,
through basically her she had protection because she had that door.
It was just kind of opened up a little bit
because she had the latch on it, so she had
that little layer of protection. But then she agreed to
step outside and talk to John Sweeney while David just
(20:42):
waits inside and Trevor, this is where things got really bad, right, Yeah.
Speaker 1 (20:47):
So David Packer says he heard them start to argue
from outside, and then he heard the sound of quote smacks,
a scream, and then a thud. So he calls the police,
but they first told him that Dominique's house is out
of their jurisdiction.
Speaker 2 (21:03):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:03):
So David Packer gets really scared. He calls a friend
and leaves a message on this friend's answering machine saying, quote,
if I die tonight, it was by John Sweeney end quote.
Speaker 2 (21:14):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (21:15):
So David Packer decides to leave the house through the
back door, and he walks down the driveway, and that
is when he spotted Dominique unconscious and lying in the bushes,
with Sweeney kneeling over her. So they kind of lock eyes.
There's kind of an understanding as to what's going on,
and Sweeney tells David to call the police, which he did,
(21:39):
and I guess they come this time. So when the
cops arrived, John Sweeney was standing in the driveway, his
arms raised above his head, and he reportedly told them
quote I killed my girlfriend and I tried to kill
myself end quote. And he was arrested on the scene
and charged with attempted murder.
Speaker 2 (21:57):
And isn't that a confession right there, you guys, Yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:01):
I mean you have a confession, you have a witness,
you have a history of abuse. I mean this is
all going to come into play later. But I mean
one interesting thing here and Russia, I know you have
some feelings about this is you know, why didn't her
co star David Packers step into do anything. Right, He's
just kind of you know, he heard the commotion outside
and just decided to bail.
Speaker 3 (22:23):
Yeah, I mean at least he called, at least he
picked up the phone.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
But still, yeah, we do know what was going through
his mind. He was scared, you know, he was scared
for his life. But still you know, yeah.
Speaker 1 (22:36):
I mean just it's possible though that, you know, Dominique
would still be with us today had he just like intervened,
you know, right, yes, he could have just even scared
John Off, you know, like whatever.
Speaker 3 (22:47):
Yeah, yeah, and who knows what the dynamic was, right, Yeah.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
I think that's interesting too, is when he called nine
to one one and they said that, you know, well,
out out of our jeers, Dick, Like, I mean, that's
just crazy. Well, get somebody in the jurisdiction to get there,
you know, like hatch a mop should respond to this
then yeah, yeah, you know that wasn't David's fault in
(23:12):
that sense, no, because you know, David did the right thing.
He called nine to one one.
Speaker 4 (23:16):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, there's just like a lot of failures that happened,
but at the end of the day, it's still primarily
John Sweeney's responsibility.
Speaker 3 (23:24):
Oh yeah, he's the one that took Dominique's life. And
right after that confession, Dominique was taken immediately to Cedar
Sinaide Medical Center, where she was placed on life support
and apparently she was almost completely unrecognizable to her family.
(23:46):
She had tubes everywhere, her head was shaved, and there
was a large bolt that was screwed into her skull
to help relieve some of the pressure on her brain
because you know, she was we believe strangled and.
Speaker 2 (24:00):
On her neck.
Speaker 3 (24:02):
Her family could still see the bruises of the handmarks
from John Sweeney's hands, as her father wrote after the fact,
and this is a quote from the prolific writer Dominic
Dunn quote, it was nearly impossible to look at her,
(24:22):
but also impossible to look away.
Speaker 2 (24:25):
End quote. Yeah, you know, I read an article and
if you get a chance, read the article that her father,
Dominic Dunn wrote. It's so powerful and you know, he
talks about this moment when they were going to the
hospital and they were really worried about the mother, Lenny
(24:45):
because at the time, Lenny was in a wheelchair, so
they were worried that this would you know, impact her
help by seeing you know, her daughter like this. And
you know, it was Dominic, Lenny and the two brothers,
Alex and Griffin, and they opened the door and she
(25:10):
was the one that he said was the strong one, Lenny,
and Lenny was the strong one. The boys, the men
were just like it just destroyed them, you know, to
see their sister like that. But Lenny took Dominique's hand
in hers and she just started talking to her. And
this this was a release, you know for the family
(25:33):
to kind of let go of that shock, you know,
in that moment, right and just just speak to their sister.
And as her father wrote, and this is a quote,
we prayed for her to live, even though we knew
that it would be best for her to die. That's
a hard thing to say for a parent. Right on
(25:56):
November fourth.
Speaker 3 (25:57):
Just a few days after the attack, Dominique's family does
agree to take her off of life support. They say
goodbye to her for the last time, and her organs
are donated before her body is turned over to the
Corner for the autopsy. And two days later they held
her funeral in Beverly Hills at a beautiful Catholic church.
(26:20):
And I even saw footage of the funeral, and there
were hundreds of people there and so many you know,
actors and producers and directors and all kinds of people
who loved Dominique, this young twenty two year old human
who has taken from us too soon.
Speaker 2 (26:36):
And it's so sad, right, Yeah, it's very sad. And again,
you know, she was just you know, at the peak
right of her career of you know, completely you know,
thrusting into stardom. So, like I said, I was just
speaking about that article that Dominic Dunn had wrote from
(26:57):
Vanity Fair. And this is after the trial. So now
let's let's talk about this crazy trial and how it begins.
Speaker 1 (27:07):
Yes, it is quite a crazy trial, and that is
exactly what we'll talk about after we take another quick break.
Speaker 2 (27:17):
John Sweeney's trial is presided over by Judge Burton s Katz,
And it began August nineteen eighty three, and it's can
I just say it's dramatic from the beginning to the end.
Speaker 3 (27:32):
Yes, And the prosecutor actually placed a lot of emphasis
on the time that it took for John Sweeney to
strangle Dominique done. In fact, he began by starting a
stopwatch and having it run, and it was completely silent
in that packed courtroom, and he let that stopwatch run
(27:55):
for four minutes because essentially that is how long John
Sweeney strangled Dominique Dunne. And that's how long it took
for her to die, because she essentially went brain dead
when she was strangled by him in those four minutes.
Speaker 2 (28:11):
Think about that. Four minutes is a very long time.
And the thing about that is is your intention has
to be to kill her if you are strangling her
for that long.
Speaker 1 (28:27):
Yeah, I mean, if it wasn't premeditated, then probably you know,
I don't know, a couple seconds into it, you'd be like, oh, wait,
I shouldn't be doing.
Speaker 2 (28:34):
This, right, yeah, oh shit, oh gilling her?
Speaker 1 (28:36):
But nope, he keeps going. He just keeps going.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
And that's the point that the prosecutor wanted to make
in that court realm.
Speaker 2 (28:44):
And this part is where.
Speaker 3 (28:48):
I'm gonna get mad even thinking about it, Like I
can't even say the name Judge Katz and not be
angry whenever I think about this. So the prosecutor brought
in Lilyan Pierce, and Lily was an ex girlfriend of Sweeney's,
and she testified really movingly about John's history of violent
(29:08):
behavior towards his partner, right, Trevor.
Speaker 1 (29:11):
Yeah, I mean not that we needed Lillian Pierce's testimony
to prove his guilt, right, and that said it should
have and could have been the final nail in his coffin.
So Lillian Pierce testifies that they had been together for
two years and that on ten separate occasions during that time,
he beat her to some degree. She had quote been
(29:33):
hospitalized twice, once for six days, once for four days.
Sweeney had broken her notes, punctured her ear drum, collapsed
her lung, and thrown rocks at her when she tried
to escape from him. She had seen him, she said,
foam at the mouth when he lost control and smashed
furniture and pictures. And as she spoke, the courtroom was
(29:55):
absolutely silent. I mean, come on, yeah, And so at
one point during Pierce's testimony, Sweeney became enraged listening to this,
and so he jumped out of his heat and tried
to escape out of the courtroom. So he was tackled
by the bailiff and restrained in his chair. This is
(30:17):
where things get weird, though, because the judge did really
little to admonish or punish him in any way. He
reportedly just told Sweeney that he knew how much pressure
he was under, you know, like showing him sympathy, you know,
and kind of like gave him a little slap on
the wrist. The other important thing to know about this
(30:37):
testimony from Lillian Pearce is that the defense made an
emotion to not have the jury listen to that testimony,
and Judge Katz allowed that to stand. So the jury
wasn't actually in the room when Lillian Pierce gave that
testimony about how abusive he was.
Speaker 2 (30:56):
And that is why Judge Katz pissed me off.
Speaker 3 (31:00):
Yeah, his career was ruined after this trial, and rightfully so.
I mean even in what you just said, Trevor.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Like he was like, oh, you're okay, he was.
Speaker 3 (31:11):
Like making sure that John Sweeney was all right after
that horrific outburst, and then he doesn't let Lilian's testimony,
he doesn't let the jury here.
Speaker 2 (31:21):
Yeah, yeah, that's it's just crazy. It's like watching Law
and Order. Can I just say, and you have the
crazy guy you know, on the stand who has an outburst,
and it's like the judge would be like, you know,
ordering the court, ordering the court bailiff, you know what
I mean. Like, instead, this judge is like, oh, it's okay,
I know this is you know, stressing on you Like
(31:43):
what yeah, you know, Dominique's family is there.
Speaker 3 (31:47):
And Lillian Pierce is there, who was horrifically abused by him.
Speaker 2 (31:52):
Yes, I mean it's just ridiculous, like ridiculous, right.
Speaker 1 (31:58):
So Sweeney's attorney makes another request that the judge again grants,
which is that there is not sufficient evidence to charge
Sweeney with first degree murder and that the jury should
only be allowed to consider charges of manslaughter and second
degree murder. And the defense's reasoning for this was quote
there is no premeditation or deliberation in this case end quote.
(32:22):
And again Judge Katz agrees to do this, Like.
Speaker 2 (32:26):
What is up with this judge. You know again, I
go back to the article that Dominique Wroten he writes
about this judge, and from what I understand, like he's
a very arrogant kind of almost like similar to John Sweeney,
like in personality like that. I'm sure there are buds
right right, exactly what I'm seeing, because you know, it
(32:50):
took four minutes, right for her to die. He choked
her out for four minutes, so that they just pretty
much discount out of that, and he gave a confession
to the police. They discounted that, and the ex girlfriend
t you know, testifies and the jury doesn't get to
(33:10):
hear that.
Speaker 1 (33:11):
Yeah, I mean, this should have been a slam dunk case.
I mean they had everything you need to convict someone
a first degree murder, like literally everything you could ever
want in a case, everything, Trevor, It's so insane and.
Speaker 2 (33:23):
It makes me so mad even saying these words.
Speaker 3 (33:27):
The defense kept saying, oh, John Sweeney was just caught
up in quote the heat of passion.
Speaker 2 (33:33):
I'm sorry, bullshit.
Speaker 3 (33:34):
Yeah, no, f that, And they're saying that he was
not aware of what he was doing. Okay, again, you know,
arguably right, I have to say, like I think this
is part of rape culture, right. A lot of times men,
you know, get away with rape or get away with
violence or abuse because they're like, oh, they were just
caught up in the moment. They couldn't stop themselves. They're
(33:56):
not a wild animal. Yeah, you know, like, I'm sorry,
but you absolutely can control your actions. And in those
four minutes that John was strangling Dominique, he could have
made that decision to stop.
Speaker 2 (34:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:13):
And even if you like really can't control your emotions,
like if you are literally foaming at the mouth like
supposedly John Sweeney was, that is no one else's responsibility,
you know what I mean, Like, you don't just get
a free pass, right, you know, from murdering someone because
you can't control yourself. You know, you still need to
be punished for that and learn lessons. And this guy doesn't,
(34:35):
and no one ever gives him a chance to learn
a lesson because he keeps getting off the hook.
Speaker 3 (34:39):
Yeah, And that's the toxic boys will be boys mentality,
And I think that's what Judge Katz was perpetuating.
Speaker 2 (34:45):
And it's just disgusting he was in that same paternity
because he's allowing all of this. Yeah, you know, it's
just it's sickening, and you know, it's just what happened
to Dominique. It just jarred their entire family. Now they
have to sit through this trial and watch this bullshit.
Speaker 4 (35:06):
Right.
Speaker 1 (35:06):
Yeah, it's pretty much a sham by this point, and
it doesn't get any better. So the jerry deliberates for
eight days and then lo and behold they decide to
a quit Sweeney of second degree murder.
Speaker 3 (35:18):
Wow.
Speaker 1 (35:19):
And instead they only find him guilty of voluntary manslaughter
as well as a small misdemeanor charge from when he
attacks Dominique in September, the earlier incident in nineteen eighty two.
Speaker 2 (35:30):
In that courtroom, there was I mean an audible gasp
of disbelief. This is years later and we are still
ourselves in disbelief. Can you imagine sitting there in that
courtroom and hearing this nonsense?
Speaker 1 (35:47):
Yeah, I mean going back to dominic Dunn, the writer,
he said, quote, the maximum sentence for the two charges
is six and a half years, and with good time
and work time, the convict is paroled automatically when he
has served half his sentence without having to go through
a parole hearing. Since the time spent in jail between
the arrest and the sentence encounted as time served, Sweeney
(36:10):
could be free in two and a half years.
Speaker 3 (36:12):
End quote WTF. Dominique's father, Dominic Dunn, was pissed. He
was enraged all of the things. And he writes, quote,
I could not believe I had heard Judge CAATs thank
the jury on behalf of my family for reducing the
(36:35):
murder of my daughter to manslaughter. Not for our family,
Judge CAATs, I shouted end.
Speaker 2 (36:42):
Quote damn straight right? I mean, so John Sweeney is
sentenced to six years in prison, and the jury foreman
later said that if they'd heard Lillian Pierce's testimony, they
would have convicted him of murder. So, Trevor John Sweeney
(37:02):
was sentenced, what became of him?
Speaker 1 (37:07):
Yeah, I mean, he wasn't sentenced to a lot so,
I mean, he went to a medium security prison and
was released on parole after just three years. So almost
exactly how Dominic Dunn predicted. So he then got hired
as a head chef at a upscale restaurant in Santa Monica,
and he was working under an assumed name. But Dominiqu
(37:28):
Dunn's parents were able to find him and they drew
these huge crowds out to protest outside of the restaurant.
So this drive Sweeney to quit the restaurant and eventually
leave Los Angeles. So at one point Dominic Dunn goes
through the process of hiring a PI, a private investigator
to track down Sweeney with the intent of having him killed. Wow,
(37:52):
but he does change his mind, thankfully.
Speaker 2 (37:54):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (37:54):
So a dozen or so years later, he gets a
call from a man in Florida who believes his own
his own daughter is engaged to John Sweeney and Dominic
Dunn tries to stop the wedding. Sweeney then accuses Dun
of harassing him. Okay, so I believe this falls apart.
But today anyways, Sweeney is supposedly living under a different name,
(38:17):
and Dominic Dunn says he has no idea where he is.
So it sounds like John or whatever his name is
now has essentially gone off the grid gone into hiding,
which is probably, I guess the only option he had
available to him.
Speaker 2 (38:31):
At this point.
Speaker 3 (38:32):
A big takeaway here for me is that what happened
to Dominique Dunn and others like her is inexcusable.
Speaker 2 (38:42):
Plain and simple.
Speaker 3 (38:43):
But also, you know, we have to thank God, the goddesses,
whoever you believe in. You know, we have to look
at the light in the darkness of this case. We
have made progress since Dominique's murder in nineteen ninety four.
The Violence Against Women Act was passed in reaction to
the many, many crimes like this one. And it seems
(39:06):
like it, or at least I hope, that we've made
progress as a culture. But at the same time, it's
not over yet.
Speaker 2 (39:15):
No, it's never over. And I would just like to say,
like back in the eighties, Lenny Dunn, Dominique's mom, she
actually started her own group back then and it was
called the California Center for Victims of Homicide. So we
fast forward and we have the Me Too movement and
all that continues to come to light about assault and
(39:37):
women's inequality. It demonstrates that we have a long way
to go, and we will keep fighting and we will
keep perservaring.
Speaker 3 (39:53):
And this brings us to our Emua, our final message
of hope and healing.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
So this week, our Emua is dedicated.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
To victims of domestic and partner violence everywhere.
Speaker 2 (40:06):
That's right. Dominique Dunn was striving to move beyond one
of the worst chapters of her life, and she didn't
make it. But today we lift her up. She was
more than the worst part of her story.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
She was a bright, young, talented, beautiful human filled with
hopes and dreams. So for those of you out there
who have been abused, we see you. We cannot take
away your pain, but we are holding you in the
light and we want you to find your way out
of the darkness.
Speaker 2 (40:39):
You are more than the worst thing that has ever
happened to you. You are light, You are strength, and
you are never alone. Onward and upward, Emua Emua.
Speaker 3 (40:58):
Everyone deserves relationships free from domestic violence. If you're in danger,
there are caring people who can help. Call the National
Domestic Violence Hotline at one eight hundred seven nine to
nine safe. That's one eight hundred seven nine nine seven
two three three. Well, that's our show for today. We'd
(41:20):
love to hear what you thought about today's discussion and
if there's a case you'd like for us to cover,
find us on social media at Facing Evil Pod or
email us at Facingevil Pod at tenderfoot dot tv.
Speaker 2 (41:32):
Until next time. Aloha.
Speaker 1 (41:42):
Facing Evil is a production of iHeartRadio and Tenderfoot TV.
The show is hosted by Russia Paccuerero in Avet Gentile,
Matt Frederick and Alex Williams our executive producers on behalf
of iHeartRadio, with producers Trevor Young and Jesse Funk. Donald
Albright in Payinlin our executive producers on behalf of Tenderfoot TV,
(42:03):
alongside producer Tracy Kaplan. Our researcher is Claudia Dafrico. Original
music by Makeup and Vanity Set. Find us on social
media or email us at facingevilpod at tenderfoot dot tv.
For more podcasts from iHeartRadio or Tenderfoot TV, visit the
iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your
(42:26):
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