Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Jan. 26, 1996: The Millionaire Murderer


On January 26, 1996, John du Pont, member of the promient du Pont family, went over to the home of Olympic Gold Medalist wrestler Dave Schultz (which was on du Pont's 800-acre Pennsylvania estate) and shot him three times in the driveway, killing him instantly. Schultz's wife and du Pont's head of security witnessed the crime. John du Pont then went back to his mansion where he was involved in a three-day stand-off with police. They eventually turned off his heater and arrested him when he came outside to fix it.

Du Pont, an avid wrestling fan who donated large sums of money to to the Olympic team and let them train at his private gym, was a paranoid schizophrenic. As his mental conditioned worsened, he believed that he was the Dalai Lama, there was conspiracy to assassinate him, and feared an invasion by the Russian army. Naturally, his lawyers tried the insanity defense. Despite his clearly poor mental condition, the prosecution proved, by virtue of his three-day stand-off with police, and over 100 requests for his lawyer, that du Pont knew what he had done was wrong.

Du Pont was convicted of third-degree murder and sentenced to 13 to 30 years. He died in prison on December 9, 2010 from an unspecified illness.

READ MORE: The Crime Library

READ MORE: Wikipedia

No comments:

Post a Comment