Who Beat the Rap? Trivia Quiz

Answer: Snoop Dogg

Calvin Broadus, Jr. (aka 'Snoop Dogg') was involved with the Rollin' 20s Crips gang in Long Beach, CA as a youth, and it was in an altercation between the Crips and a rival gang that the incident occurred. Snoop Dogg was 21 at the time, and had just started to make it in the music industry.

It was on August 25th, 1993, and after an encounter earlier in the day, Snoop was driving his Jeep along with his bodyguard McKinley Lee (aka 'Malik') when they saw the same rival gang members and stopped to confront them again. Without getting into the nitty gritty details, rival Phillip Woldermariam (aka 'Little Smooth') was shot and killed by Malik. Defended by high-profile lawyer Johnnie Cochran, the two were acquitted, even though Snoop Dogg was embroiled in followup legal battles surrounding the case for another three years.

Answer: Lizzie Borden

You've probably heard this gruesome little rhyme:
"Lizzie Borden took an axe, gave her mother forty whacks.
When she saw what she had done, she gave her father forty-one."

In reality, Abby Borden had gone upstairs sometime between 9:00 and 10:30 a.m. on August 4th, 1892. There, she was struck 18 times by a hatchet, and evidence showed that she was facing her attacker with the first strike, which knocked her to the floor. Shortly before 11:10 a.m., the maid (Miss Maggie Sullivan) was called to from the main floor by Lizzie, "Maggie, come quick! Father's dead. Somebody came in and killed him." He had been struck 10 or 11 times with a hatchet. Time of death was placed at approximately 11:00 a.m.

During the trial, evidence and timeline details were inconsistent, and the jury acquitted Lizzie of the murders. Even though she remained the prime suspect, Lizzie lived out her life, largely ostracized from society, until her death in 1927.

Answer: Ray Buckey

The investigation into the McMartin preschool in Manhattan Beach, CA began with accusations made in 1983 by a woman that her son had been sexually abused at the day care. That initial claim was made against Ray Buckey, grandson of the school founder, son of the school administrator, and teacher at the school. This launched an investigation and a warning by police sent to all school families. The woman who made the accusations was diagnosed with acute paranoid schizophrenia, and died of complications due to chronic alcoholism before even the preliminary hearing was concluded.

An organization called the Children's Institute International (an abuse therapy clinic) conducted hundreds of interviews with children from the preschool, resulting in 360 claims of abuse. During the pretrial hearings, only 41 children testified, and during the trial itself, fewer than a dozen. An 'expert witness' on interviewing children stated that the methods used during the interviews was "improper, coercive, directive, problematic and adult-directed in a way that forced the children to follow a rigid script". The problematic nature of said 'evidence' was a huge part in Ray Buckey's acquittal.

All told, seven people from the school were charged in 1984 with a combination of 321 counts of child abuse involving 48 children. Ray Buckey spent five years in jail during the proceedings, and in the end was acquitted on 52 of 65 charges in 1990. A second trial contested the remaining 13 charges, and a hung jury resulted in all charges being dismissed.

Answer: Casey Anthony

On July 15th, 2008, Cindy Anthony made a frantic 911 call about her missing two-year-old granddaughter. She had been missing for 31 days already, and her mother Casey had not reported anything.

Despite many fabricated statements to police (such as her daughter being with the nanny or lying about where she was employed), despite damning evidence (such as proof that a decomposing body was in the trunk of her car, and the body was found not far from the house wrapped in plastic with traces of duct tape around her mouth), despite interviews that were focused on Casey's life instead of concern over her daughter, despite all of this, she was declared 'not guilty' for one overriding reason. The prosecution could not prove how Caylee actually died.

Answer: Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle

"Fatty" Arbuckle was a well-known comedic star of silent movies who was at a high point in his career in 1921, when tragedy struck: 25-year-old aspiring actress, model, clothing designer, and party girl died after attending a Labor Day weekend party 'hosted' by Arbuckle at a hotel in San Francisco. The woman in question was Virginia Rappe, and on September 9th, she died from a ruptured bladder.

A 'witness' (Maude Delmont, who it was later discovered had a criminal history of fraud and extortion) claimed that Arbuckle raped Rappe, causing the injury that would kill her four days later. The news made the press and innuendo and outright speculation crucified Arbuckle to the public before he even made his own statement to the press, and well before any trial convened.

There were three trials, altogether. The first was held in November of the same year. Evidence was presented showing a chronic bladder condition, along with NO evidence of violence on Rappes' body. And the doctor who treated Rappe before her death reported that she said he had not assaulted her. Arbuckle's defense team also had damning evidence about Rappe's past, but Arbuckle refused to let it be heard in court, out of respect for the dead. The vote was 10-2 to acquit.

With a hung jury, the prosecution pushed for a second trial, and again, it was deadlocked. A third trial happened, and this time Arbuckle allowed the evidence against Rappe to be heard, which outlined previous abdominal attacks, a history of drinking heavily at parties and disrobing, and promiscuity. It was also pointed out that their star 'witness' - Delmont - never actually took the stand to provide testimony, nor to be cross-examined. The jury took five minutes to deliberate (most of which was taken writing the statement) and Arbuckle was exonerated of all wrong-doing. Unfortunately, his career and reputation never recovered, and he died of a heart attack a few years later at the age of 46.

Answer: William Kennedy Smith

On March 29th, 1991, 30-year-old William Kennedy Smith was out on the town (of Palm Beach, FL) with his uncle (Ted Kennedy) and his cousin (Patrick Kennedy) when he met Patricia Bowman. Everyone went back to the Kennedy's Palm Beach compound, and William and Patricia went for a walk on the beach in the early hours of the 30th. Later, Patricia claimed that William tackled and raped her. At trial, William admitted that they had sex, but that it was consensual. The prosecution wanted to bring testimony from three other women who claimed that Smith had assaulted them, as well, but the evidence was barred by the judge.

With the well-known family name, it is no surprise that the trial became a media circus. In the end, the jury found Smith not guilty on all charges. It should be noted that more allegations were brought against Smith in 2004, but were summarily dismissed by another judge.

Answer: O.J. Simpson

Another media circus surrounded the case of O.J. Simpson, who was accused of murdering his ex-wife (Nicole Brown Simpson) and her friend (Ron Goldman), whose bodies were discovered outside her condo just after midnight on June 13th, 1994. When a bloody glove was discovered outside his home, O.J. became a person of interest. But when he failed to show up at the police station to give his detailed statement, a low-speed pursuit, famously captured on live television, ensued. The highly-publicized trial lasted 11 months, with high-profile lawyers on both sides of the case. In the end, the key evidence of the bloody gloves was also what gave the jury their 'not guilty' verdict: the gloves didn't fit.

A year after the conclusion of the trial in 1996, Ron Goldman's parents filed a civil suit against O.J. Simpson for 'wrongful death', and Nicole Brown Simpson's father filed a 'survivor suit' on behalf of her estate. Four months later, O.J. was found guilty and had to pay tens of millions in punitive and compensatory damages.

Answer: George Zimmerman

Trayvon Martin was a 17-year-old African-American boy who was shot the evening of February 26th, 2012 in Sanford, FL by George Zimmerman, organizer of the local Neighborhood Watch.

George was known to make 911 calls regarding 'suspicious' people, and he did so on the night in question, as Trayvon exited a local convenience store where he had just purchased snacks to bring home (a short distance away). George ignored the recommendations from the 911 dispatcher to and decided to follow the young man. An altercation occurred, and Trayvon was shot dead. George, with evidence of minor injuries on his person, claimed that he fired in self-defense. Trayvon was unarmed. He was also on the phone with his girlfriend at the time, who reported the conversation:

"What are you stopping me for?" Martin asked George Zimmerman.
"What are you doing around here?" Zimmerman asked in response.
Then there were sounds of a scuffle, followed by silence.

After the incident, it was not until public outcry ramped up the incident that Zimmerman was officially charged with second-degree murder on April 11th. In the end, Zimmerman's version of events was upheld, and he was found not guilty of the charge of murder.

Answer: Robert Blake

Robert Blake was an actor perhaps best known for playing the main character in the 1970s TV show "Baretta", amongst his many other credits. But he came into notorious fame in 2001 when he was accused of conspiring to murder his wife, Bonnie Lee Bakley. They met in 1999, and after Bakley became pregnant with Robert's child, they wed on November 19th, 2000. At the time, Bakley had been involved with other celebrities, and originally claimed that the impending child was Christian Brando's (Marlon's son), but DNA testing proved otherwise.

On May 4th, 2001, after having dinner at Vitello's Restaurant in Studio City, CA, Bonnie Lee was shot while sitting in Robert's car, during the few minutes he had left the car to return to the restaurant to retrieve a gun he had left there. (The gun in question was proven to NOT be the murder weapon).

A year later, on April 18th, Robert Blake was charged with Bonnie Lee's murder after two stuntmen came forward alleging that Blake had tried to hire them (individually) to kill his wife. The murder trial would not commence until December of 2004, and ended with an acquittal after the prosecution could not prove that Blake was involved, beyond a reasonable doubt. But, as with the O.J. Simpson case the previous decade, Blake was taken to civil court and found liable for his wife's death to the tune of $30 million in damages to Bakley's three children.

Answer: Michael Jackson

For years before this trial, there had been allegations surrounding Michael Jackson and his propensity for having children at his ranch and sharing his room. There had even been previous litigation that had been settled out of court. But despite appearances, nothing was proven to have happened, and nothing went to court until June of 2005. The charge was brought forward by the family of Gavin Arvizo, who was a thirteen-year-old at the time of the alleged abuse in February of 2003.

Suffice it to say, there were many witnesses that came to the defense of Jackson, including other celebrities like Macaulay Culkin (who also stayed at Neverland Ranch as a child). At the same time, the witness statements against Jackson were inconsistent, and there was a history within the Arvizo family of soliciting funds from celebrities (the father) and perjury and fraud (the mother). Jackson was ultimately found not guilty of all charges.