Hi, everybody! I've been away intentionally for a while. Hasn't been much to yap about here regarding Natalie, so've stayed away.
Anyway, Betty, in reply to your inquiry: first of all, thanks for your interest. Yes, I am doing Dominique Dunne's case right now. It is really coming along very nicely. I am proud of my work, and all the hard research that's gone into it. I've had to do some expensive traveling, too, to track down stuff about the trial. You can contact me at the e-mail address I've listed here once my book is out, or you can ask me some questions about the case any time.
To the other person who stated that my story of Dominique sounded interesting...thanks! I am really baffled with all I've learned about this case. It is a real pleasure to tell everyone else about it. But, it is also a very sad story, so I have to do it with respect towards her and her family, yet express my anger at what went wrong at the trial, and who was responsible.
Here's an excerpt for you guys to read, if you like (Note: for some reason at this website, apostrophes are not included in any text we write, so bear with me, I did actually include them, but you will not see them):
- Norman Carby, a friend to the Dunne family, and an artist by trade, testified in court that Dominique showed up at his door on Cahuenga Blvd. on Sunday, September 26th, 1982 wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and barefoot. She was horrendously distraught, he told the jury, She said she had been beaten up, strangled, and her head pounded against the floor. He also testified, She said (Sweeney) had tried to kill her. It took a long time for it all to come out. Her throat hurt and it hurt to talk or breathe. I repeat this key testimony from Carby because, to me, any normal person especially a friend at this point is picking up the telephone and phoning the police. Carby failed to explain why the police had not been called in regarding this assault or at least I was unable to locate any testimony in which they were. To his credit, however, Carby did take a few photographs of the bruises on Dominiques neck to be potentially used as evidence at a later point in time. He told the jury he photographed her injuries because, I felt it was important. There was evidence something awful had happened. Important, yes, but not important enough to call the police right then and there? This, my friends, is one major reason women are beaten repeatedly by the same perpetrator: because they or someone close to them fails to report the beatings the first time. This attack by Sweeney, to which Norman Carby was testifying, came nearly a month to the day after the first attack on Dominique on August 27th, 1982. This was the one where she had showed up at her mothers home a tormented mess. Her mom said that Dominique ended up on the floor in the hallway in the fetal position due to the emotional havoc wrecked upon her by Sweeney, not to mention the physical damage. Failure to prevent future attacks from the same person often times leads to the death of the victim. The Dominique Dunne case was not an unheard of case. Many women prior to the Dunne killing had a John Sweeney in their own lives, and did very little to combat the assaults by getting the police involved. Many at the time of her death also faced potential death from the hands of a spouse or significant other. And since 1982, countless more women have been attacked and even killed by their repeated attacker. True, more often they are not killed, but who cares about the statistics if even one is killed when steps could have been taken to possibly avoid further contact with the killer before it was too late? Speak up, ladies, THE FIRST TIME: its your right to! Youre not meant to be somebody elses punching bag every time something in his mind goes wrong. The relationship is not worth saving if one of the two is an abuser. Find someone better its that simple! Im not a doctor or some domestic abuse expert, but I dont have to be. Its pure common sense. It really is that simple: get out of the relationship, pick up the kids, if applicable, and head for the nearest battered womens shelter or to a friend or family members house. And then, by all means, prosecute his ass. And dont forget to get the restraining order against him in the meantime.
+Michael
*Excerpt comes from the book "Murder in West Hollywood: The Dominique Dunne Story" by Michael J. Eastman. Copyright 2009 by Michael J. Eastman.
