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Criminal

Apr. 19, 2013

To testify or not to testify

On April 11, a jury convicted infamous con man Christian Gerhartsreiter for the 1985 murder of John Sohus, despite no direct evidence that he committed the crime.

Louis J. Shapiro

Email: LouisJShapiro@Gmail.com

Louis, a former Los Angeles County Public Defender, is a criminal defense attorney and State Bar-certified criminal law specialist out of Century City. He is also a legal analyst, board member of the California Innocence Project and Project For The Innocence at Loyola Law School, CACJ and LACBA'S Criminal Justice Executive Committee.

On April 11, a jury convicted infamous con man Christian Gerhartsreiter for the 1985 murder of John Sohus. The defense's theory was that Gerhartsreiter had no motive and Sohus' wife - who also went missing in 1985 and has never been found - committed the murder. The prosecution argued that Gerhartsreiter killed her too, the remains just haven't been found.

The most intriguing part of it all was that Gerhartsreiter was convicted (within a few hours of deliberations) despite no d...

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