Killing of Dominique Dunne

On October 30, 1982, 22-year-old actress Dominique Ellen Dunne, best known for her role in the film *Poltergeist* (1982), was strangled outside her West Hollywood home by her former boyfriend, John Thomas Sweeney, a sous-chef. She fell into a coma and was taken off life support on November 4, 1982, resulting in her death. Her kidneys and heart were donated to transplant recipients, and her funeral was held on November 6, 1982, at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.

Dunne and Sweeney had met at a party in 1981 and moved in together within weeks. Their relationship deteriorated amid Sweeney's jealousy and escalating physical abuse, including an incident on August 27, 1982, in which he pulled out handfuls of her hair, and another on September 26, 1982, in which he strangled her during an argument; she escaped through a bathroom window. Dunne ended the relationship shortly afterward and changed the locks on their shared home.

On the night of the killing, Sweeney forced his way into a phone conversation Dunne was having and arrived at her home, where the two argued on the porch. A witness, actor David Packer, who was inside rehearsing lines with Dunne, heard smacking sounds, screams, and a thud, and later found Sweeney kneeling over Dunne in nearby bushes. When police arrived, Sweeney stated, "I killed my girlfriend, and I tried to kill myself." He was initially charged with attempted murder, and after Dunne's death, with first-degree murder; he pleaded not guilty.

Sweeney's trial began in August 1983 before Judge Burton S. Katz. Sweeney testified he had no clear memory of the attack beyond finding himself with his hands around Dunne's neck. The prosecution presented testimony from a former girlfriend describing a pattern of violent assaults by Sweeney, but this testimony was ruled inadmissible before the jury and was disclosed to jurors only after the trial concluded. Judge Katz also excluded testimony from Dunne's mother and friends as hearsay and ruled there was insufficient evidence to try Sweeney for first-degree murder. On September 21, 1983, following eight days of deliberation, the jury acquitted Sweeney of second-degree murder but convicted him of voluntary manslaughter and misdemeanor assault related to the September 26 incident. Dunne's family, including her father, writer Dominick Dunne, publicly denounced the verdict as an injustice. On November 7, 1983, Sweeney was sentenced to six years for manslaughter plus six months for assault; Judge Katz stated at sentencing that he believed the case was "a case, pure and simple, of murder."

Sweeney was released on parole in September 1986 after serving two and a half years. He later worked as a chef, prompting protests from Dunne's family, and subsequently changed his name. In the aftermath, Dominick Dunne wrote about the trial for Vanity Fair, and Dunne's mother, Ellen "Lenny" Dunne, founded the victims' rights group Justice for Homicide Victims.