Wednesday, April 10, 2013

Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter Convicted of Murder

 Christian Karl Gerhartsreiter, center with his defense counsel. 
Photo credit Walt Mancini/SGVN

The AP is reporting that the jury in the Christian Gerhartsreiter (aka the fake Rockefeller) case reached a verdict early today.  Gerhartsreiter was found guilty of first degree murder in the death of John Sohos.

Back on March 21st, I dropped in on a few hours of Gerhartsreiter testimony after the Cameron Brown pretrial hearing.  I hope to put my notes up on going to court that day, soon.

Excellent coverage of the Gerhartsreiter case can be found at Pasadena-Star News.

Gerhartsreiter Wikipedia page.

5 comments:

Carol said...

Looking forward to your commentary on this, Betsy! Apparently the defense strategy,'creative' as it may have been, was not enough to overcome the strength of the evidence presented. Thanks for posting this.

Anonymous said...

Fascinating.....

If the fake R. had not been convicted of nabbing his own daughter he could still be free today, no? Please advise if this is your understanding as well.

Thanks!

-Wes J.

Sprocket said...

Wes,

That is my understanding. It wasn't until Gerhartsreiter's photo appeared on the news re: the kidnapping, that people in San Mario recognized him.

You have to understand, that the defendant went to great lengths "not" to be photographed!

Unknown said...

No one needed to see his face. California authorities already knew his real name. Gerhartsreiter was caught just as soon as the FBI ran the prints off of a wine glass left behind in Boston. As soon as cops were brought in for any reason, he was essentially busted... and Gerhartsreiter knew that, e.g., his home had to be full of his finger prints.

Sprocket said...

Thank you Allison.

I understand that authorities in California knew his real name, but the majority of his neighbors when he lived in San Marino didn't.