The View's Sunny Hostin Defends Herself Amid Backlash After Admitting She Was a 'Holdout Juror' in 1991 'Cannibal' Case
Sunny Hostin recently opened up about being a juror in Daniel Rakowitz's 1991 trial.
Sept. 29 2026, Published 5:32 p.m. ET
Sunny Hostin stands by her role as a holdout juror in Daniel Rakowitz's 1991 trial, RadarOnline.com can confirm.
Rakowitz murdered his roommate, 26-year-old Swiss dancer Monika Beerle, in New York City in 1989. He then dismembered her body, boiling parts of it on the stove. Rakowitz later admitted to feeding Beerle's remains to local homeless people.
Sunny Hostin Talks Lindsay Clancy
Sunny Hostin recently admitted to being a holdout juror in Daniel Rakowitz's 1991 trial.
He was found not guilty by reason of insanity and committed to a psychiatric facility.
Hostin confessed to being a holdout juror in the trial on The View last week during a discussion about Lindsay Clancy.
Clancy strangled her three children in 2023. She later pleaded not guilty to three counts of first-degree murder, with her team arguing that she was suffering from severe postpartum psychosis at the time of the killings.
A lone juror refused to acquit Clancy earlier this month, resulting in a mistrial.
Sunny Hostin Reflects on Daniel Rakowitz Case
Sunny Hostin believes Daniel Rakowitz was in psychosis when he murdered his roommate.
"The reason I felt so strongly about this holdout juror is that I was a holdout juror in the Daniel Rakowitz case," Hostin revealed at the time. "I don’t know if people remember it, the Butcher of Tompkins Square Park."
"Several jurors afterwards said, ‘One holdout juror was principally responsible for preventing them from returning a guilty verdict.’ That was me," she continued. "And it was because I saw clearly that he was psychotic; he was in psychosis. He did not mean to kill her, and once he killed her, he panicked."
Sunny Hostin Discusses Mental Illness
Sunny Hostin says her take on Daniel Rakowitz's case was informed by her understanding of mental illness.
The admission earned Hostin a great deal of backlash, which she addressed during a conversation with Brian Teta on Behind the Table.
According to her, her decision was informed by her understanding of mental illness and of the law.
“The person did it without intent because the person was mentally ill," she explained. "And this person that we found not criminally responsible by reason of insanity is because he had a lengthy psychiatric history, I’m talking they brought in like boxes of medical records. He had been sick for years."
Sunny Hostin Explains Insanity Defense
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According to Sunny Hostin, she developed an understanding of mental illness because people in her family suffer from it.
"So it was very clear to me that he suffered from mental illness," the personality continued. "And I should also say that one of the other reasons why I understood it was because I had people in my family that suffered from mental illness. And so I was particularly aware of that.”
"That’s the problem I think that people have with the insanity defense. They think that someone is let off," Hostin added, noting that Rakowitz remains institutionalized to this day.
