ABC’s Sunny Hostin made headlines and set the internet ablaze earlier this week when she made the claim that she was the holdout juror in the murder trial against Daniel Rakowitz, aka The Butcher of Tompkins Square Park, and convinced her fellow jurors to find him not guilty by reason of insanity. The View co-host was quickly accused of lying as some conflicting contemporary reports from New York City newspapers pointed to a male juror as the holdout. NewsBusters has investigated and has found the truth.
On Tuesday, while discussing the witch-hunt against the holdout juror in the Lindsay Clancy case, Hostin informed her fellow cast members that she was a holdout juror in the high profile murder trial:
HOSTIN: I feel so strongly about this holdout juror is because I was a holdout juror in a case, in the Daniel Rakowitz case. I don’t know if people remember it, The Butcher of Tompkins Square Park. It was in 199-
BEHAR: The guy who ate the victims?
HOSTIN: Yes!
Sunny Hostin brags about being a holdout juror that prevented The Butcher of Thompson Square Park from going to prison.
She admits "once he killed her, he chopped up her body parts, yes, boiled her body parts ... and fed her body parts to the unhoused." pic.twitter.com/sLbElgLuGt— Nicholas Fondacaro (@NickFondacaro) September 22, 2026
Hostin cited this contemporaneous New York Times report (February 23, 1991), which quoted her:
Several jurors questioned afterward said one holdout juror was principally responsible for preventing them from returning a guilty verdict.
"We don't think he intended to kill her," said a juror, Asuncion Cummings. "But once he did, he dismembered her body in an effort to commit the perfect crime."
“Asunción” is her real first name and “Cummings” is her maiden name. “Sunny” is a nickname name and “Hostin” is from her husband.
Numerous online sleuths dug up a contradictory New York Daily News article (February 23, 1991) that pointed to a male being the holdout juror:
Juror Valerie Holmes said the holdout juror wanted to collect his $15 a day and was “very determined, very manipulative and he didn’t mind how long he stayed there.”
Holmes said Rakowitz “was sane enough to get rid of the evidence. The horror - the chopping - was insane.
Said juror Asuncion Cummings, “Yes, we believe he did it. I believe he butchered the body and almost committed the perfect crime. He know what he was doing.”
Forewoman Lois Markle said, “After days and days of heated debate, we reached a very, vary hard decision. I’m not sure it’s correct.”
A search of newspaper archives via Lexis Nexis turned up an Associated Press article (February 23, 1991) that seemed to corroborate the Daily News:
The jury had deliberated for nine days. Outside the courtroom, several jurors said they believed Rakowitz was guilty on the second count but that one holdout juror finally won a battle of wills.
"From day one, this particular person was determined that the jury was going to find Rakowitz not guilty by reason of mental disease," said jury forewoman Lois Markle, 26.
Another juror, Valerie Holmes, said the holdout was an unemployed man who wanted to tie up the jury so he could continue collecting his $$15 [sic] a day juror fee. Markle said the man was "very determined, very manipulative, and he didn't mind how long he stayed here."
However, that same Lexis Nexis search turned up a Newsday (February 23, 1991) article that reported there was not one, but two holdout jurors:
Outside the courtroom at State Supreme Court in lower Manhattan, jurors said that at the end of deliberations, 10 members of the panel wanted to convict Rakowitz of murder, but two others insisted he was mentally ill and should not be held responsible for Beerle's death.
They said the 10 decided to defer to the two holdouts to avoid a hung jury.
Moreover, the Newsday article named Hostin as one of the two
The jurors said that one of the two panel members seeking the insanity acquittal wanted the deliberations to drag on for days. "He was unemployed and liked the $ 15 a day and the three free meals. He liked that we were arguing on and on," said juror Valerie Holmes, a 35-year-old clerk.
"We had to compromise," said Asuncion Cummings, a 22-year-old paralegal. "But it is obvious to me he butchered the body and he literally got away with murder. He attempted to commit the perfect crime."
It’s understandable why people would immediately think Hostin was lying; it’s The View we’re talking about. Hostin once lied about how Congressman Jim Jordan (R-OH) supposedly “terrorized me” in a congressional hearing. A NewsBusters investigation of the hearing footage showed that Jordan never addressed her.
Asuncion has cried wolf too many times.
