A Breitbart column by John Nolte published Wednesday argues that a contemporaneous news report contradicts a story told this week by The View co-host Sunny Hostin about serving as a holdout juror in a notorious 1989 New York City murder case.
During Tuesday’s episode of the ABC daytime program, Hostin said she was the sole juror who prevented a guilty verdict in the trial of Daniel Rakowitz, the man nicknamed the “Butcher of Tompkins Square Park” after the killing of his girlfriend, Monika Beerle.
According to Hostin, she held out against the other eleven jurors, ultimately leading to Rakowitz being found not guilty by reason of mental disease. She brought up the story while discussing the case of Lindsay Clancy, the Massachusetts mother who has admitted to killing her three children and whose defense has centered on an insanity claim.
“The insanity defense has been around in Massachusetts for 182 years, so I think it’s well established, and I thought absolutely that she [Lindsay Clancy] was not criminally responsible by reason of insanity,” Hostin said Tuesday, per Breitbart’s account. She then added: “The reason 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.”
Hostin said the experience came before she attended law school and referenced a New York Times article from the time. “It was before I went to law school,” she said. “I’m in the New York Times. Apparently, ‘several jurors questioned afterwards said one holdout juror was principally responsible for preventing them from returning a guilty verdict.’ That was me.”
What the 1991 Daily News Report Said
Breitbart points to a New York Daily News report from the period that, according to the column, identifies the lone holdout as an unemployed man who deliberately extended deliberations to keep collecting the $15-a-day juror stipend.
The same report also quotes a juror named Ascuncion Cummings — identified by Breitbart as Hostin’s birth name — as saying she believed Rakowitz was guilty.
“Yes, I believe he did it. I believe he butchered the body and almost committed the perfect crime. He knew what he was doing,” the Daily News quoted Cummings as saying, per Breitbart’s column.
The Breitbart piece characterizes that quote as evidence Hostin believed Rakowitz was culpable, which the column says conflicts with the story she told on The View. Breitbart also notes that The View is part of ABC News and that its hosts are typically presented as journalists.
The Underlying Rakowitz Case
Daniel Rakowitz was accused in the 1989 killing of Beerle, a Swiss dancer. The case drew intense tabloid attention in New York City, in part because of the gruesome details surrounding the death. Rakowitz was ultimately found not guilty by reason of insanity, a verdict Hostin says she was principally responsible for bringing about.
Breitbart’s column was written by John Nolte and carries the outlet’s characteristic editorial voice, describing Hostin’s account as a “tale” and framing the story as a case of a television host misrepresenting her own role in a decades-old trial.
What Neither Account Settles
Breitbart’s column asserts that the Daily News report contradicts Hostin but does not publish the full article or provide a link to the original piece. It also does not include a response from Hostin or representatives for The View or ABC News. As of the column’s publication, Hostin has not publicly commented on the Breitbart story.
The column ends with the author’s opinion that the host likely assumed the identity of the holdout juror was unknown and that any contradicting juror could be discredited. It states: “If Hostin’s lying, and I think she is, there will be no consequences.”
Because the original Daily News article has not been republished in full by Breitbart or independently verified by this outlet, the specific wording and context of the Cummings quote cited in the column could not be confirmed from the material available.
Source: www.breitbart.com — https://www.breitbart.com/the-media/2026/09/24/nolte-contemporaneous-news-report-contradicts-the-view-host-sunny-hostins-holdout-juror-tale/