After Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau obtained a new witness, a second grand jury was convened and they indicted Goetz on the more serious charges. But Judge Stephen Crane dismissed the new indictments based on alleged errors in jury instructions and that he believed two of the victims had perjured themselves.
After the Court of Appeals reversed the dismissal, Goetz still had to stand trial before a jury — which acquitted him of all charges except criminal possession of a weapon in the third degree. By Andrea Reiher. Updated May 11, at am. Believing he was about to be mugged, he gunned down four black youths aboard a Manhattan subway train — then disappeared.
Here's a selection of Channel 7's early… TZ. Three days before Christmas in , five bullets were fired at four black teenagers on the No. The incident divided the city into people who supported the so-called "Subway Vigilante" and others who said the shooting was a racist act of… T On Dec.
Goetz alleged that the men had demanded money from him and intimidated him with threats. Following the shooting, Goetz fled the scene, but was praised by the press and media, who ultimately dubbed him the "subway vigilante. The '80s in New York was a period riddled with violence, largely fueled by the prevalence of crack cocaine. Residents lived in fear of crime and violence, feeling that the government wasn't doing enough to protect them, which was the perfect atmosphere for Goetz's vigilante actions to make him a hero rather than a villain.
As the trial developed, it came out that Goetz had been mugged before, in , and the mugging left him so traumatized, it led him to buying the firearm he used in the subway shooting. Goetz immediately got out of his seat and shot the four teens. In court, he famously admitted wanting to kill them all. If i had more bullets, I would have shot them all again and again. My problem was I ran out of bullets. Eight days after the shooting, Goetz finally turned himself into police.
The New York City that Goetz returned to was a different place than the one he'd left. New Yorkers, tired of the crime that had gripped their home, vaulted Goetz to hero status. Joan Rivers sent Goetz a telegram of "love and kisses" and said she would help out with his bail money.
T-shirts celebrating Goetz's actions sprang up everywhere. At least not at first. In the subsequent criminal trial in , a predominantly white jury in Manhattan acquitted Goetz of attempted murder, but he was found guilty of illegal firearms possession count, for which he served less than a year. Yet pressure to hold the shooter accountable for his actions landed Goetz back in court. This time, though, Goetz refused to stay on the sidelines.
I wanted to maim those guys. I wanted to make them suffer in every way I could…. If I had more bullets, I would have shot them all again and again.
My problem was I ran out of bullets. Following the conclusion of his first trial, he'd become much more vocal about the problems facing the city. He pushed for all civilians to arm themselves and told one reporter that Cabey's mother would have been better if she'd had an abortion. Goetz immediately declared bankruptcy. As he started to do before his second trial, Goetz embraced celebrity.
He appeared in a pair of small films, pushed for the legalization of marijuana, made a run for the mayor's office, made a variety of television and radio appearances and even opened a new store called Vigilante Electronics. In November , Goetz made headlines again after he was arrested on drug charges.
In , those charges were later dropped by a judge who said the prosecutors had taken too long to bring the case to trial. We strive for accuracy and fairness.
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