Alice Crimmins Trials: 1968 & 1971

The second surprise witness was housewife Sophie Earominski, whom police had discovered to be the author of an anonymous letter offering information. From her third-floor window, Earominski claimed to have seen a woman outside at 2:00 A.M., about the time Rorech supposedly phoned the Crimmins apartment. The woman carried a bundle of blankets and was walking with a man and a little boy. The man tried to hurry the woman, who had a dog on a leash. Earominski said the woman replied that the dog was pregnant and protested when the man threw the bundle into the back of a car. "Does she know the difference now?" the man said.

"Don't say that," said the woman, whom Earominski identified as Alice Crimmins. "There was agony in her voice. She was nervous, she sounded frightened." Earominski said the man snapped, "Now you're sorry!"

Alice Crimmins screamed in the courtroom, "You liar!"

The defense portrayed Earominski as a pathetic individual with an overactive imagination who enjoyed the celebrity of being a witness, adding that no one knew the Crimmins dog was pregnant until well after the killings.

Alice Crimmins' cold attitude broke when she was questioned about her children. She sobbed uncontrollably on the stand. The next day she returned to face prosecutor Anthony Lombardino. As Lombardino sarcastically questioned her about the whereabouts of her children during her numerous affairs, Crimmins' anger flared. The histrionics of the lawyers were so loud that a juror twice told Judge Farrell that the proceedings were inaudible because of the shouting. Noise from spectators was no less distracting. When Judge Farrell finally instructed the jury, he warned them, "We are not trying here a case involving sex morals. We are trying a homicide case."

On May 27, an all-male jury found Alice Crimmins guilty. As Judge Farrell prepared to sentence her, Crimmins turned her wrath on the district attorneys. "You want to close your books! You don't give a damn who killed my children!"