Alex Kelly - The Preppy Rapist

[Kyle416]

Background: Alex Kelly grew up in affluent Darien, Connecticut. He was accused of a series of rapes in 1986. 2 girls came forward and Alex was arrested. Right before the trial he skipped town, hiding all over the world on his parents dime. Finally after almost a decade on the run, he was caught and brought back to the US to stand trial.


The UM segment: the segment focused on a discrepancy in the testimony about a lever in the car. The witness said he had one hand on her throat and used the other hand to flatten the backseat with a spring loaded lever. It was interesting in that UM had an actual juror from the trial show why he began to doubt his guilty verdict (The actual trial resulted in a hung jury, 4 to convict, 2 to acquit).

The segment took place after the hung jury trial, and before the second trial.

The update: at the second trial, Kelly was convicted. He also plead no contest to the 2nd rape charge and was sentenced to 16 years in jail, serving 10 before being released.

The UM segment was hurried, and focused on that single discrepancy more than anything else. It seemed more like a behind the scenes look at testing evidence than it was about the actual case.

What are your thoughts on the case? I've been reading Sheila Weller's "Saint of Circumstance" which of course has a ton of information, while also watching ABC's "Turning Point" segment . There was an American Justice episode on it too, but I haven't seen that since around when it originally aired.

Though it's not a typical UM segment, it is a quintessential 80's headline case with the theme of "preppy" or privileged dominating the headlines along with the "Preppy Killer" of central park also occuring in 1986.