Transcript for The Bobbitt story becomes a tabloid and mainstream media sensation: Part 7
?????? There was a revolution going on in media at the time. Cable news was coming on full bore and needed stories to cover. Welcome to CNN prime news. They found these stories which were often buried previously in your local tabloid paper. You had the Menendez brothers murder out in Los Angeles. Lyle and Eric Menendez. Amy fisher on Long Island. She was in court today accused of shooting her lover’s wife. I had no prior knowledge of the planned assault on Nancy Kerrigan. Culminating it all the O.J. Simpson murder trial mystery and television spectacle. If it doesn’t fit, you must acquit. In the early ’90s, main stream media began to realize that they had to start covering stories that were abhorrent to their newsroom ethics before that. The truth is, everybody was talking about it. I don’t think can ignore a story like that. On virtually every late night show, there were jokes about it. When Lorena cut off your penis, how did that make you feel? He was in “The Washington post,” something about him or the story, almost every day. So it was hugely popular. Reporter: Why do you think people were so fascinated by it? They — probably cause the way we looked back then. Two good looking young people that, you know, two — from two different worlds. I think women were kind of energized by it. It was somewhat shocking, the degree to which women were just almost enthralled. I knew that this case was going to be very significant. We had just been through Anita hill’s testimony less than two years before that. Are you a scorned woman? No. There had been that kind of watch word, that the men just didn’t get it. And very quickly after Lorena Bobbitt maimed her husband, the answer came back, well, do you get it now? The public kind of comes down very firmly on her side. He’s guilty, guilty, guilty. If he gets acquitted, how many more men are going to go out and rape women? A woman severs her husband’s penis after he allegedly rapes her. Hear from the doctor who reattached it on the next “Maury.” I got a very nice call from maury povich who invited me to his morning talk show. Everybody was trying to get both Lorena and John, and I wanted to do the story. That whole story is next. I’m skeptical. I think my audience is skeptical. Maybe I’m a cynic by nature, how does it work? I mean, really? They could do that good of a job that day can make it work? How would you describe it? A stump? Simply — barely a stump at this point. How do you do that? Especially when it was lying in a field in front of a 7-eleven. The p-word, still at that point in the American culture was not a mentionable item. So what you’re saying is if this is the, what do you call it? The penis. No, I know that. I guarantee you that we had to check with our legal department at the time. Okay, what can we say and what — can we say privates? Do we say member? Can we say penis? And apparently we could. I had just started working for “Vanity fair.” I was assigned to go and get what was, at the time, the first and only interview with Lorena Bobbitt. We went out to dinner. Lorena ordered steak. And she was having trouble gutting the steak. She asked the waiter, can I have a sharper knife? If this guy knew who she was, he would have dined out on that for the rest of his days. Lorena’s team kind of went on the offensive. She did a “20/20” interview. I believe it was in September. About a month before John’s trial. I just remember his voice saying that, I will follow you, no matter where you are. She told her story in a very compelling way. She was somebody who made you want to reach out and help take care of her. And I can have any kind of sex he wanted with me. Lord. A different story every time you talk to her. Were those tears real? I think they were real. Maybe cause she didn’t want to do that to me. Maybe she wants to take it back. That’s why she’s crying. She attacked me and shouldn’t have. Now she regrets it. People said to me, you’ve got to answer this. I said, no. I wanted the jury to hear John’s case for the first time. I’m not going to try this in the press. What was so unusual here is that they both end up in the legal crosshairs, both charged with crimes. And both facing trials. John Bobbitt arrived surrounded by attorneys. November of 1993, John goes on trial and the charge is marital sexual assault. For many women, the case of John Bobbitt draws attention to what they see as the weakness of the laws against marital rape. At thereat time, things were just changing. In a lot of places, marriage was sacrosanct. And prosecutors let what happens inside a marriage stay inside a marriage. The judge said she was driven to it. She came across a sympathetic figure. She couldn’t overcome what she had done. Taking the law into her own hands. There is no indication whatsoever that John raped her that night. There were two rape kits conducted on Lorena at the hospital. No indication that she had had any forces inflicted upon her. You don’t have physical evidence, which, in this case, you wouldn’t, she had acknowledged, there had been consensual sexual relations in recent days. Then what do you have? Two people’s words. Did you think the jury wouldn’t believe you? I was innocent. I didn’t know why I was there. I said, but John, you could be going to jail. He said, they’re going to do the right thing. They heard the case. They heard the truth. In manassas, Virginia, a man was acquitted today. It took the jury only four hours to find John Bobbitt not guilty. I’m thankful for the jury. They believed me. I just want to get on with my life. I have a lot of healing to do. The jury got the idea that he — had been punished by having his penis cut off. I think all of us feel he suffered some punishment at the hands of his victim. The rest of the case remains to be told. Now Bobbitt’s wife, Lorena, must face another jury. As a criminal defendant herself. She’s very frightened. Because she says, “Well, if they’ve acquitted him, then they’re sure gonna put all the blame on me. And I’m the one that’s gonna be punished.” So John’s trial, there was no camera in that courtroom because it was a sexual assault case. Lorena Bobbitt came the trial, there was going to be a camera.
This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.
