The People v Hoskins [1995]
In May 1995 Robert Dewey Hoskins was arrested and charged with the following crimes:
1. Stalking and making a terrorist threat against entertainer Madonna Ciccone; 2. Making terrorist threats against Madonna’s bodyguard, Basil Stephens, and personal assistant, Caresse Henry; and 3. Assaulting Madonna’s bodyguard
In April 1995, Hoskins scaled a wall surrounding Madonna’s Los Angeles home, Castillo del Lago, and proceeded to the courtyard adjacent to the living quarters. Basil Stephens, Madonna’s bodyguard, observed him and scared Hoskins away. He returned the next day and was turned away by Caresse Henry, Madonna’s personal assistant, who was alone in the house. Hoskins, who was at the gated entrance to the house, grew enraged and threatened to kill both Madonna and Henry. He left a note for Madonna in her intercom call box at the gate. The note was written over a printed religious tract named “DEFILED”. The word “Madonna” was written above the word “defiled” and “Louise Ciccone” was written underneath.
The note read “I love you. Will you be my wife for keeps. Robert Dewey Hoskins.” The other side reads “I’m very sorry. Meet me somewhair (sic). Love for keeps. Robert Dewey Hoskins.” On that side of the page, contained in a handdrawn circle were the words, “be mind (sic) and I’ll be yours.” Beneath this was a religious passage which described how sinners who fornicate outside marriage should be killed and those who do not go around properly clothed should be punished.
Caresse, who knew that Hoskins had scaled the wall the night before and gained access to the property, called Madonna’s bodyguard who responded by returning to the house and confronting Hoskins. Hoskins threatened to kill the bodyguard if he did not give Madonna the note he had left. Hoskins told Stephens that if Madonna didn’t marry him that evening, he would “slice her throat from ear to ear.” Stephens chased Hoskins away, but as Hoskins walked down the road, passing Madonna as she pedalled up the road on her bike. Madonna testified that Hoskins stopped and gave her a look that “chilled” her, but then walked on, fortunately not recognizing her.
The threats were conveyed to Madonna when she arrived at the house a couple of minutes after Hoskins had left. The police were called but could not locate him. Madonna testified at trial that when she was shown Hoskins’ note, she “shivered.”
Hoskins returned to the house the following month and scaled the wall to try and gain entry to the property. When he was confronted by Stephens, Hoskins threatened to kill him. Hoskins lunged for the bodyguard’s holstered gun. A struggle ensued, and Stephens was able to regain control of the gun. Despite repeated orders to surrender, Hoskins lunged and was shot twice in the abdomen with a 45 caliber semi-automatic pistol. Madonna testified that she was still having nightmares about Hoskins eight months after these incidents occurred. She described that in one of these nightmares, she was sitting in her office at home and Hoskins came up the stairs and confronted her. She was paralyzed with fright and asked him “How did you get into my house?” Hoskins replied, “I’ve been hiding downstairs for quite a while and now seems like the time to come upstairs“. She also testified that she had other nightmares in which Hoskins was in her house, trying to kill her, and chasing after her.
Madonna was reluctant to go to court and testify. The detective in this case had to loiter outsider her home waiting for her to go jogging with her trainer. When she finally emerged from the house, the detective had to jog after her to personally serve her with a subpoena to be in court the next day. This was reported by the media, who had also staked out Madonna‘s house, hoping something would happen. The next day, as reporters surged around the courthouse, Madonna failed to appear in court despite the subpoena. Her lawyer went to court and argued that Madonna was not needed to testify at trial as she was not a material witness.
Madonna appeared in court, as ordered, and was called as the People’s first witness. Madonna was asked on the stand how she felt about being in court with Hoskins across from her. She replied, “Sick to my stomach… I feel incredibly disturbed that the man who has repeatedly threatened my life is sitting across from me and we have somehow made his fantasies come true (in that) I am sitting in front of him and that is what he wants“. The look on her face said it all as she glanced at Hoskins. Hoskins just sat at the counsel table, humming a song to himself.
The jury found Hoskins guilty of stalking, making terrorist threats, and assault on Madonna’s bodyguard. After the trial, several of the jurors were interviewed by the media. When asked whether she would have been afraid of Hoskins if she was in Madonna’s place, one female juror’s reply was, “Of course. Who wouldn’t be?”
Between the time of his conviction and the time of his sentencing, Hoskins filled his cell walls with graffiti that read, “I Love Madonna” and “Madonna Love Me” and underneath his bed he wrote “The Madonna Stalker“.
When a Sheriff’s Deputy confronted him about the graffiti, Hoskins said Madonna wrote it and that when he got out of jail, he was “going to slice the lying bitch’s throat from ear to ear.” At the sentencing hearing, the Sheriff’s Deputy was called as a witness to repeat Hoskins’ statement.
The judge sentenced Hoskins to the maximum term of 10 years in the state prison.