Claudine Longet: singer’s rise shadowed by a 1976 fatal shooting
Claudine Longet, the French singer, died at 84; in 1976 she shot her Olympic skier boyfriend Vladimir 'Spider' Sabich in their Aspen home and claimed the gun went off accidentally. A jury convicted her of negligent homicide, handing down two years’ probation, a $250 fine and 30 days in jail served at her choosing; the case ended her entertainment career and drew worldwide attention, spawning pop-culture jibes from SNL and a Rolling Stones song. Sabich’s family sued for $1.3 million, and Longet later married her defense attorney as she faded from the public eye.
