World: The Tall, Cool Blonde

More than 14 hours before the verdict was to be announced, crowds began to gather outside Munich's Palace of Justice.

Wrapped in blankets to ward off the night chill, some of the throng dozed on field cots or in collapsible chairs. Bookmakers' odds on the outcome fluctuated. Early betting predicted a decision of guilty, but by the time the judges filed into the courtroom last week, the odds had inched to even money that Defendant Vera Brühne would be acquitted in West Germany's most spectacular murder case since glamorous Rosemarie Nitribitt, the rich man's call girl, was strangled with one of her...

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