Editing Sid Vicious (section)

== Death of Nancy Spungen ==
[[File:ViciousMugshot.jpg|thumb|left|Vicious's mugshot from 9 December 1978]]
On the night of 11 October 1978, Vicious and Spungen hosted a party in their hotel room, during which Vicious took approximately 30 [[Tuinal]] tablets, and was comatose for the rest of the night while numerous people came and went. At about 11 a.m. the next day, hotel staff found Spungen dead on the bathroom floor, with a knife wound to her abdomen. Vicious was found wandering the hallway. He first claimed to have killed her, then said he remembered nothing. Two people who had been at the party stated that Spungen was alive at 5 a.m. The murder weapon was identified as a Jaguar K-11 hunting knife, which Spungen had purchased for Vicious a few days earlier.<ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{cite news |last=Bardach |first=Ann |url=http://www.philjens.plus.com/sid/sohonews.html#nancy |title=The Not So Lonesome Death of Nancy Spungen |work=[[SoHo Weekly News]] |date=28 October 1978 |access-date=4 March 2021}}</ref> Vicious was arrested and charged with second-degree murder.<ref>{{cite web |author=Time Waster |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/mugshots/celebrity/music/sid-vicious |title=Sid Vicious MUG SHOT |website=The Smoking Gun |date=20 June 2014 |access-date=25 July 2014}}</ref> He told police that he and Spungen had argued that night but gave conflicting versions of what happened next, saying, "I stabbed her, but I never meant to kill her" then saying that he did not remember anything, then that Spungen had fallen onto the knife.<ref>{{cite web |author=Time Waster |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/file/sid-confesse-cops |title=Copy of Statement by Police |website=The Smoking Gun |date=12 June 2014 |access-date=25 July 2014}} {{Dead link|date=February 2022}}</ref> The arresting officer, Sgt. Thomas Kilroy of the Third Homicide Unit, said: "... Vicious admitted killing Miss Spungen during a dispute."<ref name="auto3"/>

Lawyer Michael Berger first dealt with the matter, but McLaren and Anne Beverley were lawyer-shopping. They interviewed several high-profile lawyers, including [[Melvin Belli]], [[Gerald B. Lefcourt]] and [[William Kunstler]] before settling on [[F. Lee Bailey]]. Bailey never appeared in court, but another lawyer from his firm, Jim Merberg, arranged for Vicious to be released on $50,000 bail, with the conditions that he not leave New York and that he sign in daily at the Third Homicide Unit offices, and at the Lafayette Street Methadone Center. All legal costs were paid by the Sex Pistols' label, [[Virgin Records]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=Bardach |first1=Ann Louise |title=Another Break for Sid Vicious, Jan 1979 |url=https://www.bardachreports.com/another-break-for-sid |website=bardachreports.com |publisher=Bardach Reports |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> Vicious returned to the Chelsea Hotel, where he was joined by McLaren and his mother.

McLaren firmly believed that Vicious was innocent. Noting that the knife was left in plain view and that the couple kept their cash in a drawer, he believed that Spungen caught one of the party guests stealing money and was stabbed by that person.<ref name="MMc"/><ref name="auto6"/> Given the number of people who had been through the hotel room on the night of the murder, Bailey had his investigator look into the possibility that a third party was involved in Spungen's death.<ref name="The trial of Sid Vicious"/>

Bailey also hired forensic psychiatrist Dr. Stephen Teich to evaluate Vicious. After their initial conversation, during which Vicious was preoccupied by the 'working class in Berlin' and remained fixated on the television, Teich told Anne Beverley that Vicious must not be left alone. Hours later, Beverley called Teich and said that Vicious had slashed his arms with a smashed light bulb. Teich returned to the hotel and called an ambulance. EMS staff arrived with the police; when Vicious saw them, he headed for the window but was blocked by Teich. He was taken to [[Bellevue Hospital]] and then moved to the New York-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in [[White Plains, New York]].<ref>{{cite web |last1=White |first1=Timothy |title=Interview with Dr Steven Teich, 2014 |url=http://altcitizen.com/a-look-back-at-sid-vicious-with-a-doctor-who-stopped-him-from-jumping-out-a-window/ |website=altcitizen.com |publisher=Alt Citizen |access-date=3 February 2022}}</ref> He was released on 26 November and returned to the Chelsea. At this time, Rotten tried to contact Vicious, but his calls were barred by Beverley and McLaren.<ref name="auto3"/> On 28 November, Vicious was interviewed by the Irish journalist Bernard Clarke. He said that Spungen's death was "meant to happen" and that "Nancy always said she'd die before she was 21". He said that he just wanted to have fun. When asked where he would like to be, he replied, "Under the ground".<ref>{{cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2d2o6jKOzVg |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/2d2o6jKOzVg| archive-date=11 December 2021 |url-status=live |title = Video of Final Interview |via=YouTube |access-date=4 March 2021}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

In the meantime, McLaren announced that the Sex Pistols would reunite to record a Christmas album to benefit Vicious's defence, and sold T-shirts with the slogan, "She's Dead, I'm Alive, I'm Yours."<ref name="auto3"/><ref>{{Cite web |last=Vivienne |first=Westwood |title='She's Dead, I'm Alive, I'm Yours' T-shirt |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/185222 |access-date=4 August 2022 |website=metmuseum.org}}</ref>

===Theories about the killer===
In his 2007 book ''Pretty Vacant: A History of Punk'', director Phil Strongman stated his conviction that it was actor [[Rockets Redglare]] who killed Nancy Spungen, noting that Redglare not only knew about the large amounts of cash kept in the bedside table, but also brought the [[Tuinal]] to the party.<ref name="auto2"/> Redglare, who died in 2001, had publicly denied this but privately confessed it to friends.<ref name="auto2"/> However, [[Howie Pyro]] insisted that it was Redglare's habit to tell stories to gain attention.<ref>{{cite web |title=Sid and Nancy: a Punk Rock Murder Mystery |url=https://www.crimeandinvestigation.co.uk/article/sid-and-nancy-a-punk-rock-murder-mystery |website=crimeandinvestigation.co.uk |publisher=Crime+Investigation |access-date=4 February 2022}}</ref> Strongman also implicated Redglare's friend, punk rocker Neon Leon (some sources quote Leon's family name as Matthews.<ref name=maximum>[https://www.maximumrocknroll.com/band/neon-leon/ "Neon Leon", Maximum Rock n Roll]</ref><ref name=turnover>[https://www.recordturnover.com/2023/04/08/neon-leon/ "Neon Leon, Record Turnover, 8 April 2023]</ref><ref name=hozac>[https://hozacrecords.com/product/pre-order-neon-leon-1979-84-singles-archival-lp/ "Neon Leon 1979-84 Singles Archival LP", Hozac Records]</ref> Getty Images quotes his family name as Webster.<ref name=getty>[https://www.gettyimages.ca/detail/news-photo/portrait-of-musician-neon-leon-webster-in-his-room-at-the-news-photo/583900739 Getty Images source containing Leon's family name]</ref>) Leon lived down the hall from Vicious and Spungen and was found to be in possession of many of Vicious's belongings, including his leather jacket. Leon claimed that Vicious had given the items to him for safe-keeping. He later surrendered them to police. [[Lester Bangs]] also told ''[[The Village Voice]]'' that he telephoned Leon after Spungen's death and that Leon had told him he knew who the murderer was, but refused to name the person.<ref name="auto5"/> Leon has since claimed, in two memoirs,{{Citation needed|reason=What memoirs and by whom?|date=September 2023}} that he had already left the Chelsea Hotel when Bangs claimed to have called him there.