Murder - General & Miscellaneous, Crimes & Scandals, Evidence, Administration of Criminal Justice, True Crime - General & Miscellaneous, Murderers, Suspects & Victims - Biography
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Overview
Alan Dershowitz, one of the foremost legal thinkers of our time, explores a series of questions raised by the most watched criminal trial in American history. Through this brilliant, bold, and eye-opening account of the O.J. Simpson case, he exposes the realities of the criminal justice system of this country. Widely recognized as America's leading appellate attorney and by any measure a great lawyer. Dershowitz was the man chosen to prepare the appeal if Simpson had been convicted. Now Professor Dershowitz steps back from that role, not to defend the defense team, nor even to plead the case for his client's innocence. Instead, he uses the case to examine the larger issues and to identify the social forces - media, money, gender, and race - that shape the criminal justice system in America today.Stepping back from his role as a member of the O.J. Simpson defense team, Harvard Law School Professor Alan Dershowitz presents a bold, enlightening examination of all the meaning and impact of the Simpson trial--and reaches conclusions that will surprise both those who applauded and those who condemned the verdict. 8 pp. of photos. 240 pp. National ads & publicity. 25-city media tour. 75,000 print.
Editorials
Publishers Weekly -
Despite the hoopla surrounding the Simpson trial book deals, this is a solid piece of reflection and argument by Dershowitz (Reversal of Fortune), who was chosen to prepare the appeal had Simpson been convicted. Dershowitz believes that Simpson lawyer Robert Shapiro, not the flamboyant orator Johnnie Cochran, was the most crucial to the defense, because Shapiro hired top forensic experts to challenge the prosecution and insisted on a preliminary hearing (not a closed grand jury) to evaluate the prosecution's case. He also suggests that the verdict "is a wake-up call about police perjury"; some jurors might have concluded that the police tried to frame a murderer; the jury and the public saw very different pictures of Simpson's history of spouse abuse; Judge Ito's exclusion of most of the Fuhrman tapes would have highlighted on appeal. The media circus, Dershowitz warns, took place outside the courtroom; the issue is not cameras in the court but whether we should restrict media coverage of trials, as in Canada. While Dershowitz lapses into score-settling with his critics and sniping about Marcia Clark's hyperbole, he makes a strong case against conventional perceptions of the trial. Author tour. (Mar.)Book Details
Published
March 1, 1996
Publisher
Simon & Schuster Audio
Format
Audiobook
ISBN
9780671573003