JUSTICE IN THE AGE OF JUDGMENT

Attorney Bremner explores the role of the media in legal cases.

The author, a lawyer and legal commentator, centers her book on the 2008 Amanda Knox case. Bremner was part of the team of American lawyers who dealt with the case’s repercussions outside the Italian courtrooms where Knox was repeatedly tried for her roommate’s murder. The author alternates episodes from Knox’s story with other cases she has worked on or discussed as a commentator, including Michael Jackson’s child molestation trial, Scott Peterson’s murder conviction, the rape accusations leveled at members of the Duke University lacrosse team, and the O.J. Simpson murder trial, as well as several other lower-profile and historical cases. The book discusses the known facts of each case, assesses the courtroom performances of the prosecution and the defense, and looks at how media attention shaped the public’s perception of the defendants’ guilt. Editing out some of the book’s repetitions (noting that a bra clasp used to convict Knox was “kicked around,” using a Benjamin Franklin quote twice) would have improved the book’s pacing, but the author is a skilled storyteller, and readers will be left with no doubts about her ability to present a compelling argument to a jury (Bremner calls Knox’s case “a conviction based on kisses and cartwheels”). There are several interesting insights, particularly in Bremner’s evaluations of attorneys whose failure to prove a defendant’s legal guilt led to jury verdicts at odds with public opinion, as in the Casey Anthony murder case. While the book’s legal analysis is solid, the sociological and psychological context provided is often less robust, making it occasionally unclear how the system should best provide due process to all participants. The book’s more memoirlike aspects, like the author’s relationships with her clients and colleagues, and her process of learning how to become a successful media commentator, are frequently fascinating and bring a welcome personal perspective to the topic.

A thoughtful exploration of how cases are tried in public opinion as well as in court.