The author’s determination to complete a case that at times drove him to despair and brought him to the edge of bankruptcy...
A celebrated criminal lawyer's tell-all memoir about the tumultuous years he spent defending supposed Florida "baby killer" Casey Anthony.
Anthony hired Baez in 2008 to defend her against allegations of child neglect of her daughter, Caylee. At the time, Baez, assisted in this memoir by Golenbock (Glory in the Fall: The Greatest Moments in World Series History, 2010, etc.), was just a "rookie lawyer" who had only been admitted to the Florida bar in 2005. What seemed like "just another case" quickly emerged as a possible murder trial. Complicating matters was the fact that investigators caught Anthony telling elaborate, and ultimately untrue, stories about her life that made references to a host of imaginary friends and acquaintances. Consequently, on the basis of unsubstantiated evidence Baez believes Orlando police leaked to the media, the legal system sought to convict the young mother “in the court of public opinion.” Using her apparent untrustworthiness as its point of departure, the prosecution proceeded to build a case against Anthony based on appearances rather than truth. It claimed that Anthony had done nothing but party for a month before finally admitting that her daughter was missing; that the smell inside Casey's car came from human remains rather than the decaying pizza remnants actually found in the vehicle; and that hair discovered in the trunk came from Caylee's dead body. Sensing that the case was not as simple as the prosecution had made it seem, Baez slowly gained Anthony's trust and pursued hunches that she was not only innocent, but also the victim of sexual abuse.
The author’s determination to complete a case that at times drove him to despair and brought him to the edge of bankruptcy is admirable, but the meticulous detail occasionally verges on excruciating.Pub Date: July 3, 2012
ISBN: 978-193785638-0
Page Count: 423
Publisher: BenBella
Review Posted Online: Aug. 22, 2012
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 2012
Overly detailed characterizations encumber an otherwise tension-filled tale of crime and punishment.
A murder investigation becomes a large-scale assault on drug gangs in this painstaking first book by New York City journalist Stone.
When a college boy from Tarrytown, New York, was inexplicably shot to death on Manhattan's West Side Highway in 1991, no one believed the murder would be solved. The first tip came six months into the investigation, after detectives Garry Dugan and Mark Tebbens traced several multiple homicides to the "Wild Cowboys"—a lawless Dominican gang from Washington Heights. Selling drugs and guns for profits as high as $30,000 a week, they had turned their neighborhood into a war zone. They bullied children into delivering contraband and killed anyone who got in their way—even those who just happened across their path. The ensuing investigation, one of the largest in New York's history, inspired the formation of the elite Homicide Investigation Unit, headed by Walter Arsenault. This team of prosecutors and detectives shared a passion for justice, yet it succumbed to personality clashes that further complicated an already difficult job. The strained team dynamic during this crucial case raises the stakes in an escalating story of how nine gang members are finally prosecuted for conspiracy via an unprecedented cooperation of DAs from Manhattan, Brooklyn, and the Bronx. Making arrests was a dangerous task, as was the job of keeping timid witnesses from recanting. Yet piecing together effective testimony through a web of tenuous deals, pleadings, and promises could mean solving 37 homicides—including that of the Tarrytown boy. It would also clear the Cowboys from the streets and send a powerful message to other gangs who believed they could get away with murder.
Overly detailed characterizations encumber an otherwise tension-filled tale of crime and punishment.Pub Date: Sept. 19, 2000
ISBN: 0-385-48972-2
Page Count: 336
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: July 15, 2000
Fans of true crime may be satisfied by this jumbo assortment of cases, but those interested in the development of forensic...
A hodgepodge of 32 brief accounts of murder trials that purports to represent milestones in the history of forensic science—presented, however, in an order that has no discernible rhyme or reason.
British journalist Wilkes has culled his selections primarily from accounts by true-crime writers in Great Britain and (with three exceptions) has limited himself to 20th-century crimes. Presented first is the most recent case, a 1985 trial in which forensic evidence did not provide conclusive proof of the murderer’s identity—chosen perhaps to show that science has a way to go in its battle with crime. A 1752 case is cited as the first on record in which scientific proof of poisoning was presented at a murder trial. Other cases illustrate the first use of fingerprinting in a murder trial (1905), the first forensic analysis of ink (1907), and the first use of an Identikit to construct a picture of a suspect’s face (1961). Several cases feature identification of dentures, dental work, or tooth marks, and reconstruction of mutilated bodies and severed heads. Especially fascinating is a 1964 case, written by the government pathologist involved, in which his expert testimony about the life cycle of bluebottle maggots established the time of death and destroyed the murderer’s alibi. Two murder cases involve mass screenings: the 1948 fingerprinting of the entire male population of Blackburn, England, foreshadowed the 1987 collection of DNA samples from all young males in three English villages in Leicestershire. Inexplicably, Wilkes places the DNA case early in his collection and the fingerprinting case near the end.
Fans of true crime may be satisfied by this jumbo assortment of cases, but those interested in the development of forensic science will find it a frustrating jumble of anecdotes.Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2000
ISBN: 0-7867-0789-0
Page Count: 542
Publisher: N/A
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 15, 2000
© Copyright 2025 Kirkus Media LLC. All Rights Reserved.
Follow
Popular in this Genre
We can’t wait for you to join Kirkus!
It’s free and takes less than 10 seconds!
Already have an account? Log in.
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
Welcome Back!
OR
Sign in with GoogleTrouble signing in? Retrieve credentials.
