State V Justice

Rating:
Summary: How a prosecutor looks at the world
Review: As a free citizen of the United States, who is somewhat familiar with the criminal justice system, I found this book to be a true insight into the thought(?) processes of a prosecutor. The author makes no pretense of being a neutral observer & chronicler, he is a prosecutor. He is morally outraged that a defense attorney will want all discovery, even exculpatory material (gasp!). He bemoans how the defense investigator goes out and actually takes statements from witnesses! Yet the "hero" in this sad little story has no problem having his people coerce witnesses, hide their investigation results, or in trying to bully a grand jury to indict on crimes without a single shred of evidence. The whole concept made me nauseous. The story is also implausible (Fortunately real cops have a clue & wouldn't arrest somebody for no other reason than revenge for beating an earlier charge, which appears to be the hero's motivation). A boy is found murdered, and because a suspected child molester (not convicted in Kansas due to prosecutorial misconduct) is in the area, he is arrested, and subsequently prosecuted by the hero, despite the fact that there is no evidence tieing him to the crime. The author feels that because the "bad guy" got off last time (the suspect's & the court's fault..not the prosecutor who violated the law) the hero has carte blanche to do whatever it takes to get him this time. And what's with these weird "G" names, does Gallatin feel that good guys begin with "G"? The story was okay. The writing style was probably better than average. But the bias reeking from the author made reading this book a sickening experience. We can take some comfort in that at least this guy is not prosecuting while he's writing this tripe. Gee, with the viewpoint this guy demonstrates (the author), he's bound to be headed for a career in politics. Hypocritical, holier-than-thou types always feel like they are the ones to decide how the rest of us live. Don't buy any of this guy's books. Don't encourage him.