Rating: 
Summary: You can bet the negative comments are from Jagel's office
Review: The book is good, the book is true, Patrick Dunn is most likely innocent. Before all of this happened, he had stood up against Jagel's office, it is told. It should be interesting to the readers that since the release of this book, Patrick Dunn's son was arrested and died in our Kern County jail. They state they had to beat him because he was combative. Well, he's not here to speak for himself. Coincidence, I think not. Jagels is on a journey to make this book look bad to clear his own name, but count on the fact that every negative comment about this book is most likely from Mr. Jagel's office. Another important fact of an event in Kern County. One of Jagel's own Deputy D.A's had an affair with Ed Jagel's ex-wife. Next thing he knew, he is arrested and then sitting in jail, accused of a crime. Got convicted even, but I believe reduced to a misdemeanor. He is still able to practice law, but had to move out of Bakersfield because his name was so tarnished. Please try and deny any of this Ed Jagels. Oh, there are so many more stories, that there could be plenty more books written. The book that Jagel's is supposed to be writing to refute Mr. Humes......don't hold your breath. I don't believe we will ever see it. Read the book, stand up for this misuse of power or you might be his next victim. I hope the Deputy DA's are especially careful since it has been proven that they are not immune to his vengeance. They can probably count on the fact that they will be his target sooner or later. Even if you are just driving through our town, please be careful. Get the book because you will be sitting on the edge of your seat reading this powerful true story. And I don't even know Ed Humes, but the stories I could tell him. Please, don't comment negatively about this book before you have had any dealings with Jagels. The criminals he convicts...great. The innocent people's lives he has changed forever and nearly destroyed and sometimes completely destroyed.....this is the reason to read this book. We just want him to do the right thing and not use his office to get vengeance.
Rating: 
Summary: Dreadful
Review: The only good thing about this book is the author's prose style which flows very smoothly. However, the book itself is an awkward pastiche: one particular murder case (and not a very interesting one), an account of the child abuse hysteria which swept the US in the mid-1980's and resulted in a lot of wrongful convictions, accounts of alleged miscarriages of justice from all over the US, and a partisan history of one prosecutor's office. It just doesn't hang together. I agree with the author on some of his points (esp. the harm done by the child abuse witch hunts), but he just doesn't get it. There's no such thing as a perfect trial; after the fact you can always pick a hole here and a hole there, and if you believe all the evidence on one side (defense or prosecution; doesn't matter) and are skeptical about all the evidence on the other side, you can make side #2 look foolish. The author also muddles things: There are a lot of statements like "100 convictions were overturned because of either prosecutorial misconduct OR later evidence proved the accused innocent" which on the next page becomes "100 innocent people". Author does not realize that often the guilty do go free because of honest mistakes of prosecutors. Also he faults a very, very large prosecutor's office if one investigator over here learns something and one prosecutor over there doesn't know it all and disclose it the same day. A muddled book, unpersuasive on the points it tries to make. (And, no, I have never been a prosecutor or worked in law enforcement -- on the contrary, I have represented a lot of criminal defendants). Overall a most disappointing book -- even the murder case is a pretty uninteresting one. Any of Ann Rule's works beat this one cold.
Rating: 
Summary: Humes an advocate as much as a journalist
Review: There are early parts of this book that can seem comically one-sided. By the end, the reader is persuaded by the overwhelming evidence that Dunn cannot possibly be guilty. But in the opening pages, Dunn's behavior is so bizarre, so eccentric, so plain weird, that it seems perfectly understandable that the police consider him a suspect. And when Humes tries to explain away Dunn's behavior as ordinary and natural, it diminishes his credibility throughout the rest of the book.
However, I'm a great admirer of Humes. His writing is amazing and his books are smart and readable. Like 'Mississippi Mud,' this one cries for an update. Check his Web site if you want to read more.
This is also a good jumping-off point for reading further about some of the shameful Bakersfield scandals of the '80s and '90s.
Rating:
Summary: A Page Turning Expose
Review: This book had me on the edge of my seat. Well-researched, fast-paced and fascinating, it's no wonder Mean Justice was just named a finalist for an Edgar Allen Poe Award. First, it is an incredible-but-true murder mystery, involving the case of one wrongfully convicted man -- a respected high-school principal falsely accused of murdering his wife over money. The case was laughable, the witnesses for the prosecution bought and paid for, yet this law-and-order community pronounced Pat Dunn guilty, then threw away the key. For good measure, they then arrested his son on a misdemeanor and put him in the local jail -- where he died at the hands of deputies. The same agencies that convicted the father then exonerated themselves in the death of his son -- they actually blamed the victim for his broken ribs and lacerated liver! The evocative, novel-like prose of this book really draws you in -- but the strength of Mean Justice is that it uses one riveting case to expose the larger issue of abuses by prosecutors that have sent innocents to prison with shocking frequency throughout the nation. By focusing on how justice has gone awry in a single community, Humes presents a chilling portrait of how we all suffer when well-meant policies are twisted and misused by arrogant, self-righteous law-enforcement officials imbued with unchecked power (anyone remember Kenneth Starr?) The prosecutor criticized in Mean Justice, by the way, spent five months and thousands of dollars in taxpayer funds to publish a supposed rebuttal, which appears to be little more than propaganda disguised as fact. The voters in that community should be outraged.
Rating:
Summary: Great Research = Sensational Reading
Review: This book is an incredible read -- and an incredible reporting job, with important observations about our justice system and the dangerous tradeoffs we sometimes make between liberty and public safety. I just couldn't put it down, though I often wished it WAS fiction instead of fact. Unfortunately, I know every word is true, notwithstanding the fervent desires of some residents of Bakersfield to turn a blind eye to the injustice in their midst. I have read with dismay news coverage of cases of injustice in Bakersfield for many years, but have never seen the story told so compellingly and personally as it is told in Mean Justice. I also heard about a laughable rebuttal that the DA depicted in Mean Justice has promised for months. Given the errors and distortions emanating from his childishly defensive office and other officials in this community, who are so arrogant that the believe they are incapable of error, I am certain this response will be worth less than the paper its printed on. Read this well-reported, well-documented book -- even the footnotes are fascinating -- and judge for yourself whether our nation's justice system is going where want it to go!
Rating: 
Summary: liar,liar
Review: This book really hits home as I have had my share of dealings with District Attorney Ed Jagels. Although I am skeptical about the innocence of Mr. Dunn, Jagels lack of integrity and history of dishonesty makes one wonder who is running the asylum. The voluminous rebuttal that had to cost taxpayers a bundle of money shows the depths of his insecurity in the matter. The most interesting part of the book was the reference to power brokers in Bakersfield. The rumors about this have been around for years, and some of the lore has proven to be true. I'd like to see Humes check into that aspect more closely.
Rating:
Summary: I can only second an earlier review: "Read it and weep".
Review: This book will disabuse anyone of the notion that our justice system dispenses justice. While on one hand the plot lines are compelling, the facts are so upsetting and shocking ,they are hard to take in large doses. I had to put it down frequently, but keep with it, it is worth it. Although not directly involved with the death penalty, the breadth and depth of the prosecutorial misconduct illustrated begs thought on the subject. The behavior of prosecutors of this ilk present a most compelling and irrefutable argument against the death penalty. Put quite simply, the decision of who should live and who should die can not be left to to the whim of one person, and especially not cheaters, liars and those with neither honor nor conscience. I challenge anyone who believes in the death penalty to hold that view after reading this book. To Mr. Hume: Well done and thank you.
Rating:
Summary: Good story, but not a good book
Review: This could have been a good book if the private investigator (Laura Lawhon?) had written it. I found it to be very repetitive. I also did not care to read about all the other cases. I wish it would have had pictures (most true crime books do)--it makes it more interesting to see who I'm reading about.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent! The Powers that Be are a shakin'!
Review: This exciting and literate look at wrongful convictions and prosecutors' misdeeds in California has officials there launching an all-out attack on the author. Hmmm. Guess he must be on to something, or the powers that be wouldn't be getting so nervous. The best part of this book is the way it weaves a single murder mystery into a much larger subject, which is the danger that our wonderful war on crime may be sending too many innocent people to jail along with the real criminals. It seems some prosecutors are more interested in winning than in seeking the truth, but because they have all the power, no one is doing anything about it.
Rating:
Summary: Compelling read
Review: This is a teriffic description of a legal system gone completely haywire, a real eye-opener for those of us still naively believing "justice" prevails in the criminal justice system. Interpretations twisted and presented as "facts", building cases around informers known by prosecutors to be chronic liars, and deliberately withholding exculpatory evidence were standard operating procedure in Kern County, California. Many lives were ruined by the tactics of the D.A.'s office, supported by a conservative public eager to convict at almost any cost and a compliant judiciary. This is the story of one person, Pat Dunn, trapped and victimized by this system. Edward Humes does a masterful job recounting his "crime", subsequent trial, and link to many other similar persecutions (a more appropriate term than prosecutions) in the county. Though a bit preachy at times, Humes exposes the unethical/illegal investigation and trial strategies as well as the human dimensions of their victims. Readers beware: This may be an upsetting book for many. You will likely ask yourself, as I did many times, "How can this happen in America?" Indeed, the legal system in Kern County, California bears more resemblance to Nazi Germany than the Constitution used by the rest of the country.
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