Case of a Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Story

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Author: Abbe Smith
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Category: Book

List Price: ~~$24.95~~
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Avg. Customer Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3 reviews
Sales Rank: 139769

Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 256
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1
Dimensions (in): 9.3 x 6 x 1

ISBN: 0230605281
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.7476202523
EAN: 9780230605282
ASIN: 0230605281

Publication Date: July 22, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New. 100% money back guarantee. All books shipped from Strand Bookstore, New York City, USA.

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description

A recent study estimates that thousands of innocent people are wrongfully imprisoned each year in the United States. Some are exonerated through DNA evidence, but many more languish in prison because their convictions were based on faulty eyewitness accounts and no DNA is available. Prominent criminal lawyer and law professor Abbe Smith weaves together real life cases to show what it is like to champion the rights of the accused. Smith describes the moral and ethical dilemmas of representing the guilty and the weighty burden of fighting for the innocent, including the victorious story of how she helped free a woman wrongly imprisoned for nearly three decades.

For fans of Law and Order and investigative news programs like 20/20, Case of a Lifetime is a chilling look at what really determines a person's innocence.

Customer Reviews:

5 out of 5 stars

two-thirds thru this very gripping book... September 22, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I really am enjoying reading this book, which is clear, compelling and poignant...and sheds light on a much-ignored fact about our court system, the numbers of innocent people who get convicted by dubious eye-witness testimony..

5 out of 5 stars

a moving story August 20, 2008
5 out of 6 found this review helpful

This is an incredible book which shows the real problems with the criminal justice system. The reviewer who criticizes Ms. Smith for believing in her client's innocence has clearly missed the point. Most criminal defense attorneys would find it much easier to defend a guilty client, and in fact some of the most skeptical people I have ever met are public defenders. The most important thing about this book is that Ms. Smith constantly reexamines her point of view and potential emotional conflicts, and is incredibly honest with the reader.

1 out of 5 stars

Truth is hard to accept August 1, 2008
6 out of 46 found this review helpful

Case of a Lifetime is the story, or fable, of a lawyer who develops deep feelings for a guilty client and because of those feelings she obsessed for more than 20 years trying to have her client exonerated. To the casual reader who is capable of using logic and reason, the subject of the book, Patsy Kelly Jarrett, comes across as likely guilty, despite her repeated claim of being innocent. To a reader with some direct insight into the murders and robberies that are part of this book, the subject, Patsy Kelly Jarrett, is definitely guilty.
The author went to great lengths to find people who would accept her version of the client's story and after 20 plus years, those people were still few and far between. What the author did not do was pursue people who would have information that contradicts the claims of innocence.
The author will use both sides of the "one witness" debate. She is against it when it contradicts her client's story, but she is in favor of it when it can be used to add credence to her client's fable. She can't have it both ways.
The book is a blend of fact and fiction. The facts the author detailing her efforts on behalf of the client. The fiction is the story that the client tells. Patsy Kelly Jarrett is a convicted murderer. That was affirmed at her trial and reaffirmed through the many appeals, clemency hearings, and parole hearings. Thankfully the American justice system worked.