Download or read book Real Justice Young Innocent and In Prison written by Jeff Mitchell and published by Lorimer. This book was released on 2012-03-14 with total page 134 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At twenty-five, Rob Baltovich lost the love of his life, Elizabeth Bain. That was bad enough. Then he was arrested, jailed, sent to trial for murder, convicted, and sent to prison -- for life. Throughout his years in prison, Rob maintained that he was innocent, refusing to admit to a crime he didn't commit. The result was he was never granted parole. Finally, his luck began to turn when he hired new lawyers who believed in him. Not only did they get Rob acquitted, they also made a strong case that the real murderer was the infamous serial killer Paul Bernardo. Author Jeff Mitchell tells much of the story in Baltovich's own words. In this book, young readers will discover how tthis tragic miscarriage of justice happened -- and how the legal system can right its own wrongs when lawyers and judges are willing to re-examine a case with fresh eyes. [Fry reading level - 5.0

Download or read book Real Justice Young Innocent and In Prison written by Jeff Mitchell and published by James Lorimer & Company. This book was released on 2012-03-14 with total page 135 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At twenty-five, Rob Baltovich lost the love of his life, Elizabeth Bain. That was bad enough. Then he was arrested, jailed, sent to trial for murder, convicted, and sent to prison -- for life. Throughout his years in prison, Rob maintained that he was innocent, refusing to admit to a crime he didn't commit. The result was he was never granted parole. Finally, his luck began to turn when he hired new lawyers who believed in him. Not only did they get Rob acquitted, they also made a strong case that the real murderer was the infamous serial killer Paul Bernardo. Author Jeff Mitchell tells much of the story in Baltovich's own words. In this book, young readers will discover how tthis tragic miscarriage of justice happened -- and how the legal system can right its own wrongs when lawyers and judges are willing to re-examine a case with fresh eyes. [Fry reading level - 5.0

Download or read book Real Justice Fourteen and Sentenced to Death written by Bill Swan and published by Lorimer. This book was released on 2012-03-14 with total page 156 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At fourteen, Steve Truscott was a typical teenager in rural Ontario in the fifties, mainly concerned about going fishing, playing football, and racing bikes with his friends. One summer evening, his twelve-year-old classmate, Lynne Harper, asked for a lift to the nearby highway on his bicycle and Steve agreed. Unfortunately, that made Steve the last person known to see Lynne alive. His world collapsed around him when he was arrested and then convicted of killing Lynne Harper. The penalty at the time was death by hanging. Although the sentence was changed to life in prison, Steve suffered for years behind bars for a murder he didn't commit. When his case gained national attention, the Supreme Court of Canada reviewed the evidence -- and confirmed his conviction. It took over forty years and a determination to prove his innocence for him to finally clear his name. He has since received an apology and compensation for his ordeal. In this book, young readers will discover how an innocent boy was presumed guilty by the justice system, and how in the end, that same justice system, prodded by Truscott and his lawyers, was able to acknowledge the terrible wrong done to him. [Fry reading level - 4.8

Download or read book Real Justice Sentenced to Life at Seventeen written by Cynthia J. Faryon and published by Lorimer. This book was released on 2012-09-12 with total page 118 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: David Milgaard was a troubled kid, and he got into lots of trouble. Unfortunately, that made it easy for the Saskatoon police to brand him as a murderer. At seventeen, David Milgaard was arrested, jailed, and convicted for the rape and murder of a young nursing assistant, Gail Miller. He was sent to adult prison for life. Throughout his twenty-three years in prison, David maintained that he was innocent and refused to admit to the crime, even though it meant he was never granted parole. Finally, through the incredible determination of his mother and new lawyers who believed in him, David was released and proven not guilty. Astonishingly, in hindsight the real murderer was obvious from the start. This is the true story of how bad decisions, tunnel vision, poor representation, and outright lying and coercion by those within the justice system caused a tragic miscarriage of justice. It also shows that wrongs can be righted and amends made. [Fry Reading Level - 4.3

Download or read book Actual Innocence written by Jim Dwyer and published by Doubleday Books. This book was released on 2000 with total page 314 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Ten true tales of people falsely accused detail the flaws in the criminal justice system that landed these people in prison

Download or read book Real Justice A Police Mr Big Sting Goes Wrong written by Richard Brignall and published by James Lorimer & Company. This book was released on 2015-02-07 with total page 138 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: On the night of June 23, 1990, teenage friends Kyle Unger and John Beckett made a last-minute decision to attend a music festival near Roseisle, Manitoba. They were loners, not the popular kids at school. But on this night they seemed to finally fit in. They had fun, played games, drank, and hung around bonfires with other people. The next morning, a sixteen-year-old girl was dead. By the next week, Kyle was charged with her murder. Due to insufficient evidence he was let go, but the Mounties were convinced he was the killer. They laid a trap, called the Mr. Big operation, for Kyle. With offers of money, friends, and a new criminal lifestyle, the RCMP got Kyle to confess to the murder. But the confession was false -- he had not been the killer. He was convicted and sent to prison. For the next twenty years Kyle fought for his freedom. He was finally acquitted in 2009. This book tells the story of an impressionable but innocent teenager who was wrongfully convicted based on the controversial Mr. Big police tactic. [Fry reading level - 4.9

Download or read book Real Justice Guilty of Being Weird written by Cynthia J. Faryon and published by Lorimer. This book was released on 2012-09-12 with total page 148 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: At twenty-four, Guy Paul Morin was considered a bit strange. He still lived at home, drove his parents' car, kept bees in the backyard, and grew flowers to encourage the hives. He played the saxophone and clarinet in three bands and loved the swing music of the 1940s. In the small Ontario town where he lived, this meant Guy Paul stood out. So when the nine-year-old girl next door went missing, the police were convinced that Morin was responsible for the little girls murder. Over the course of eight years, police manipulated witnesses and tampered with evidence to target and convict an innocent man. It took ten years and the just-developed science of DNA testing to finally clear his name. This book tells his story, showing how the justice system not only failed to help an innocent young man, but conspired to convict him. It also shows how a determined group of people dug up the evidence and forced the judicial system to give him the justice he deserved. [Fry Reading Level - 5.0

Download or read book A Promise of Justice written by David Protess and published by Hyperion Books. This book was released on 1998-08-03 with total page 280 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The dramatic true story of how a journalist, a professor, and three students solved a murder and helped free four wrongly convicted men after 18 years in prison.

Download or read book Barred written by Daniel S. Medwed and published by Basic Books. This book was released on 2022-09-20 with total page 276 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A groundbreaking exposé of how our legal system makes it nearly impossible to overturn wrongful convictions Thousands of innocent people are behind bars in the United States. But proving their innocence and winning their release is nearly impossible. In Barred, legal scholar Daniel S. Medwed argues that our justice system’s stringent procedural rules are largely to blame for the ongoing punishment of the innocent. Those rules guarantee criminal defendants just one opportunity to appeal their convictions directly to a higher court. Afterward, the wrongfully convicted can pursue only a few narrow remedies. Even when there is strong evidence of a miscarriage of justice, rigid guidelines, bias, and deference toward lower courts all too often prevent exoneration. Offering clear explanations of legal procedures alongside heart-wrenching stories of their devastating impact, Barred exposes how the system is stacked against the innocent and makes a powerful call for change.

Download or read book Redeeming Justice written by Jarrett Adams and published by Convergent Books. This book was released on 2021-09-14 with total page 305 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A moving and beautifully crafted memoir.”—SCOTT TUROW “A daring act of justified defiance.”—SHAKA SENGHOR “Nothing less than heroic.”—JOHN GRISHAM He was seventeen when an all-white jury sentenced him to prison for a crime he didn’t commit. Now a pioneering lawyer, he recalls the journey that led to his exoneration—and inspired him to devote his life to fighting the many injustices in our legal system. Seventeen years old and facing nearly thirty years behind bars, Jarrett Adams sought to figure out the why behind his fate. Sustained by his mother and aunts who brought him back from the edge of despair through letters of prayer and encouragement, Adams became obsessed with our legal system in all its damaged glory. After studying how his constitutional rights to effective counsel had been violated, he solicited the help of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, an organization that exonerates the wrongfully convicted, and won his release after nearly ten years in prison. But the journey was far from over. Adams took the lessons he learned through his incarceration and worked his way through law school with the goal of helping those who, like himself, had faced our legal system at its worst. After earning his law degree, he worked with the New York Innocence Project, becoming the first exoneree ever hired by the nonprofit as a lawyer. In his first case with the Innocence Project, he argued before the same court that had convicted him a decade earlier—and won. In this illuminating story of hope and full-circle redemption, Adams draws on his life and the cases of his clients to show the racist tactics used to convict young men of color, the unique challenges facing exonerees once released, and how the lack of equal representation in our courts is a failure not only of empathy but of our collective ability to uncover the truth. Redeeming Justice is an unforgettable firsthand account of the limits—and possibilities—of our country’s system of law.

Download or read book Just Mercy written by Bryan Stevenson and published by One World. This book was released on 2014-10-21 with total page 354 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • NOW A MAJOR MOTION PICTURE STARRING MICHAEL B. JORDAN AND JAMIE FOXX • A powerful true story about the potential for mercy to redeem us, and a clarion call to fix our broken system of justice—from one of the most brilliant and influential lawyers of our time. “[Bryan Stevenson’s] dedication to fighting for justice and equality has inspired me and many others and made a lasting impact on our country.”—John Legend NAMED ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL BOOKS OF THE DECADE BY CNN • Named One of the Best Books of the Year by The New York Times • The Washington Post • The Boston Globe • The Seattle Times • Esquire • Time Bryan Stevenson was a young lawyer when he founded the Equal Justice Initiative, a legal practice dedicated to defending those most desperate and in need: the poor, the wrongly condemned, and women and children trapped in the farthest reaches of our criminal justice system. One of his first cases was that of Walter McMillian, a young man who was sentenced to die for a notorious murder he insisted he didn’t commit. The case drew Bryan into a tangle of conspiracy, political machination, and legal brinksmanship—and transformed his understanding of mercy and justice forever. Just Mercy is at once an unforgettable account of an idealistic, gifted young lawyer’s coming of age, a moving window into the lives of those he has defended, and an inspiring argument for compassion in the pursuit of true justice. Winner of the Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction • Winner of the NAACP Image Award for Nonfiction • Winner of a Books for a Better Life Award • Finalist for the Los Angeles Times Book Prize • Finalist for the Kirkus Reviews Prize • An American Library Association Notable Book “Every bit as moving as To Kill a Mockingbird, and in some ways more so . . . a searing indictment of American criminal justice and a stirring testament to the salvation that fighting for the vulnerable sometimes yields.”—David Cole, The New York Review of Books “Searing, moving . . . Bryan Stevenson may, indeed, be America’s Mandela.”—Nicholas Kristof, The New York Times “You don’t have to read too long to start cheering for this man. . . . The message of this book . . . is that evil can be overcome, a difference can be made. Just Mercy will make you upset and it will make you hopeful.”—Ted Conover, The New York Times Book Review “Inspiring . . . a work of style, substance and clarity . . . Stevenson is not only a great lawyer, he’s also a gifted writer and storyteller.”—The Washington Post “As deeply moving, poignant and powerful a book as has been, and maybe ever can be, written about the death penalty.”—The Financial Times “Brilliant.”—The Philadelphia Inquirer

Download or read book Getting Life written by Michael Morton and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-07-08 with total page 304 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A devastating and infuriating book, more astonishing than any legal thriller by John Grisham” (The New York Times) about a young father who spent twenty-five years in prison for a crime he did not commit…and his eventual exoneration and return to life as a free man. On August 13, 1986, just one day after his thirty-second birthday, Michael Morton went to work at his usual time. By the end of the day, his wife Christine had been savagely bludgeoned to death in the couple’s bed—and the Williamson County Sherriff’s office in Texas wasted no time in pinning her murder on Michael, despite an absolute lack of physical evidence. Michael was swiftly sentenced to life in prison for a crime he had not committed. He mourned his wife from a prison cell. He lost all contact with their son. Life, as he knew it, was over. Drawing on his recollections, court transcripts, and more than 1,000 pages of personal journals he wrote in prison, Michael recounts the hidden police reports about an unidentified van parked near his house that were never pursued; the bandana with the killer’s DNA on it, that was never introduced in court; the call from a neighboring county reporting the attempted use of his wife’s credit card, which was never followed up on; and ultimately, how he battled his way through the darkness to become a free man once again. “Even for readers who may feel practically jaded about stories of injustice in Texas—even those who followed this case closely in the press—could do themselves a favor by picking up Michael Morton’s new memoir…It is extremely well-written [and] insightful” (The Austin Chronicle). Getting Life is an extraordinary story of unfathomable tragedy, grave injustice, and the strength and courage it takes to find forgiveness.

Download or read book Circumstantial Evidence written by Pete Earley and published by Bantam. This book was released on 1995 with total page 448 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The bestselling author of The Hot House once again combines the facts, the real people, and the location itself into this true story, a wide-ranging portrait of the interplay of race, sex, and justice in the American South, made all the more real because it takes place in the same small Alabama town that was the fictional "Maycomb" in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird. Optioned for film by MGM. Photos.

Download or read book The Sun Does Shine Young Readers Edition written by Anthony Ray Hinton and published by Feiwel & Friends. This book was released on 2022-06-14 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Sun Does Shine is an extraordinary testament to the power of hope sustained through the darkest times, now adapted for younger readers, with a revised foreword by Just Mercy author Bryan Stevenson. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with two counts of capital murder in Alabama. Stunned, confused, and only 29 years old, Hinton knew that it was a case of mistaken identity and believed that the truth would prove his innocence and ultimately set him free. But with a criminal justice system with the cards stacked against Black men, Hinton was sentenced to death . He spent his first three years on Death Row in despairing silence—angry and full of hatred for all those who had sent an innocent man to his death. But as Hinton realized and accepted his fate, he resolved not only to survive, but find a way to live on Death Row. For the next twenty-seven years he was a beacon—transforming not only his own spirit, but those of his fellow inmates. With the help of civil rights attorney and bestselling author of Just Mercy, Bryan Stevenson, Hinton won his release in 2015. With themes both timely and timeless, Hinton’s memoir tells his dramatic 30-year journey and shows how you can take away a man’s freedom, but you can’t take away his imagination, humor, or joy.

Download or read book Rectify written by Lara Bazelon and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2018-10-16 with total page 250 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A powerful argument for adopting a model of restorative justice as part of the Innocence Movement—so exonerees, crime victims, and their communities can come together to heal In Rectify, a former Innocence Project director and journalist Lara Bazelon puts a face to the growing number of men and women exonerated from crimes that kept them behind bars for years—sometimes decades—and that devastate not only the exonerees but also their families, the crime victims who mistakenly identified them as perpetrators, the jurors who convicted them, and the prosecutors who realized too late that they helped convict an innocent person. Bazelon focuses on Thomas Haynesworth, a teenager arrested for multiple rapes in Virginia, and Janet Burke, a rape victim who mistakenly IDed him. It took over two decades before he was exonerated. Conventional wisdom points to an exoneration as a happy ending to tragic tales of injustice, such as Haynesworth’s. However, even when the physical shackles are left behind, invisible ones can be profoundly more difficult to unlock. In the midst of Bazelon’s frustration over the blatant limitations of courts and advocates, her hope is renewed by the fledgling but growing movement to apply the centuries-old practice of restorative justice to wrongful conviction cases. Using the stories of Thomas Haynesworth, Janet Burke, and other crime victims and exonerees, she demonstrates how the transformative experience of connecting isolated individuals around mutual trauma and a shared purpose of repairing harm unite unlikely allies. Movingly written and vigorously researched, Rectify takes to task the far-reaching failures of our criminal justice system and offers a window into a future where the power it yields can be used in pursuit of healing and unity rather than punishment and blame.

Download or read book An Uninterrupted View of the Sky written by Melanie Crowder and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2019-04-30 with total page 306 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Modern history unearthed as a boy becomes an innocent victim of corruption in Bolivia's crime world, where the power of family is both a prison and a means of survival. It's 1999 in Bolivia and Francisco's life consists of school, soccer, and trying to find space for himself in his family's cramped yet boisterous home. But when his father is arrested on false charges and sent to prison by a corrupt system that targets the uneducated, the poor, and the indigenous majority, Francisco and his sister are left with no choice: They must move into prison with their father. There, they find a world unlike anything they've ever known, where everything—a door, a mattress, protection from other inmates—has its price. Prison life is dirty, dire, and dehumanizing. With their lives upended, Francisco faces an impossible decision: Break up the family and take his sister to their grandparents in the Andean highlands, fleeing the city and the future within his grasp, or remain together in the increasingly dangerous prison. Pulled between two undesirable options, Francisco must confront everything he once believed about the world and his place within it. In this heart-wrenching novel, Melanie Crowder sheds light on a little-known era of modern South American history—where injustice still looms large—and proves that hope can be found, even in the most desperate places. Perfect for fans of Ruta Sepetys, Matt de la Pena, and Jacqueline Woodson. Praise for An Uninterrupted View of the Sky: ★ "Crowder delivers a disturbing portrait of innocent families trapped in corrupt systems, as well as a testament to the strength of enduring cultural traditions and the possibility of finding family in the unlikeliest places."—Publishers Weekly, starred review ★ "Readers will feel utterly invested in Francisco's various challenges...A riveting, Dickensian tale."—Kirkus, starred review ★ "Themes of poverty, social injustice...violence toward women, coming-of-age, romantic love, and a sliver of precarious hope are woven into the plot...[An] important addition to libraries."—School Library Journal, starred review "[A] trenchant novel...This hard-hitting, ultimately hopeful story will open readers’ eyes to a lesser-known historical moment and the far-reaching implications of U.S. policy."—Booklist "[This novel] is raw, gripping, poetic and bold....Crowder takes you on an emotional pilgrimage that you won’t want to end."—RT Book Reviews, five-starred review Praise for Audacity: 2015 National Jewish Book Award finalist Washington Post Best Children’s Poetry Book New York Public Library Best Book for Teens ILA Notable Book for a Global Society ALA Top 10 Best Fiction for Young Adults Pick ALSC Notable Children's Book nominee ★ "Crowder breathes life into a world long past...Compelling, powerful and unforgettable."—Kirkus Reviews, starred review ★ "[An] impactful addition to any historical fiction collection."—School Library Journal, starred review ★ "With a thorough historical note, glossary of terms, and bibliography, this will make an excellent complement to units on women’s rights and the labor movement, but it will also satisfy readers in search of a well-told tale of a fierce heroine."—BCCB, starred review ★ "This is an excellent title that can open discussions in U.S. history and economics courses about women’s rights, labor unions, and the immigrant experience."—School Library Connection, starred review

Download or read book No More Tomorrows written by Kathryn Bonella and published by Random House. This book was released on 2011-01-18 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: It was meant to be a two-week holiday to celebrate her sister's birthday, but for Schapelle Corby it ended up a waking nightmare. Arrested at Denpasar airport after marijuana was found in her luggage, she became the victim of every traveller's darkest fear. Over four kilograms of drugs had been planted in her bag after she'd checked it in and she was forced to face the consequences of someone else's crime in a country where the penalties for drug smuggling are among the harshest in the world. Her trial and conviction became one of the biggest news stories of the decade and her family watched in horror as she was sentenced to 20 years in jail. Yet despite the huge media coverage, the one voice the public never properly heard was Schapelle's. Now, in this compelling book, she tells her own story: of being wrenched from a carefree holiday and incarcerated in a stinking police cell and of learning to survive - in the squalor, discomfort and violence of an Indonesian jail. It is an account like no other and will be one of the most unforgettable books you'll ever read.