Mistrial

April 8, 2013
Despite their impressive credentials as two of America's leading defense lawyers with a long list of celebrity clients (Scott Peterson, Michael Jackson, Gary Condit), Geragos and Harris don't offer any particularly new insights on the state of criminal justice in the US today. Many of their observations could have been made, and have been, over the last several decades, undercutting their contention that things have radically changed in recent years. For example, they write: "If you're a trial lawyer, dealing with the media is now part of your job, and that is not going away anytime soon," a sentiment that could easily have appeared in a similarly-themed book from the 1980s or the 1920s. The subtitle is misleading, suggesting a proportionality the text doesn't bear out, as more often than not, their war stories are about when the system doesn't work, due to, for example, overzealous prosecutors, elected judges eager to stay on the bench, and shrewish media personalities who slant the truth shamelessly. There are thoughtful suggestions for reform, including involving judges more actively in plea-bargaining, and having professional juries, but these receive less attention than they warrant.

February 15, 2013
Two high-profile defense lawyers pull back the curtain on the U.S. criminal justice system and find much to criticize. Geragos and Harris are law partners in Los Angeles who have represented famous clients such as Michael Jackson, Mike Tyson, Winona Ryder and Chris Brown. They have also represented noncelebrities who became well-known because of the crimes they allegedly committed--e.g., Scott Peterson, Gary Condit and Susan McDougal. The authors use portions of the book to suggest that Peterson and other clients found guilty are probably innocent. These sections occasionally come across as self-serving, although Geragos and Harris offer little-known details that, at the very least, signal reasonable doubt. The heart of the book, however, is an indictment of the criminal justice system in general: how it is skewed in favor of prosecutors, how prosecutors add to their built-in advantage by employing improper tactics, how police routinely lie during trials to remove perceived criminals from the streets regardless of guilt or innocence, how too many judges rule with re-election in mind instead of serving justice, how jurors are predisposed to believe before hearing evidence that any defendant is guilty simply because he or she has been charged with a crime, how inflammatory TV and blog commentators sabotage truth and how even mainstream media organizations fail to provide balanced news coverage. Geragos and Harris offer solutions, some of which have been adopted in specific jurisdictions but most of which are politically unpopular. Perhaps the most surprising suggested reform is to develop a group of professional jurors who would use their accumulated knowledge gained during multiple trials to better evaluate evidence, especially in complex cases. A no-holds-barred indictment of the system, filled with memorable anecdotes and accessibly written.

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