Trial by Ambush by Marcia Clark

 

"Society wins not only when the guilty are convicted but when criminal trials are fair; our system of the administration of justice suffers when any accused is treated unfairly."

 -from Supreme Court decision, Brady v. Maryland (1963)

When this book was offered at a discount by BookBub, I was struck by the author's name. I remembered her as a prosecutor in the trial of O.J. Simpson years ago. As it turned out, she mentioned that experience several times in the course of this true crime story.

In 1953 Barbara Graham gets mixed up with some unsavory characters and in the process of robbing a home, a brutal murder is committed. Barbara had survived a horrible childhood and youth which let to many bad decisions with the one just mentioned being the worst. She and others are arrested for felony murder.

Ms. Clark spent two years researching all she could find of the crime---trial proceedings, evidence, newspaper reports, etc. and goes into great detail about the unethical, even sleazy methods of the prosecution. The reader gets the distinct feeling the author seriously questions the jury verdict. She feels Barbara Graham was treated unfairly at almost every turn, by the prosecution, the media and even the judge!

I rated this one a 3, interesting but not especially memorable.