Describes "a real trial through all its stages, using that case ... to discuss ... the various issues involving juries."

An acclaimed trial attorney presents a mock murder case to explore the jury system in this “compelling . . . intelligent . . . provocative” work (The New York Times Book Review). Creating a composite legal case based on real-life criminal investigations and trials, Seymour Wishman’s Anatomy of a Jury carries us from crime scene to courthouse to jury room, providing a fascinating, behind-the-scenes look into the nation’s criminal justice system. In autumn 1982, in the affluent New Jersey community of Glen Ridge, a woman is found brutally murdered in her home. The victim’s distraught husband points police to a likely perpetrator: an African American handyman with a criminal record. A search of the suspect’s home reveals nothing, but still the man is indicted for the crime. His ultimate fate is to be determined by “a jury of his peers”—twelve strangers with no special legal skills or training and a fervent desire to do what is right. As dramatic and riveting as it is educational, Wishman’s staging and analysis of a criminal trial is a “rousing endorsement of the jury and a superb description of how the system really operates” (St. Louis Dispatch).

DIVA successful former defense attorney exposes the raw truth about the courtroom “game” and a career spent defending the guilty/divDIV As an advocate for the accused in Newark, New Jersey, criminal lawyer Seymour Wishman defended a vast array of clients, from burglars and thieves to rapists and murderers. Many of them were poor and undereducated, and nearly all of them were guilty. But it was not Wishman’s duty to pass moral judgment on those he represented. His job was to convince a jury to set his clients free or, at the very least, to impose the most lenient punishment permissible by law. And he was very good at his job. Reveling in the adrenaline rush of “winning,” Wishman gave no thought to the ethical considerations of his daily dealings . . . until he was confronted on the street by a rape victim he had humiliated in the courtroom./divDIV /divDIVA fascinating, no-holds-barred memoir of his years spent as “attorney for the damned,” Wishman’s Confessions of a Criminal Lawyer is a startling and important work—an eye-opening, thought-provoking examination of how the justice system works and how it should work—by an attorney who both defended and prosecuted those accused of the most horrific crimes./div

Anatomy of a Trial examines the key phases of jury trials (voir dire, opening statements, direct and cross-examination, and closing arguments) in the context of two particular cases, one criminal and the other civil. The criminal case involves highly complex subjects and law, and examines simplification and storytelling for the jury. The civil case illustrates the credibility of witnesses, and also showcases the critical importance of experts in trials of a technical nature.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

"Juries -- usually groups of 6 or 12 ordinary citizens -- provide a crucial service for their fellow citizens: Just as in medieval England, where they got started, juries prevent government, even democratic government, from pursuing oppressive prosecutions"--Web version of online resource.