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Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office
Atria
April 2007
On Sale: April 3, 2007
320 pages
ISBN: 0743270932
EAN: 9780743270939
Hardcover
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Non-Fiction
Chicago was the nation's deadliest city in 2001, recording
666 homicides. For lawyers in the Cook County Public
Defender's Office Murder Task Force, that meant a steady
flow of new clients. Eight out of ten people arrested for
murder in Chicago are represented by public defenders.
They're assigned the most challenging and seemingly hopeless
cases, yet they always fight to win. One of those lawyers is Marijane Placek, a snakeskin
boot-wearing, Shakespeare-quoting nonconformist whose
courtroom bravado and sharp legal skills have made her a
well-known figure around the courthouse. When an ex-convict
was arrested on charges of killing a Chicago police officer
that deadly year, Placek got the high-profile case, and her
defense forms the hub around which the book's narrative
revolves. Veteran journalist Kevin Davis reveals the compelling true
story of a team of battle-scarred lawyers fighting against
all odds. Unflinching, gripping, and full of surprises,
Defending the Damned is an unforgettable human story and
engaging courtroom drama where life and death hang in the
balance. Davis explores the motives that compel these
lawyers to come to work in this dark corner of the criminal
justice system and exposes their insular and often
misunderstood world. This groundbreaking work comes at a time when the country
has seen how wrongful convictions have slipped through the
system, that innocent people have been sent to death row,
and that some police have lied or coerced suspects into
confessing to crimes they did not commit. Such flaws drive
these public defenders even harder to do their jobs,
providing scrutiny to a long ignored and often broken system. Davis's reporting offers an unvarnished account of public
defenders as never seen before. A powerful melding of
courtroom drama and penetrating true crime journalism,
Defending the Damned is narrative nonfiction at its finest.
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