The Smoking Gun FROM THE PUBLISHER
From America's foremost criminal defense lawyer and author of the bestselling How to Argue and Win Every Time comes this riveting, true account of a trial that adeptly exposes the unrelenting power of the state, which so often crushes those -- guilty or innocent -- who come before the bar of justice. It could happen to you.
When Sandy Jones and her teenage son were accused of murdering a real estate developer on their hardscrabble Oregon farm, the prosecution had an eyewitness to the shooting and a photograph of Sandy holding a smoking rifle. County officials kept Sandy in jail while they awaited the trial, despite ballistic evidence that strongly suggested she hadn't fired the fatal shot. The case erupted into an epic struggle between Sandy -- who was poor, different, and a woman -- and the "good old boys" of Lincoln County, Oregon, who held all the power.
Though the Joneses' guilt seemed eminently clear to the county and the prosecution, Gerry Spence, renowned for his work on the cases of Karen Silkwood and Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, took the case pro bono and the courtroom battle exploded into three years of intensely moving jury trials, recounted here from the record of the case. The Smoking Gun follows Gerry Spence through his passionate arguments with two different judges and two different prosecutorial teams, his exacting jury selection, his expert questioning of the witnesses, and his incredible rapport with the jury as he fights for the rights of Sandy and her son.
With a superb sense of drama and an intimate knowledge of the court system, Spence highlights the pitfalls that every defendant faces, making The Smoking Gun extremely relevant today, when our rights are being eroded and when the average American, even if innocent, is hard-pressed to obtain a fair trial.
FROM THE CRITICS
The Washington Post
… to anyone interested in the detailed anatomy of a murder trial, The Smoking Gun provides an informative glimpse inside American justice.
— Douglas McCollam
Publishers Weekly
A nationally renowned trial attorney and author, Spence (Trial by Fire; Gunning for Justice) introduces his latest book with a cautionary pronouncement: this could happen to you. What follows is an electrifying and sensational true story of an Oregon murder trial that dragged on for more than three years in the late 1980s. In July 1985, Sandy Jones and her teenage son were charged with the murder of Wilfred Gertulla, a neighbor and smalltime real estate developer. Gertulla's wife was present when he was murdered and produces a photograph of Mrs. Jones holding a smoking .22 caliber rifle-seemingly irrefutable evidence of her guilt. Spence later finds out that the Joneses, impoverished farmers and community outcasts, have been battling Gertulla and the town over a questionable right-of-way that runs through the Gertullas' property. Spence, sensing a homegrown conspiracy, decides to join the defense pro bono after seeing the abusive treatment Sandy suffers in the local jail. The state prosecutors suppress evidence, manipulate legal loopholes and generally attempt to deprive the Joneses of a fair trial in order to attain a conviction. This disquieting book shows that the facts don't speak for themselves, innocence is rarely presumed and justice is far from a first priority in America's courtrooms. Spence is a gifted storyteller and his rhetorical skills are mesmerizing. The blizzards of argument and counterargument that would be tedious reading in less talented hands are neatly incorporated into this thrilling account of injustice barely averted. (Sept.) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
A feud between a real estate developer and an Oregon mountain woman ends with a standoff on a mountain road and the developer dead of a gunshot wound. It looks like a cut-and-dried case: there's an eyewitness and a photograph of Sandy Jones holding a literally smoking gun. But when Spence (Trial by Fire; The Making of a Country Lawyer) takes the case, it's obvious that the situation is much more complex. There were examples of harassment by the developer, a restraining order pending against him, and evidence that the eyewitness herself had shot a gun that day (which she flatly denied). And all the bullets in Sandy's rifle and that of her teenage son were accounted for. The actions of the prosecutors and the judge, all friends of the developer, caused them to be taken off the case, and exculpatory evidence disappeared. Spence's account of prosecutorial zeal (to the detriment of an entire family) and of the ultimate triumph of justice is a well-written and riveting account that should be welcome in all true-crime collections.-Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.
Kirkus Reviews
A primer on the criminal-justice system from the defense attorney's vantage point. Police and prosecutors in rural Lincoln County, Oregon, accused Sandra Jones and her 15-year-old son Mike of murdering a neighbor during 1985. Spence (The Making of a Country Lawyer, 1996, etc.), who represented the defendants pro bono, was skeptical that either Sandra or her son pulled the trigger of the weapon used to kill a small-time real-estate developer who had been feuding with them over whether a road that cut across their property should be considered off limits to public traffic. Why did law enforcement authorities believe the seemingly dubious eyewitness account of the dead man's wife, he wondered, rather than the conflicting account of Sandra Jones? Spence decided to chronicle the case more than a decade after its resolution to educate the general populace about the workings of the criminal-justice system. Unsurprisingly, the text is seldom dispassionate, and the author never sheds his advocate's persona. Throughout his detailed account, he skewers police investigators, forensic scientists, prosecutors, judges, and journalists for insensitivity, incompetence, or venality; the rest do not generally get an opportunity to present their version. Working in tandem with local defense lawyers, Spence eventually helped both defendants win their freedom. In that sense, the case he has chosen is not representative, because most defendants, innocent or guilty, are neither acquitted nor have convictions overturned on appeal. Furthermore, it lacks DNA evidence and other features that would have educated readers about the role of new technology. Still, no single case is ever typical in all aspects, andSpence's choice of one of his own sensational trials allows him to explain unambiguously what he was thinking as he employed certain tactics and rejected others. Sometimes self-righteous, sometimes merciless: an unforgettable account of the state's power against individuals who might be innocent.
Home
