Objection!: How High-Priced Defense Attorneys, Celebrity Defendants, and a 24/7 Media Have Hijacked Our Criminal Justice System

by Nancy Grace, Diane Clehane

Overview

As host of Closing Arguments on Court TV and Nancy Grace on CNN's Headline News, Nancy Grace has won legions of devoted fans with her intelligent, plainspoken approach to the law. In Objection!, she takes on a host of controversial topics, including the all-too-common "blame-the-victim" defense, the imperiled jury system, and the debate surrounding the death penalty. She includes a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at some of the country's most explosive celebrity factor cases and trials.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780786152773
Publisher:	Blackstone Audio, Inc.
Publication date:	04/20/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

About the Author

Nancy Grace is the host of Closing Arguments on Court TV and Nancy Grace on CNN. She also appears regularly on Larry King Live to offer expert analysis on important cases and trials. Prior to her career in television, she worked as a special prosecutor in the Atlanta where she compiled a perfect record of nearly one hundred felony convictions at trial. Diane Clehane is a New York Times best-selling writer and journalist whose work appears in People, New York Post, Variety, and TV Guide.

Marguerite Gavin grew up on the Chesapeake Bay. She holds an M.F.A. in acting and a B.F.A. in theater. An actress working in theater and audiobook narration, she is also artistic director of a youth theater program. She lives in the Washington, D.C., area with her husband and son.

Editorial Reviews

Our criminal justice system has become high-stakes reality TV. Nobody knows that better than charismatic Court TV commentator Nancy Grace. And nobody feels more fervent about the importance of our judicial system that this former Atlanta special prosecutor, who began her legal career after the murder of her fiancé. In Objection!, she presents her outspoken critique of today's legal culture, using high-profile court cases -- involving Michael Jackson, Scott Peterson, Robert Blake, Kobe Bryant, Martha Stewart, and others -- to prove her points.

Grace, an ex-prosecutor who for years has been a fixture on Court TV and now CNN, attacks criminals and their lawyers in this fiercely opinionated critique of the criminal justice system. Grace became a prosecutor after her fianc was murdered and claims to have achieved a 100% conviction rate. A political shuffle cost her that job, but God, she believes, led her to the airwaves to continue her battle of good against evil. Defense attorneys, she contends, are con artists whose job is "to obscure the truth from the jury." Other targets of the author's wrath are celebrity defendants who, she says, receive special treatment at trials and in sentencing; greedy citizens who talk their way onto juries to gather material for instant books; and hucksters who sell memorabilia collected from depraved criminals. Grace inveighs against those who profit from high-profile trials, but fails to note that her own role as television's pro-prosecution talking head could be criticized on that ground. Grace energetically argues that television cameras should be allowed at all trials. No matter how self-serving this proposal may be when made by a prominent member of the "24/7 media," the idea is intriguing and enlivens what is otherwise a fairly predictable and angry rehash of O.J., Peterson, et al. Agent, Frank Weymann. (June 8) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

With the help of celebrity journalist Clehane, Court TV commentator and former Atlanta prosecutor Grace has written a scathing if scattershot critique of the U.S. criminal justice system. Sparing only the prosecutors, she lambastes defense attorneys, judges, jurors, and the media in equal measure, making broad generalizations about their biases based on her personal trial experiences and the 1980 murder of her fianc . Expect acidic commentary on such recent tabloid fodder as the celebrity trials of Martha Stewart, Robert Blake, Michael Jackson, and Kobe Bryant. And expect controversy: In Chapter 6, for instance, she appears to challenge the practice of providing public defenders for indigents charged with crimes because of the cost. Grace is in favor of the death penalty because, she says, many people want it and some crimes deserve it. She doesn't address charges, however, that some prosecutors selectively seek the penalty because of race and other extraneous criteria. This book is meant to be outspoken, and it certainly manages that. But as this is just one former prosecutor's opinion, readers can judge for themselves.-Harry Charles, St. Louis, MO Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

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