Hardback: From America's foremost criminal defense lawyer and author of the bestselling How to Argue and Win Every Time (1995) 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 in 1985, 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 (2003) 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.
Gerry Spence wrote in his Introduction, "This story, based on the actual record of the case, asks the dark and frightening question, How will justice be delivered to you when you are called before the criminal bar? What if you can't find a skilled trial lawyer to defend you, one who cares about you? What if your lawyer turns out to be one who'll fight for you only if you have the money to buy that which has become another commodity in America - something called justice - and you don't have the price? What if you are left to fend for yourself as were Sandy Jones and her child fighting their battle against the good old boys of Lincoln County, Oregon?"
"In this book I take you with me in and out of the courtroom in a hopeless murder case. I take you behind the scenes, into the judge's chambers, into our worried, sometimes frightened hearts as lawyers who must garner the skill and the power to ward off the inevitable, the conviction of our client, who was, in this case, captured at the crime scene on film with a smoking gun in her hands. This case, or parts of it, might have been your case, and Sandy Jones might well have been you. Read on."
About the author: Gerry Spence has spent a lifetime representing those he calls "the lost, the poor, the powerless, the voiceless, and the damned." He has tried and won many high-profile cases, including the Karen Silkwood radiation poisoning case, the defense of Randy Weaver at Ruby Ridge, the defense of Imelda Marcos, and the case brought against Penthouse magazine by Miss Wyoming. He has never lost a jury criminal trial. Spence is the founder of the non-profit Trial Lawyers College and a well-known national commentator on the justice system. He is the author of twelve previous books and is a noted photographer. He lives in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
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