[.uk] The Smoking Gun

A Gerry Spence masterpiece:
Gerry Spence has succeeded Robert Traver (John Voelker), Louis Nizer, Jake Ehrlich, and Francis Wellman as the popular author of real life legal battles. Spence writes his own stuff - unlike Vincent Bugliosi who's had collaborators - and Spence is as candid as Pepys was to his diary. If you're not put off by Spence telling, in every other book, the anguish and ecstacy of his personal life, or how good he is, no legal work, fiction, non-fiction, and certainly not the case reports, can match Gerry's writings. Despite what you star givers write, "The Making of a Country Lawyer," Spence's autobiography, is his best book. Only Reginald Hine's "Confessions of an Uncommon Atorney" can compete. Read Spence's story and, if you've ever gone into business for yourself or tried to bang a buck out of the law while maintaining those "hostages to fortune" at home and yet still struggled to get ahead, see if you don't agree. With the "The Smoking Gun" Spence got it all right again. This one's not as well-known as "Helter Skelter" was nor as riveting but I can't think of an "ordinary" murder case that's been so absorbing story as "The Smoking Gun." Not "An American Tragedy," not "Compulsion," not any of Bugliosi's minor books and certainly nothing by Ann Rule or any of those Texas murder trial accounts. For one, "A Smoking Gun" is a story about a fear that slithers though everyone's subconsciousness and sometimes surfaces in nightmares: being charged with a serious crime one didn't commit and being prosecuted by over zealous DAs who seem to want a conviction more than justice. In addition there's the uncooperative defendant, the courageous judge (Harl Haas of Portland, Oregon), and, of course, Superman to the rescue. But Superman does write masterfully, it's a great story, and I highly recommend it.

The Truth about Gerry Spence:
Celebrity trial lawyer Gerry Spence has offered up the 13th in his series of allegedly non-fiction books about his trials and triumphs. The Smoking Gun (Scribner, 448 pages, $30) reaches back more than 15 years to recount Spence's part in two trials in Oregon-first, of 15-year-old Michael Jones Jr. (convicted and then overturned on appeal) and then of his mother, Sandy Jones (acquitted), on murder charges for the death of Wilfred Gertulla. The prosecutor in Sandy's trial, former Oregon state attorney general James Brown, has described Spence's trial practices as "strip-mining" a jurisdiction. Indeed, Spence rarely returns to the same courthouse (outside of his home state). The Oregonian reporter who covered the second trial felt strongly enough about what he had seen to write an opinion piece entitled "Jones' lawyer sought only victory, not truth." And Spence candidly admits in The Smoking Gun, "If I've learned one thing, it was that trials do not seek the truth, nor are they always intended to deliver justice . . . .Trials are wars."

Long, Lugubrious Journey to Justice:
Gerry Spence, self-described Wyoming "Country Lawyer," has a lot to teach - his book on OJ's criminal trial, "O.J. The Last Word: the Death of Justice" is the definitive work on that Circus, and his fictional Half-Moon and Empty Stars is Dead On. In Smoking Gun, his day by day play by play memoir of a murder trial, Gerry has set forth a sometimes brilliant bible on How to (or in the case of the State/prosecution - how Not to) Try a Case, Voir Dire (jury pickin') etc - but at times it is laborious wading through the chaff to get to the kernels at the heart of the wheat here. In the end, Truth and Justice are one and won, justice prevails, truth triumphs, and everyone lives happily ever after - or not. /TundraVision, Amazon Reviewer

Gives Lawyers a Good Name:
There was a photo of a young woman holding a smoking gun, and a witness who said the picture was taken right after the woman, Sandy Jones, shot her husband. But was Sandy really guilty of the crime she was accused of? Enter colorful and brilliant Gerry Spence, who for four years defended Sandy Jones pro-bono, gained her freedom, and later wrote this fascinating book. "The Smoking Gun" is a riveting account of Sandy Jones' trial and an in-depth look at our flawed justice system.

Accuracy in the law:
Gerry Spence has written a book that takes the reader throught a crash course in law school, applied. He is so accurate in his writing but than I would expect as much from such a successful lawyer. Yet his explanations are easy for the lay man to grasp. As a retired lawyer, I often recommend this book to people who have several questions about these kinds of events that they are following in their personal life. It should be recommended reading for all law students the summer prior to beginning their studies.