Defending the Damned: Inside Chicago's Cook County Public Defender's Office

Few people leave any lasting mark on the world, their lives soon forgotten. Kevin Davis, with this singular book, will be remembered long after his life is over. It may seem overwrought to compare "Defending The Damned" with, say, "All Quiet On The Western Front", but after you've read Davis's book, you'll see the comparison is very apt. Davis takes us deep into a world that the vast majority of us will thankfully never have the opportunity to experience directly. It is the world of those who labor on the Murder Task Force of the Cook County [Illinois] Public Defender's Office. Here a small group of men and women, lawyers investigators and others, daily protect the legal rights of some of the foulest creatures to walk the face of the earrh. A mother who cuts up the corpse of her freshly murdered infant and deep-fries the parts. A man who gets his natural daughter pregnant and than beats her to death. As one of the lawyers asks "How do you come home and explain that you just saved the life of a serial killer who smoked crack and murdered three women?" Kevin Davis does an incredible job of explaining just that. He profiles several of the lawyers and their helpers who fighr every day to protect the legal rights of the accused - - - an incredibly important job that few people appreciate - - - and then try to keep the state from executing those of their clients who are found guilty of murder. I am a proponent of capital punishment: those who murder deserve to die in return. It is only just. But I have a caveat: capital punishment should only be imposed when the accused has received a truly full and impartial trial, represented by highly competent counsel and provided with all the resources so readily available to the state, such as expert witnesses. Effectively this means capital punishment, in my opinion, is rarely acceptable. There either been a spate of books lately on the criminal justice system or I've simply been reading more of what's available. Davis's work ties for a mythical first place with David Feige's "Indefensible: One Lawyer's Journey into the Inferno of American Justice". Davis's book provides an overview of life in the public defender's office, while Feige provides first-hand perspective from a former public defender. Both are to be read by anyone interested in the criminal justice system. John Grisham provides a terrifying narrative of whar happens when the criminal justice system fails in "The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town". Finally, the old-time liberal view of blame the victim and society is on display in Steve Bogira's "Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse". Davis doesn't bring an axe to grind. He reports on the everyday work of public defenders like Marijane Placek, who comes across as an eccentric who is absolutely dedicated to the ideals of Americsn justice. Davis also give fair hearings to the prosecutors, judges, victims and their families a

Kevin Davis's intellectual curiosity and witness make for an absorbing, elucidating tale about the lawyers at the Chicago Cook County Public Defender's Office. The field of criminology and the varied individuals from accused criminals to their public defenders, prosecutors, judges, and ordinary citizens who become involved in the criminal justice system one way or another are this award-winning journalist's chosen subject matter. Davis is a recipient of a Robert F. Kennedy Award for outstanding journalism who has written for USA Today, the Chicago Tribune, Crain's Chicago Business and other prominent periodicals as well as legal journals. While at a particularly gruesome murder trial, Davis became gripped by the question of "how [the public defender] and her...colleagues were able to represent clients accused of such horrible crimes day after day, year after year, while keeping a safe emotional distance and preserving their sanity." He got into the position of being able to witness how they did this by being given unprecedented access to the attorneys, related personnel, and activity of the Cook County Public Defender's Office. And he availed himself as much as possible to relevant public documents and conducted interviews with both relatives of victims and the accused, among others. A central figure is the public defender Marijane Placek, "fifty-four years old [with] bobbed hair...dyed golden blond with streaked highlights" given to wearing "snakeskin cowboy boots...when she wanted to look like a gunslinger." Placek is the lead public defender in the case of the murder of an undercover police officer--a case which allows Davis to give much attention also to the prosecutors and the police which are other necessary parts of the criminal justice system. In such a case of a murder of a police officer, prosecutors predictably try to "steal the flag," in the words of the public defenders' Murder Task Force chief Shelton Green; which means, they'll try to play up the normal public sympathy toward police officers to weigh the trial, including a sentence, heavily against the accused. With a novelist's eye and human interest and a professional journalist's interest in and grasp of the law, Davis writes a consummate example of today's popular genre of creative nonfiction which casts a beam of light into one of democratic society's most disturbing areas and uncomfortable responsibilities.

Kevin Davis has turned straight reporting into a novel. I couldn't wait to return to "the story". Not only was I educated as to how the courts work, I learned about real people who defend the lowest form of criminality, their thought processes, their behaviors, warts and all, and the relevance of their existence. I've never given a second thought to the impact of court decisions as it relates to human beings and human behavior. It wouldn't do any harm for the criminal element in our society to read this book in order to understand how important a role the public defender plays in their life when they are at the end of their rope and even possibly think twice before turning the corner into a life of crime. Kevin Davis did a service to the community of law and order by producing an intelligent, profound, easy to read book.

This is a fantastic book that brings the reader to counsel table in the trial of a cop killer. The human side of the lawyers defending horrific homicides is brought out....the book reads like a suspense novel..... If people want to know the truth about what transpires during a death penalty trial, this is one great place to start.

Kevin Davis skillfully grips the reader in this compelling and well-crafted book. An excellent reporter and story-teller, this author delivered far more than I expected in a page-truner that rivals or exceeds ANY legal drama I've seen on television. Whatever you think of lawyers -- especially those who represent who are no strangers the the courtroom -- you'll finish this book thinking highly of author Davis. A true gem!