PDF The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audible Audio Edition Radley Balko Tucker Carrington John Grisham foreword Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books
Download As PDF : The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audible Audio Edition Radley Balko Tucker Carrington John Grisham foreword Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books
This is a tale of two tragedies.
At the heart of the first is Dr. Steven Hayne, a doctor the State of Mississippi employed as its de facto medical examiner for two decades. Beginning in the late 1980s, he performed anywhere from 1,200 to 1,800 autopsies per year, five times more than is recommended, performed at night in the basement of a local funeral home. Autopsy reports claimed organs had been observed and weighed when, in reality, they had been surgically removed from the body years before. But Hayne was the only game in town. He also often brought in local dentist and self-styled "bite mark specialist" Dr. Michael West, who would discover marks on victim's bodies, at times invisible to the naked eye, and then match those marks - "indeed and without doubt" - to law enforcement's lead suspect.
This leads to the second tragic tale that of Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks, two black men each convicted in separate cases of the brutal rape and murder of young girls. Dr. Hayne's autopsy and Dr. West's bite-mark matching formed the bases for the convictions. Combined, the two men served over 30 years in Mississippi's notorious penitentiary - Parchman Farm - before being exonerated in 2008. Brooks' and Brewer's wrongful convictions lie at the intersection of both the most pressing problem facing this country's criminal justice system - structural injustice built on the historic foundation of race and class as well as with the much more contemporary but equally egregious problem of invalid forensic science. The old problem is inextricably bound up with and exacerbates the new.
In The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington write a true story of Southern Gothic horror - of two innocent men wrongly convicted of vicious crimes and the legally condoned failures that allowed it to happen. Balko and Carrington will shine a light on the institutional and professional failures that allowed this tragic, astonishing story to happen, identify where it may have happened elsewhere, and show how to prevent it from happening again.
PDF The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audible Audio Edition Radley Balko Tucker Carrington John Grisham foreword Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books
"Unfair. Out of control. Corrupt. A travesty of American justice. Venal. Self-serving. These descriptors barely carve a small chip off the surface of the list of infractions committed by and under the aegis of the US judicial system. The extent of the rot eating at the base of the already rotten legal edifice is - for those that still believe in the concept of "rule of law" and impartial, reasoned, balanced application of impartial, reasoned and balanced laws - almost beyond cataloguing. So instead, Balko and Carrington have selected one little microcosm from a very broad potential palette of connivance, and warped, perverted, distorted applications of pseudo-science and presented it in a concise, interesting and valuable book. Stories chosen from a veritable rogues' gallery of distilled garbage issuing forth from an imaginative "Chuckie" of the dental profession (Michael West) and a blood-sucking barber-surgeon cum pathologist, Steven West, aided by prosecutors and DAs, "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist" illustrate the enormity of the problem.
By this point in 21st century America, only the most inveterate optimist or intellectually besotted citizen could imagine that the legislative, judicial and enforcement bodies in this country maintain any reasonable degree of fealty to the ideal presented to the general public. The arc of destiny may bend toward justice, but it will evidently only converge with it in another space-time continuum.
The corruption of our democratic ideals may have reached it's apex with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, but it most certainly didn't begin in 2016. Balko and Carrington take care to describe the history of ,and oftentimes muddled distinction between, a coroner (an elected and not necessarily medically qualified and/or competent official) and a board certified physician expert in medical forensics. That's a core distinction and serious problem featured in this book.
The plot line in "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist" is constructed on the stories of two black men of the "lower classes" in rural Mississippi. Lest the reader think that the judicial and law enforcement rush to judgement (one based on prejudice, racism, convenience, and expediency - all buttressed with bogus claims on the uniqueness of bite marks and assembly line quality, dry-lab, slipshod, negligent autopsies proffered by avaricious, egomaniacal snake oil salesmen, Drs. West and Hayne) is confined to benighted rural pockets of the Deep South, consider the famous case of Steven Avery, a white man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Avery served 18 years in prison on a wrongful conviction for sexual assault and attempted murder. He was fully exonerated by DNA evidence, as was also (eventually) the case for the men featured in this book. Seeking restitution (if that's even possible), Avery took legal action against the county. Not to be outdone, law enforcement pulled a Trump and counter-attacked: in 2005, Avery was arrested on charges of murdering a local photographer and was convicted in 2007. It was a frame-up relying in large part on pseudo-scienc, just like the multiple false convictions in Mississippi and elsewhere. Take it as a given that the Great Panjandrum propelling the cases in "Cadaver King" (the distinguished Mr. Hood) has yet to acknowledge either his own perfidy and his manifest and deliberate ignorance of his responsibilities as an attorney general (and he's a Democrat!)
What Balko/Carrington and Ricciardi/Demos and many, many others convincingly convey is that this is a "world gone wrong". The fact that no meaningful changes have occurred despite intense publicity conveys the fact that those who write the laws and those that enforce them don't care about the perversions of justice they perpetuate, nor do they seemingly grasp that the two-tiered judicial system (you get the best justice your money can buy) is untenable. That conclusion is made explicit in the book and in Balko's many columns in "The Washington Post". He and other investigative journalists, concerned lawyers (there are a few) and a few "folks" are fighting a quixotic battle against "people bending broken rules" (Bob Dylan's phrase). Even the recent involvement of the formidable Koch organization in sentencing reform has hit the impenetrable Van Allen Belt of highly energized, reactionary, corporatist and fear-fueled populist opposition.
The Balko/Carrington book is very well written and comprehensively referenced, especially as the Charlatan Kings are extremely litigious. So, every claim must be (and has been) carefully researched and referenced. The glaring problem with the book is the absence of an index. A bit more could be offered on the dubious legal background (e.g., the Frye decision) that allows introduction of non-science nonsense as alleged fact. As noted by the authors, leaving this decision to the judicial system (current practice) begs for the type of abuse detailed in this book and assures its continuation into the indefinite future. In other words, many more innocents will be incarcerated and many more "game over" decisions will be made by the ossified and self-important judicial mandarin "deciders". In short, many falsely convicted citizens will rot in jail because that's the system.
As it happens, the constellation of forces favoring swift, "certain", retributive punishment is in ascendance. Efforts by Balko and company appeal to the converted: can you imagine enough open minded legislators and members of the legal/judicial/enforcment professions taking on a system that so many of them profit from? Unlike the legions of falsely convicted and later redeemed heroes of 19th century novels, swashbuckling crusaders for justice aren't on the near horizon. It will take a case of a truly monstrous nature suffered by a popular "People Magazine" cover star (Jay-Z?) to focus public attention on the problem. For everyone else, the Twilight of the Idols may be quickly converging on a legal and social Götterdämmerung"
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The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audible Audio Edition Radley Balko Tucker Carrington John Grisham foreword Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books Reviews :
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audible Audio Edition Radley Balko Tucker Carrington John Grisham foreword Robert Fass Hachette Audio Books Reviews
- I have had the pleasure to meet Mr. Balko and remain
impressed with his intelligence, commitment to accuracy
and truth, and also his drive to protect innocents from
long-standing structural injustices.
This book is a compelling read for many reasons
It is extremely well-researched with footnotes abounding.
It is shocking as one realizes that fact can indeed be
stranger and too often more horrible than fiction.
It tells stories which should never be repeated again in
a modern just society.
It compels anyone with a conscience to take actions to
insure these sorts of things stop and are not repeated.
The Lord compels us to
“Learn to do good; seek justice, correct oppression;
bring justice to the fatherless, plead the widow’s cause.â€
(Isaiah 117)
Mr. Balko and Mr. Carrington are definitely
"on a mission from God" as they help us to seek justice
and correct oppression.
Mission (Being) Accomplished! Well-done!
I would urge anyone with a conscience
and a shred of human decency to
read this book....
and then....to share it with family and friends. - The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist is by turns engaging, depressing, exciting, and enraging—and a monumental work of investigative storytelling about how junk science polluted justice for a generation in one state.
In the hands of lesser writers, this would have simply been a story of good and evil, of heroes and villains. But Balko and Carrington paint a much more nuanced picture, an almost Southern gothic tale. While the titular physician and dentist are exposed for the quacks and frauds they are, the system in which they operated isn't cast as a simple morality tale. Path dependency in the common law (the coroner being an office that traces back to medieval England), the ghosts of the Civil War and Jim Crow, well-intended US Supreme Court decisions, and political factionalism combine to set the stage for a generation-long fraud on the people of Mississippi. Most of all, Balko and Carrington highlight the terrible incentives facing everyone in the state's death investigation and criminal justice system, telling stories of justice gone horribly wrong.
Balko and Carrington have penned a gripping page-turner of an expose that shows both the best and the worst of mankind, and the power of institutions to look past and even condone the morally indefensible. "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist" is a cry for reform, not just in Mississippi, but in courts and capitols across the country. - Unfair. Out of control. Corrupt. A travesty of American justice. Venal. Self-serving. These descriptors barely carve a small chip off the surface of the list of infractions committed by and under the aegis of the US judicial system. The extent of the rot eating at the base of the already rotten legal edifice is - for those that still believe in the concept of "rule of law" and impartial, reasoned, balanced application of impartial, reasoned and balanced laws - almost beyond cataloguing. So instead, Balko and Carrington have selected one little microcosm from a very broad potential palette of connivance, and warped, perverted, distorted applications of pseudo-science and presented it in a concise, interesting and valuable book. Stories chosen from a veritable rogues' gallery of distilled garbage issuing forth from an imaginative "Chuckie" of the dental profession (Michael West) and a blood-sucking barber-surgeon cum pathologist, Steven West, aided by prosecutors and DAs, "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist" illustrate the enormity of the problem.
By this point in 21st century America, only the most inveterate optimist or intellectually besotted citizen could imagine that the legislative, judicial and enforcement bodies in this country maintain any reasonable degree of fealty to the ideal presented to the general public. The arc of destiny may bend toward justice, but it will evidently only converge with it in another space-time continuum.
The corruption of our democratic ideals may have reached it's apex with the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, but it most certainly didn't begin in 2016. Balko and Carrington take care to describe the history of ,and oftentimes muddled distinction between, a coroner (an elected and not necessarily medically qualified and/or competent official) and a board certified physician expert in medical forensics. That's a core distinction and serious problem featured in this book.
The plot line in "The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist" is constructed on the stories of two black men of the "lower classes" in rural Mississippi. Lest the reader think that the judicial and law enforcement rush to judgement (one based on prejudice, racism, convenience, and expediency - all buttressed with bogus claims on the uniqueness of bite marks and assembly line quality, dry-lab, slipshod, negligent autopsies proffered by avaricious, egomaniacal snake oil salesmen, Drs. West and Hayne) is confined to benighted rural pockets of the Deep South, consider the famous case of Steven Avery, a white man from Manitowoc County, Wisconsin. Avery served 18 years in prison on a wrongful conviction for sexual assault and attempted murder. He was fully exonerated by DNA evidence, as was also (eventually) the case for the men featured in this book. Seeking restitution (if that's even possible), Avery took legal action against the county. Not to be outdone, law enforcement pulled a Trump and counter-attacked in 2005, Avery was arrested on charges of murdering a local photographer and was convicted in 2007. It was a frame-up relying in large part on pseudo-scienc, just like the multiple false convictions in Mississippi and elsewhere. Take it as a given that the Great Panjandrum propelling the cases in "Cadaver King" (the distinguished Mr. Hood) has yet to acknowledge either his own perfidy and his manifest and deliberate ignorance of his responsibilities as an attorney general (and he's a Democrat!)
What Balko/Carrington and Ricciardi/Demos and many, many others convincingly convey is that this is a "world gone wrong". The fact that no meaningful changes have occurred despite intense publicity conveys the fact that those who write the laws and those that enforce them don't care about the perversions of justice they perpetuate, nor do they seemingly grasp that the two-tiered judicial system (you get the best justice your money can buy) is untenable. That conclusion is made explicit in the book and in Balko's many columns in "The Washington Post". He and other investigative journalists, concerned lawyers (there are a few) and a few "folks" are fighting a quixotic battle against "people bending broken rules" (Bob Dylan's phrase). Even the recent involvement of the formidable Koch organization in sentencing reform has hit the impenetrable Van Allen Belt of highly energized, reactionary, corporatist and fear-fueled populist opposition.
The Balko/Carrington book is very well written and comprehensively referenced, especially as the Charlatan Kings are extremely litigious. So, every claim must be (and has been) carefully researched and referenced. The glaring problem with the book is the absence of an index. A bit more could be offered on the dubious legal background (e.g., the Frye decision) that allows introduction of non-science nonsense as alleged fact. As noted by the authors, leaving this decision to the judicial system (current practice) begs for the type of abuse detailed in this book and assures its continuation into the indefinite future. In other words, many more innocents will be incarcerated and many more "game over" decisions will be made by the ossified and self-important judicial mandarin "deciders". In short, many falsely convicted citizens will rot in jail because that's the system.
As it happens, the constellation of forces favoring swift, "certain", retributive punishment is in ascendance. Efforts by Balko and company appeal to the converted can you imagine enough open minded legislators and members of the legal/judicial/enforcment professions taking on a system that so many of them profit from? Unlike the legions of falsely convicted and later redeemed heroes of 19th century novels, swashbuckling crusaders for justice aren't on the near horizon. It will take a case of a truly monstrous nature suffered by a popular "People Magazine" cover star (Jay-Z?) to focus public attention on the problem. For everyone else, the Twilight of the Idols may be quickly converging on a legal and social Götterdämmerung
