In the Interest of Justice: Great Opening and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years

by Joel J. Seidemann

Overview

This rich and rewarding volume collects more than two dozen of the most memorable opening and closing arguments made by top prosecutors and defense attorneys of the last one hundred years. Carefully selected to explore every major aspect and challenge of the legal process, these speeches highlight the tactics and strategies, colorful language, and stirring rhetoric that lawyers use to win judge and jury to their side. With a shrewd eye for courtroom stratagems and a keen understanding of the social currents that shape them, Manhattan assistant district attorney Joel Seidemann introduces and illuminates each speech from an insider's perspective. Arguments from landmark trials are included to reveal the smartest tricks of the trial lawyer's trade and demonstrate the power of an impassioned presentation to tip the scales toward the fulfillment of justice.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061745126
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	11/21/2023
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	384
File size:	1 MB

About the Author

Joel J. Seidemann has been assistant district attorney for New York County since May 1982, and since 1989 has been senior trial counsel responsible for trying murder cases and other serious and complex crimes. He has been adjunct professor of trial advocacy at Pace University School of Law since 1995, and was named Pace's Outstanding Adjunct Professor of the Year in 1999.

Table of Contents

	Acknowledgments	ix
	Introduction	1
1	A Tale of Two Verdicts: The O. J. Simpson Case	5
2	Celebrity Crime in the Spotlight: Marv Albert and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs on trial	62
3	The Green Beret Doctor of Death: The United States of America v. Jeffrey Macdonald	111
4	When Criminals Crave the Limelight: Three Defendants Defend Themselves	133
5	Street-Crime Sorrows: Sentencing Speeches for Forgotten Victims	152
6	An Uphill Battle: The Case Against the Subway Vigilante	164
7	In the Name of 6 Million: The Trial of Adolf Eichmann	179
8	A Victim of the War on Crime: The Amadou Diallo Case	202
9	A War of the Worldviews: The State of Tennessee v. John Scopes	212
10	A Confederacy of Dunces: The United States of America v. Martha Stewart	216
11	An Epic Affair: Bill Clinton Makes History	227
12	The Silkwood Mystery: The Estate of Karen Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corporation	236
13	Carnage in Oklahoma: The United States of America v. Timothy McVeigh	258
14	A Mother's Nightmare: Augustin Ballinas v. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation	290
15	High Times and Nepotism at the Koch Court: The United States of America v. Bess Myerson, Andy Capasso and Hortense Gabel	311
	Conclusion	341
	Sources	361
	Index	365

Editorial Reviews

Despite what the subtitle says, most of the high-profile cases that draw Seidemann's focus are from the last quarter-century (a much shorter span than that covered in another volume of closing arguments, And the Walls Came Tumbling Down by Michael Lief and Mitchell Caldwell, Forecasts, Aug. 23). The usual suspects (so to speak) are here: Johnnie Cochran's summation in O.J. Simpson's criminal trial, the prosecutors' opening statements in the cases of Adolf Eichmann and Timothy McVeigh. Seidemann, an assistant DA in New York City for over two decades, also offers three cases in which defendants represented themselves, including accused al-Qaeda conspirator Zacarias Moussaoui, though these and other cases (Martha Stewart, Marv Albert) seem included more for their notoriety than for the quality of the prose or legal arguments. But then there is William Jennings Bryan's eloquent, if debatable summation in the Scopes trial, proclaiming the amorality, if not the immorality, of science. Seidemann does achieve his two goals: to entertain the reader with legal drama and to remind the reader of some important details-that O.J., for instance, won his criminal case but lost in the civil suit. Seidemann's greatest service is to provide brief but thorough annotations of the cases, in which he considers some of the reasons behind an argument's success or failure. (Oct.) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly