Synopses & Reviews
A tale of brazen politics that also charts an extraordinary choice and a journey of personal redemption.
How a small-town Arkansas woman became a nationally known felon is one of the most fascinating and unexamined legacies of the Clinton presidency. Born to a U.S. Army sergeant and his Belgian bride, Susan Henley was one of seven children in a boisterous Arkansas family; in her teens, she regularly made patriotic speeches at her local American Legion hall. In 1976, she married Jim McDougal, a mercurial entrepreneur, who soon turned their life into a rolling sideshow of bank acquisitions and real estate deals, including one fatefully dubbed Whitewater.
In the mid-1990s, Susan McDougal unexpectedly found herself facing federal prosecutors who represented Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr. They offered her a deal relief from legal jeopardy that included Whitewater charges in exchange for damaging information on Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Initially willing to answer prosecutors' questions, she soon realized that if she did testify truthfully, she'd be opening herself to a possible perjury trap by contradicting Starrs chief witnesses: the felonious former judge, David Hale, who, it was later revealed, received financial support from the Clinton-hating right-wing millionaire, Richard Mellon Scaife; and Jim McDougal, by then her ex-husband, who had also cut a deal with Starr. Frightened, depressed, and facing financial ruin, in an extraordinary act of courage she simply refused to testify and was immediately slapped with civil contempt and incarcerated. Though imprisonment was meant to coerce her cooperation, twenty-one months in seven jails including a hellish seven-week stint in lockdown 23-hours per day in a Plexiglas-enclosed, soundproof cell failed to extort from her the testimony Starr hoped for.
Now McDougal breaks her silence. In this long-awaited book, she examines the life choices she has made as she narrates her story in a candid and wry voice. She also offers fresh anecdotes about the Clintons early years in politics, a close-up view of Starrs sinister investigation, and a moving portrait of what happens to women in American prisons. For millions of Americans who believe that Starr, appointed by Republicans dissatisfied with the first Whitewater prosecutor, pushed his investigation too far, Susan McDougal remains the very embodiment of the ordinary citizen whose liberty is usurped by a coercive government.
The Woman Who Wouldnt Talk stands boldly as a cautionary tale for all Americans eager to hear a voice speak truths about our government louder and more fully than the media ever does, because theyve been learned firsthand and at great personal sacrifice.
Review
"McDougal doesn't come away looking totally clean in this tale....But if half of her dealings with Starr's lawyers are as she states, this book starkly shows what happens to people who stand up against government coercion. There are some fresh takes on Bill Clinton...and her views on how prison changed her for the better add texture to an interestingly told tale." Ilene Cooper, Booklist
Review
"Even with her memory gaps, no reader will feel McDougal got what she deserved, or that the grand-jury process can be anything less than the rotten apple in the legal barrel." Kirkus Reviews
Review
"[A]n engaging, sometimes gossipy, insightful biography, notable for its accounts of [McDougal's] different trials and more so for the depiction of life in women's prisons....McDougal herself comes across as a spirited and forthright person who does not hesitate to call Kenneth Starr a liar who would ruin lives in order to implicate the Clintons." Library Journal
Synopsis
Imprisoned for two years after refusing to testify in the Whitewater investigation, McDougall tells her story for the first time--a disturbing account by an ordinary woman whose fateful choices turned democracy against her. photos.
Synopsis
A searing manifesto on the ills of the criminal justice system from two of America’s most prominent defense attorneys.
The American legal system changed dramatically in 1994, when the O. J. Simpson trial became a television-ratings bonanza. Now it’s all crime, all the time, on TV, from tabloid news to police procedurals on every network. Americans know more about the criminal justice system than ever before. Or do they?
In Mistrial, Mark Geragos and Pat Harris argue precisely the opposite: In pursuit of sensationalism, the media shows the public only a small, distorted sample of what really happens in our courtrooms. So, ironically, the more the public thinks it knows, the less informed it really is.
Mistrial debunks the myth of impartial American justice and draws the curtain on its ugly realities—from stealth jurors who secretly swing for a conviction to cops who regularly lie on the witness stand to defense attorneys terrified of going to trial. Ultimately, the authors question whether a justice system model drawn up two centuries before blogs, television, and O. J. Simpson is still viable today.
In the aftermath of the Casey Anthony trial, the flaws in America’s justice system are more glaring than ever. Geragos and Harris are legal experts and prominent criminal defense attorneys who have worked on everything from celebrity media-circuses to equally compelling cases defending individuals desperate to avoid the spotlight, and Mistrial’s behind-the-scenes peek at their most fascinating cases will enthrall legal eagles and armchair litigators alike—as it blows the lid on what really happens in a courtroom.
Synopsis
A searing manifesto on the ills of the criminal justice system from two of America’s most prominent defense attorneys.
The American legal system changed dramatically in 1994, when the O. J. Simpson trial became a television-ratings bonanza. Now it’s all crime, all the time, on TV, from tabloid news to police procedurals on every network. Americans know more about the criminal justice system than ever before. Or do they?
In Mistrial, Mark Geragos and Pat Harris argue precisely the opposite: In pursuit of sensationalism, the media shows the public only a small, distorted sample of what really happens in our courtrooms. So, ironically, the more the public thinks it knows, the less informed it really is.
Mistrial debunks the myth of impartial American justice and draws the curtain on its ugly realities—from stealth jurors who secretly swing for a conviction to cops who regularly lie on the witness stand to defense attorneys terrified of going to trial. Ultimately, the authors question whether a justice system model drawn up two centuries before blogs, television, and O. J. Simpson is still viable today.
In the aftermath of the Casey Anthony trial, the flaws in America’s justice system are more glaring than ever. Geragos and Harris are legal experts and prominent criminal defense attorneys who have worked on everything from celebrity media-circuses to equally compelling cases defending individuals desperate to avoid the spotlight, and Mistrial’s behind-the-scenes peek at their most fascinating cases will enthrall legal eagles and armchair litigators alike—as it blows the lid on what really happens in a courtroom.
Synopsis
A searing and entertaining manifesto on the ills of the criminal justice system from two of Americas most prominent defense attorneys.
From the rise of the Internet and the 24-hour news cycle to the television ratings bonanza of the O.J. Simpson trial, a perfect storm of media coverage has given the public an unprecedented look inside the courtroom, kicking off popular courtroom shows and TV legal commentary that further illuminate how the criminal justice system operates. Or has it?
In Mistrial, Mark Geragos and Pat Harris debunk the myths of judges as Solomon-like figures, jurors as impartial arbiters of the truth, and prosecutors as super-ethical heroes.
Mistrial draws the curtain on the courts ugly realitiesfrom stealth jurors who secretly swing for a conviction, to cops who regularly lie on the witness stand, to defense attorneys terrified of going to trial. Ultimately, the authors question whether a justice system model drawn up two centuries ago before blogs and television is still viable today.
In the aftermath of recent high-profile cases, the flaws in Americas justice system are more glaring than ever. Geragos and Harris are legal experts and prominent criminal defense attorneys who have worked on everything from celebrity media-circuseshaving represented clients like Michael Jackson, Winona Ryder, Scott Peterson, Chris Brown, Susan MacDougal, and Gary Conditto equally compelling cases defending individuals desperate to avoid the spotlight.
Shining unprecedented light on what really goes on in the courtroom, Mistrial is an enjoyable, fun look at a system that rarely lets you see behind the scenes.
About the Author
Mark Geragos is the head of Geragos and Geragos, a Los Angeles-based law firm that focuses on both criminal and civil trial work. In his 30-plus year career, he has tried approximately 300 cases and has served as a regular legal analyst on CNN, Fox, and ABC shows. He lives in Los Angeles, California with his wife and two children.
Pat Harris is a leading criminal defense attorney and is a partner at Geragos and Geragos. He is a regular contributor on legal issues for shows on Fox and CNN, is the co-author of Susan McDougals New York Times bestselling memoir The Woman Who Wouldnt Talk, and speaks regularly at law schools across the country. He lives in Studio City, California with his wife.
Table of Contents
The Evolution of a Marxist Holy-Roller -- The Bride of McDougalstein -- The Young and the Restless -- You Keep Manhattan, Just Give Me That Countryside -- The Bridges of Madison Guaranty -- Just Another Manic Monday -- The Brentwood Hillbilles -- To Thee, I Cling -- The Reincarnation of Ma Barker -- Et tu, McDougal -- When You Diss Upon a Starr -- The Silence of the Ham -- An Unlucky FOB -- If It's Tuesday, This Must Be Sybil Brand -- Death of a Salesman -- Free Bird -- She Thinks She's Susan McDougal -- Starr Wars.