In the Interest of Justice: Great Opening and Closing Arguments of the Last 100 Years
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...
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Seidemann, assistant district attorney for New York County, collects memorable opening and closing arguments made by top prosecutors and defense attorneys in the last 100 years. Selected to explore every major aspect and challenge of the legal process, the speeches showcased here highlight the tactics, colorful language, and stirring rhetoric that lawyers use to win judge and jury to their side. Introductions and post-scripts accompany each selection. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR Publishers Weekly 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.
1A tale of two verdicts : the O. J. Simpson case52Celebrity crime in the spotlight : Marv Albert and Sean "Puff Daddy" Combs on trial623The green beret doctor of death : the United States of America v. Jeffrey MacDonald1114When criminals crave the limelight : three defendants defend themselves1335Street-crime sorrows : sentencing speeches for forgotten victims1526An uphill battle : the case against the subway vigilante1647In the name of 6 million : the trial of Adolf Eichmann1798A victim of the war on crime : the Amadou Diallo case2029A war of the worldviews : the state of Tennessee v. John Scopes21210A confederacy of dunces : the United States of America v. Martha Stewart21611An epic affair : Bill Clinton makes history22712The Silkwood mystery : the estate of Karen Silkwood v. Kerr-McGee Corporation23613Carnage in Oklahoma : the United States of America v. Timothy McVeigh25814A mother's nightmare : Augustin Ballinas v. New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation29015High times and nepotism at the Koch Court : the United States of America v. Bess Myerson, Andy Capasso and Hortense Gabel311
\ Publishers WeeklyDespite 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.\ \
