The Devil's Advocates: Greatest Closing Arguments in Criminal Law - Paperback

by Michael S. Lief (Author), H. Mitchell Caldwell (Author)

The Final Volume in a Must-Have Trilogy of the Best Closing Arguments in American Legal History

In The Devil's Advocates, Michael S. Lief and H. Mitchell Caldwell turn to the dramatic crimes and trials of criminal law. The eight famous cases in this riveting collection have set historical precedents and illuminated fundamentals of the American criminal justice system. Future president John Adams illustrates the principle that even the most despised and vilified criminal is entitled to a legal defense in the argument he delivers on behalf of the British soldiers who shot and killed five Americans during the Boston Massacre. Clarence Darrow provides a ringing defense of a black family charged with using deadly force after defending themselves from a violent mob - an argument that refines the concept of self-defense. And perhaps the best-known case is that of Ernesto Miranda, the accused rapist whose trial led to the critically important Miranda decision, which underpins procedure at every criminal arrest.

Author Biography

Michael S Lief is a senior deputy district attorney in Ventura, California. A former newspaper editor, he was a submarine driver for the U. S. Navy during the Cold War.