Legal Blunders

by Geoff Tibballs, Helena Kennedy (Introduction)

In the siege at Ruby Ridge the FBI erred fatally. Crazily, Colin Ferguson killed at random on the Long Island Railroad and in court acted in his own defense. For decades the jury has been out on Sacco and Vanzetti. Cases like these and numerous other instances of incomprehensible judgments, hostile juries, bungled executions, security leaks, and incompetence among felons and police officers alike all figure significantly in this eye-opening compilation of criminal blunders and judicial screw-ups. The legal horror stories that appear in these often shocking, occasionally unbelievable, and sometimes amusing pages run a gamut of error from the tragic misjudgments at Waco to an absent-minded judge who neglected to sentence a convicted defendant to death, from a disastrous case of mistaken identity that led to the shooting of an innocent man by the London police to police dogs that have protected the felons they were supposed to attack. This dismaying collection offers cases, too, of criminals who have made some fairly major mistakes like failing to put gas in the tank of the getaway car or heisting a van supposedly stashed with gambling chips (they made off with a high-calorie cache of potato chips). And of course Son of Sam was nabbed by a parking violation. The law may or may not be an ass, but its breakers and upholders are often without doubt asinine, as this volume abundantly shows.

Genres: Nonfiction, Crime

384 pages, Paperback

First published March 30, 2000

Reviews

[Candy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting. A few funny bits made it an enjoyable read.

[Damien Terblanche · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really interesting read and offers some great insight into legal matters that made headlines and the ones that became popular for the lessons taught throughout the legal field. Id recommend it to anyone in the legal field. It will only help to learn from other people's blunders. You're guaranteed to come away from this book with quite a few stories to tell too.

[Lisa · Rating 3 out of 5]

Mr. Tibballs is a British writer, so I appreciated both his outsider perspective on the American justice system and his stories of the British system. Sometimes I did have trouble following the British stories because of the terminology he used and the type of legal system they have in Britain. Since the book is written for a British audience, the nuances of that system are not explained for American readers. But I actually enjoyed not having it watered-down or over-explained.
On the other hand, Mr. Tibballs' style can veer to the melodramatic. This is not a scholarly book, but an overview of dozens of legal cases, organized by type. It is an easy read, though, and Mr. Tibballs has some interesting insights.

[Adebayo Oyagbola · Rating 4 out of 5]

Full of bizarre blunders by police and criminals and reveals the often grinding and soul numbing nature of police work.