From Midnight to Guntown: True Crime Stories from a Federal Prosecutor in Mississippi

by John Hailman

As a federal prosecutor in Mississippi for over thirty years, John Hailman worked with federal agents, lawyers, judges, and criminals of every stripe. In From Midnight to Guntown , he recounts amazing trials and bad guy antics from the darkly humorous to the needlessly tragic.

In addition to bank robbers―generally the dumbest criminals―Hailman describes scam artists, hit men, protected witnesses, colorful informants, corrupt officials, bad guys with funny nicknames, over-the-top investigators, and those defendants who had a certain roguish charm. Several of his defendants and victims have since had whole books written about Dickie Scruggs, Emmett Till, Chicago gang leader Jeff Fort, and Paddy Mitchell, leader of the most successful bank robbery gang of the twentieth century. But Hailman delivers the inside story no one else can. He also recounts his scary experiences after 9/11 when he prosecuted terrorism cases.

Genres: True Crime, Crime, Nonfiction, Legal

400 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2013

Reviews

[Clyde Christopher · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hailman seems like a good dude at heart despite some modes of thinking that aren't surprising.

It is a true Mississippian and American tragedy that men like Mr. Hailman's legacies will forever be tainted by participation in the Drug War.

How strange it will seem to people in the future that a "civil rights attorney" who literally worked on civil rights cases also helped destroy civil rights in the state by pursuing those involved with drugs, resulting in Mississippi having one of the highest incarceration rates in the WORLD.

People like Hailman saw this through; they bear the brunt of this in terms of history, and we should be very slow to let them off the hook. Far slower than someone like Dickie Scruggs, at any rate.

Shame on you for your role in the Drug War, Mr. Hailman. May you use your last years to repair what you helped damage.

[Syd Sawyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Dense, full of detail! Great storytelling by the author, well organized. It’s interesting to read stories about the state you live in — Mississippi has a lot of stories to tell.

[Shelleyrae at Book'd Out · Rating 3 out of 5]

From Midnight to Guntown is a true account of various cases encountered by retired Federal prosecutor John Hailman during his thirty year career in the Mississippi justice system.

The cases Hailman relates are interesting and cover a wide range of criminal activity from bank robbery to corruption and terrorism. The focus is on the workings of the justice system and specifically Hailman's role in the investigation and prosecution of the cases he dealt with.

Occasionally the cases are amusing, detailing bungling robbers for example, but more often they are simply tragic, such as in the case of the Natchez Trace shooting which resulted in the death of a young boy. I was horrified to learn that in Hailman's district an amateur local hitman will usually kill for less than $5000, often for less than $1000 and saddened to learn that racial tensions still flourish in the South. While some cases are mentioned only in passing several are the focus of in depth reporting including the murder of Emmett Till, an African American boy who was murdered aged 14 in 1955 for flirting with a white woman and whose case was reopened in 2004.

Hailman's writing has a lot in common with a detailed legal brief. It is rich with procedural detail, perhaps too much for the average reader though the minutiae of he said/she said/he did/she did will probably be appreciated by someone who works in the legal or justice system. The text isn't entirely dry however, Hailmain is candid and personable and even humourous at times.

Usually I am content to ignore formatting issues in e-galley's but in this instance I found it affected my reading experience. A line and a half of text, was followed by a blank line, then a line and a half of text, then a blank line and so on, and this became a real issue for me as it was very distracting.

From Midnight to Guntown shares fascinating insights into the complexity of crime and justice in Mississippi. This is a book true crime and legal thriller buffs are sure to enjoy.

[Book Lovers Never Go to Bed Alone · Rating 5 out of 5]

True crime is a fascinating thing. Truth is stranger than fiction and nothing reflects that more than the annals of crime. John Hailman was a federal prosecutor for over thirty years. In his long career, he's worked with federal agents, judges, attorneys, and criminals of every sort. In his book From Midnight to Guntown, he recounts some of the best, worst, most hysterical, and tragic of his experiences over the years.

The writing style in this work is clearly "just the facts ma'am" in its direct, no-nonsense staccato approach. It works well here. The stories risk getting bogged down by details that those of us not in the criminal justice system don't care about, but Hailman knows just when to pull back. The prose reminds me of an old noir! Hailman also reveals a very personal side of the justice system when he discusses the civil rights cases he's handled. Coming from the deep South, race has been and still is an issue in all facets of life. The Emmett Till case was one of the more powerful and personal cases in this chapter, and Hailman's handling is graceful, tasteful, and factual all at the same time. His work looks at corruption, chaos, intrigue, and insanity in the criminal justice system.

From Midnight to Guntown is a success. It works. Poignant, disturbing, unsettling, funny, painful, and entirely human. Hailman doesn't claim the system is perfect. He doesn't demonize or judge. He just gives it to us to decipher as we will.

[Susie James · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read John's memoir with great interest. I lived in Oxford, Miss., from 1970-79, and with the exception of my final year there, I worked for the Eagle, to which John refers as the "Buzzard"; I was fresh out of college at MSCW, the women's college now university in Columbus, Miss. Many times I covered federal court cases and the local police and sheriff's office stories. Others on staff also covered this type news; politics included. While all the cases John writes about aren't specifically from Lafayette County, there's a broad reach, and our timelines aren't exactly the same, either, as John's older than I, and he didn't come on staff with H. M. Ray at the U. S. Attorney's office at Oxford until 1974, and I left Oxford for Greenville, Miss., in 1979. Many of the folks in his book, I knew, to some degree! John writes clearly and in an engaging style. I'd recommend reading this book, and I look forward to more of his writings, as he indicates he likely will do more books.

[Lynn Shurden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book about many famous and some not so famous trials and cases in MS. And I was ok even with the incorrect statement that "hwy 61 runs by Parchman prison". Actually Hwy 49 goes by Parchman. But then the statement that the Emmett Till murder occurred on the Shurden place which was managed by the Milam brothers really upset me. This was reported in a Memphis newspaper but corrected the next day. It actually occurred on the farm west of the Clint Shurden farm and across the bayou. My husband was upset about this incorrect info until the day he died. Unfortunately, many times once something is on print, it is considered "truth". I would hope that perhaps in Mr. Hailman's next book, he might correct this for my dead husband's and his children's sakes.

[The Advocate]

"'From Midnight to Guntown' conveys the life of a federal prosecutor who has committed to the penitentiary a crowd of colorful characters and committed to memory the extraordinary details of his best cases.

Here we get a true cross-section of Mississippi society: rich lawyers and two-bit drug dealers, smart guys who should have known better and incredibly stupid crooks — all crossed the line, and all were exposed at trial."

Read more here.

[Robbin Vokes · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read several parts of this book, the sections on Parchment Prison and the one on Emmett Till.oo
p. 231 "She [Carolyn Bryant] was not on trial even though Leflore County sheriff George Smith had had a warrant issued for her arrest for kidnapping.". Strange that this warrant was recently found in a basement somewhere when Hail man writes about it in 2013.

Also just realized that there's a new movie "Till."

[V.A. Herring-Trice · Rating 3 out of 5]

I bought this book because I am a Guntown, Mississippi native. I thought I would know or relate to some of the characters, especially since I worked with one of the attorneys mentioned in the book. But in the end, it wasn't as compelling or interesting as I thought it would be. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone as a "must read."

[Tricia Joyce · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved it! An interesting and humorous look at some famous, and some not so famous, cases in Mississippi. Hailman is a natural story teller.

[Ginger · Rating 3 out of 5]

It was interesting reading about the federal cases in MIssissippi. Some of the crimes, I grew up knowing about but many I had never heard.

[Gaby Chapman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Through crime stories, a window into Mississippi history and culture.