Polit- & Justizthriller

Byron Smith moved back to his family home in Little Falls, Minnesota, to care for his elderly mother and enjoy a quiet retirement from the US State Department. On Thanksgiving Day 2012, Byron shot and killed two teens who broke into his home by breaking a bedroom window. It was the sixth burglary in less than six months. Previous burglaries included over fifty thousand dollars in gold, cash, jewelry, and his Vietnam medals. He feared for his life as each burglary became more violent, and the fear that he would be killed by his own guns intensified. With his training in security, he installed cameras and recorders and locked and dead bolted every door and window to his home to prevent entry. Prescription drug bottles were found in the teen's car from another home they had broken into the night before. Byron was convicted of first-degree murder in April of 2014 after an unusual trial and sentenced to life in prison. Before the trial, he lived with his neighbors, John and Kathy Lange and their fifteen-year-old-son, Dilan. This story is an intimate insight into this family's friendship and support of Byron while this incident became national news. A Dateline episode, "12 Minutes on Elm Street," aired in May of 2014, only depicted a small portion of the real story. This book reveals facts that were not allowed in the trial and how the ripple effect of our nation's drug epidemic caused a US veteran to be imprisoned by his own fear.

In 1989, Eileen Franklin, a young California housewife, claimed to recover a repressed memory of her father killing her playmate 20 earlier. In a landmark trial, the father was charged and convicted of first-degree murder, based solely on his daughter''s testimony. This book chronicles the trial, explores the remarkably dysfunctional Franklin family, and delves into the reliability of repressed memory as evidence in court.This version contains a 2011 Epilogue, which details the reasons for the reversal of George Franklin''s conviction and the refusal of the district attorney to retry him for murder.

Forget what you've seen in all the high-gloss airport movies. Enter the unvarnished world of air traffic control, aircraft accident investigation, and government cover-ups. A world where courtrooms are used to distort facts and oaths to tell the truth have no meaning, where witnesses are manipulated and the stakes of winning and losing are destroyed careers and multimillion-dollar rewards.Michael Edmunds, an expert witness in air traffic control, takes on the case of his life when a private aircraft and a commuter airliner operating under radar control and assigned different altitudes collide in the rain-soaked night skies over Upstate New York. The normal investigation and legal process is accelerated by a US senator whose wife died in the crash. High-powered government officials attempt to cover up mistakes, recorded transmissions are altered, and evidence is destroyed.Edmunds discovers that not only does he have to deal with a bureaucracy bent on discrediting him but will also be working with two inexperienced lawyers with different agendas, one of whom turns out to be his ex-fiancée from the distant past. Their breakup had been less than cordial to say the least.Ed Strong weaves an engaging tapestry of twisting plots in this engrossing thriller.

For six decades, Pittsburgh-based forensic scientist Cyril Wecht has been an outspoken authority when horrible things happen to everyday people. His memoir describes his work on famous cases, his life in the public eye and his legal battles with determined and powerful authorities, from his hometown DA to a US Attorney and the FBI.

A chronicle of ten mid-Victorian trials that features brother versus brother, aristocrats fighting commoners, an imposter to a family's fortune, and an ex-priest suing his ex-wife. Most of these trials assailed a culture that frowned upon displays of bad taste, revealing fault lines in what is traditionally seen as a moral and regimented society.

On a summer day in 1898, a family in Dover, Delaware, shared a box of chocolates they received from an anonymous sender. Within days, two of the seven family members were dead; the other five became ill but recovered. The search for the perpetrator soon moved from Delaware to California, where a suspect was quickly identified: Cordelia Botkin.

Sexual predators exist in our society and their evil desire leads them to commit heinous, brutal crimes with little concern for their victims or the toll it takes on the community. Violent sociopaths have no interest in the needs or safety of anyone else and see ordinary people as either targets or competitors. They have no hesitation taking what they want from their victims. Whether they are rapists, pedophiles, or murderers, these monsters will do whatever it takes to get their needs met and their evil desires satisfied.Captain Dean T. Olson (retired) is a veteran sex crimes detective with the Douglas County (Nebraska) Sheriff's Office, serving the Omaha area. In his 30-year law enforcement career he has seen some of the most horrible crimes committed by one person against another and he has arrested some of the worst sexual predators the nation has ever seen.

Sometimes the Safe Path isn't the Right One. As a young man, Don Redden didn't have big plans for his future beyond raising a family, a good career at General Electric, and making it through the Vietnam War alive. His plan was simple, honest, and safe. When Don's tour of duty in the Army was over and he got home alive, it looked like he was on track to achieve everything he had set out to do.A chance encounter with an FBI agent led him to make a momentous decision and abandon the safe path he had set for himself. He would apply to join the FBI. This began the adventure of a lifetime. From bank robberies to kidnappings to murder, Don did what he had to, sometimes against protocol and sometimes against instinct, to protect those he could and bring justice for those he couldn't."Don is a humble guy who lived the adventure of being an FBI agent, and loved every minute of it. His commitment to courage and duty led him to make sacrifices, some big and some small, but he did so with his eyes open and always for the good of those people he could help and for the difference he could make every day." -Charlie Shor, from the Foreword