The wrong guys : murder, false confessions, and the Norfolk Four / Tom Wells and Richard A. Leo.

The wrong guys : murder, false confessions, and the Norfolk Four / Tom Wells and Richard A. Leo.

New York : New Press : Distributed by W.W. Norton, 2008.

xi, 342 pages, 8 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm

On July 8, 1997, nineteen-year-old sailor Billy Bosko returned to his home in Norfolk, Virginia, from a naval cruise to find his wife on the floor of their bedroom, raped and stabbed to death. In this story of justice gone awry, four innocent men separately confess to the heinous crime that none of them actually committed. Though the real perpetrator has since been convicted, three of the four remain in prison today, attesting to the powerful role confessions--even false ones--play in our criminal justice system, where they typically trump fact, reason, and common sense. Writer Wells and law professor Leo interweave a narrative covering the unfolding of the case with an exploration of topics ranging from coercive interrogation, police perjury ("testilying"), and prosecutorial politics, to the role of the death penalty in criminal law.--From publisher description.

Includes bibliographical references (pages 325-330) and index.

STA

KFV2967.H6 W45 2008

English

9781595584014 hardcover
1595584013 hardcover