Publisher's Synopsis
Hostile juries, incomprehensible judgements, bungled executions, security leaks, and incompetence among felons and police officers alike abound in this eye-opening volume of the criminal blunders and judicial screw-ups that have chequered legal history.
Often shocking, occasionally unbelievable, and sometimes amusing, the legal horror stories in these pages run a gamut of error from the tragic miscalculations at Waco to an absent-minded judge who neglected to sentence a convicted defendant to death, from a disastrous case of mistaken identity by London police to police dogs that have protected the felons they were supposed to attack. Included, too, are tales of the numerous criminals who have made some fairly major mistakes, like the bank robbers who failed to put petrol in the tank of the getaway car or like Son of Sam, who was nabbed by a parking violation.
The law may or may not be an ass. There is less doubt, however, about its enforcers and violators, as this book of legal blunders conclusively demonstrates.
