A Layperson's Guide to Criminal Law


Book Description

Mack explains criminal law in an easy-to-read format, complete with numerous examples that clarify some of the more difficult concepts. It is designed for anyone interested in exploring the basics of criminal law for personal, academic, or professional reasons. High-profile criminal trials have placed criminal law in the national spotlight. While these trials may contain straightforward factual circumstances, often the legal issues surrounding the criminal charges and defenses are complex and confusing. This book explains the basics of criminal law in an easy-to-understand format designed especially for the nonlawyer who has an interest in criminal law. The book approaches criminal law by discussing basic crimes and their elements to help readers understand the necessary requirements for charging and prosecuting crimes. To aid in understanding many of the concepts, the book includes numerous hypothetical situations that place some of the more difficult concepts in an everyday context, thereby making them more understandable. Criminal law defenses are also explored, in order to give readers an awareness of how and why some of the more popular defenses are presented in the criminal justice system. The book also provides an overview of the criminal trial process, from the arrest to the final verdict. Mack succeeds in demystifying criminal law by presenting it in an understandable format designed for the nonlegal scholar.







Rap on Trial


Book Description

A groundbreaking exposé about the alarming use of rap lyrics as criminal evidence to convict and incarcerate young men of color Should Johnny Cash have been charged with murder after he sang, "I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die"? Few would seriously subscribe to this notion of justice. Yet in 2001, a rapper named Mac whose music had gained national recognition was convicted of manslaughter after the prosecutor quoted liberally from his album Shell Shocked. Mac was sentenced to thirty years in prison, where he remains. And his case is just one of many nationwide. Over the last three decades, as rap became increasingly popular, prosecutors saw an opportunity: they could present the sometimes violent, crime-laden lyrics of amateur rappers as confessions to crimes, threats of violence, evidence of gang affiliation, or revelations of criminal motive—and judges and juries would go along with it. Detectives have reopened cold cases on account of rap lyrics and videos alone, and prosecutors have secured convictions by presenting such lyrics and videos of rappers as autobiography. Now, an alarming number of aspiring rappers are imprisoned. No other form of creative expression is treated this way in the courts. Rap on Trial places this disturbing practice in the context of hip hop history and exposes what's at stake. It's a gripping, timely exploration at the crossroads of contemporary hip hop and mass incarceration.




A Wilderness of Error


Book Description

Soon to be an FX Docuseries from Emmy® Award-Winning Producer Marc Smerling (The Jinx) featuring the author Errol Morris! Academy Award–winning filmmaker Errol Morris examines one of the most notorious and mysterious murder trials of the twentieth century In this profoundly original meditation on truth and the justice system, Errol Morris—a former private detective and director of The Thin Blue Line—delves deeply into the infamous Jeffrey MacDonald murder case. MacDonald, whose pregnant wife and two young daughters were brutally murdered in 1970, was convicted of the killings in 1979 and remains in prison today. The culmination of an investigation spanning over twenty years and a masterly reinvention of the true-crime thriller, A Wilderness of Error is a shocking book because it shows that everything we have been told about the case is deeply unreliable and that crucial elements of case against MacDonald are simply not true.




Mack's Expert Evidence Compendium


Book Description

"Expert evidence law has seen significant development in recent years. There is an increasing trend to have expert evidence tendered in court and the courts are being called upon with more frequency to rule on admissibility and probative value of such evidence. Equally important, the number of experts in this field is limited and access to commentary about those experts can be a valuable tool to assist counsel in trial preparation. Mack's Expert Evidence Compendium - 2019 Edition is comprised of case digests summarizing, reviewing and commenting on cases that consider expert evidence organized under specific topical areas. With the principles that govern admissibility of expert evidence in mind, this Compendium reviews areas of expert opinion evidence that have been advanced and the parameters and probative value of that evidence. The Compendium is an easily accessible and practical resource that will assist the practitioner in the identification of legal issues relating to expert evidence, the areas of expertise needed in a case and the experts qualified in the applicable field."--




The Myrna Mack Case


Book Description




Love Her to Death


Book Description

Love Her to Death: The True Story of a Millionaire Businessman, His Gorgeous Wife, and the Divorce That Ended in Murder by veteran true crime writer and New York Times bestselling author John Glatt A MARRIAGE: DESTROYED They were a picture-perfect family-until a bitter divorce drove Darren Mack over the edge. A Reno millionaire, Mack was ordered by the court to pay his wife $10,000 a month in alimony. Instead, he stabbed her in the garage while their daughter watched TV upstairs. A JUDGE: TARGETED The only person Mack hated more than his wife was the family court judge who presided over their divorce. So, after killing his wife, he loaded his gun and went after the judge... and headed for Mexico with a stash of concealed weapons. A KILLER: WANTED So began an international manhunt for a rage-filled fugitive-featured on "America's Most Wanted"-that eventually ended in Mack's capture. In a dramatic trial, the public would learn shocking details of the swinging lifestyle that ended his marriage, the ugly divorce that fueled his anger, and the final straw that triggered his bloody spree.