For the last several years, I have had the opportunity as a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers to formally review books related to criminal defense and to have my review printed in The Champion magazine.

This year, I have decided to review Scrapped Justice and a Teen Informant: The Real Story of Heidi Allen’s Kidnapping. I have never heard of Heidi Allen’s case, but I know a thing or two about informants :)

Lisa Peebles, one of the authors, is a federal public defender from New York. She teamed up with John O’Brien, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated investigative journalist. Peebles notes in her acknowledgments that the entire story is true, and that their hope in writing the book was to “shine light on the fallibility of our criminal justice system. It’s important for everyone to understand that both sides suffer when the system fails — the accused and the victim.”

I could not agree more. Having been fortunate enough to have had one client exonerated of murder, it has been heart-wrenching to know that all these years later the victim’s murder has never been solved. All too often after an exoneration, law enforcement stubbornly maintain they had the right person all along and never reopen the investigation, leaving the victim having never received the justice she deserved.

I’m looking forward to reading about Heidi Allen’s case, especially from a defense lawyer’s perspective. I’ve always had a goal of someday writing a book just like this about a case I had poured so much of my life into. For now, I’ll settle for reading someone else’s account…