The Hanging Judge
By: Michael Ponsor
Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
Published: 2013
Place of publication: New York
Language: eng
Number of pages: 478
ISBN-13: 9781480441941
Subjects: Administration of Criminal justice; Fiction; Capital punishment; Judges; Murder; Sentences (Criminal procedure); Trials (Murder)
Description: "When a drive-by shooting in Holyoke, Massachusetts, claims the lives of a Puerto Rican drug dealer and a hockey mom volunteering at an inner-city clinic, the police arrest a rival gang member. With no death penalty in Massachusetts, the US attorney shifts the double homicide out of state jurisdiction into federal court so that he can seek a death sentence. The Honorable David S. Norcross, with only two years on the bench, now presides over the first death penalty case in the state in decades. He must referee the clash of an ambitious female prosecutor and a brilliant veteran defense attorney in a high-stress environment of community outrage, media pressure, vengeful gang members, and a romantic entanglement that threatens to capsize his trial--not to mention the most dangerous force of all: the unexpected"--Publisher.
Notes: In 2000-2001 Judge Ponsor presided over the Commonwealth's first death penalty case in more than 50 years. "The Hanging Judge" is the first novel written by a judge who has presided over a death penalty case. Judge Ponsor discusses the process in writing the story, which is written from various viewpoints, including the arresting police officer, defense attorney, the prosecutor, the judge, etc.