THE WHOLE TRUTH? A Case of Murder on the Appalachian Trail

Softcover. On May 13, 1988, Stephen Roy Carr, a so-called mountain man living in Michaux State Forest in southcentral Pennsylvania, shot two female hikers while they were making love at a campsite near the Appalachian Trail. Rebecca Wight died at the scene. Claudia Brenner, despite five bullet wounds, survived to testify against her attacker. The author reconstructs the dramatic story of this murder case and traces its disposition through the criminal justice system. Drawing on interviews with participants as well as court records, he closely examines competing interpretations of the evidence. Was the attack a hate crime? A sex crime? A class crime? At the same time, he shows how a broad range of substantive and procedural issues - from the rights of the accused to evaluation of potential mitigating circumstances - can influence the assessment of culpability in homicide cases. Illus. + Map and Index. 249pp. 8vo. softcover. From the library of true-crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. With a sl. 'curl' to fr. cover o/w Vg+