A TRIAL BY JURY

Hardback. One murder, twelve jurors and a verdict. What really goes on behind closed doors. A riveting account by a young historian and literary journalist, of how performing jury duty, a familiar civic duty, turned into one of the most harrowing experiences of his life. The People of New York v. Monte Virginia Milcray was a sensational murder trial. A body with multiple stab wounds was found in a tiny New York apartment; there were intimations of cross-dressing, male prostitution and mistaken identity. For the author, who was appointed the foreman, and the other 11 members of the jury, the days it took to arrive at a verdict proved more traumatic than the trial itself. Locked in the black box of the jury room all day and virtual prisoners in their hotel at night, 12 overwrought strangers struggled for a verdict where there were no sure answers. Attempting to steer the jury through the ambiguities of the case, the author discovered for himself the terrifying power of the state and the agonies of trying to achieve justice within the inherent rigidities of law. Part true crime, part political treatise, the book is a mesmerising narrative of one man's encounter with crime and punishment. 205pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in f. dw.