EVERYDAY DEATH The Case of Bernadette Powell

Hardback. Margie Fields had high hopes for her daughter Bernadette. Her little girl was so bright and energetic - everyone seemed to notice her. When Bernie became the first black girl to make her Binghamton, New York, high school's colour guard, Margie knew her daughter was indeed special. Bernadette wanted to go to college and make something of herself. But she hadn't counted on meeting, falling in love with, and marrying Herman Smith. And then she hadn't counted on the beatings. Herman hit her, tied her up, scalded her, and threw her down the stairs. On July 9, 1978, Bernadette Powell shot and killed her husband. What seemed at the time to be a routine case of involuntary manslaughter soon turned into a second degree murder charge and a 15yr-to-life sentence for Powell. The author meticulously explores the Powell case and all the people it touched. Originally she intended to recount a story of simple injustice, but as she peeled away the layers of the case and searched deeper into Powell's life and the events surrounding Smith's death, she found that injustice was far more complicated than she had thought. Not just a simple courtroom drama, but an examination of how issues of race, sex, and class affect the judicial system and, ultimately, the most basic right of Americans. With an Afterword. 202pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Vg+ in Vg+ pcdw.