Martin D. Yant Was An Award-Winning Journalist In Pittsburgh, Chicago, Miami And Ohio Before He Became A Licensed Private Investigator In 1991 After Presumed Guilty, His Book On Wrongful Convictions, Was Published. Since Then, Martin Has Conducted High-Profile Pre-Trial And Post-Conviction Investigations Across The Country. His Investigations Have Helped Free 30 Wrongly Convicted Individuals, And He Has Been Called ‘‘The Most Successful One-Man Innocence Project In The Country.”
The Georgetown University graduate has written four other investigative books. The film rights to one of them – Rotten to the Core: Crime, Sex and Corruption in Johnny Appleseed’s Hometown – have been purchased by a California producer.
Thousands of Americans are wrongfully convicted each year, with only a fraction later exonerated, often after long and costly processes. Many remain unjustly imprisoned, impacting their lives and families. Martin Yant, a pioneer in investigating wrongful convictions since 1983, authored Presumed Guilty: When Innocent People Are Wrongly Convicted in 1991, the first book in decades to address this issue. Known as the “most successful one-man innocence project,” Yant has since helped free over 30 innocent people.
This true story of a talented young journalist moving to Mansfield, Ohio, to assume the position of editor of the newspaper is a compelling lesson of what can happen when good people turn a blind eye to corruption. Martin Yant’s well written account is as brave.
The American judicial system is far too often a source of injustice for the innocent rather than justice for the guilty. Despite all the alleged protections built into the trial process, a person facing criminal charges is virtually presumed guilty until proven innocent – not the reverse.
Apparently we had reached a great height in the atmosphere, for the sky was a dead black, and the
stars had ceased to twinkle.
