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.
Thousands of Americans are convicted of serious crimes they did not commit every
year. Only a small percentage of them are later exonerated, and often only after years of
costly investigation and litigation.
Justice is denied to the thousands of others who aren’t so fortunate — at great cost to themselves and their loved ones.
Starting in 1983, Martin Yant was one of the first people in the country to write about and investigate wrongful convictions. His 1991 book Presumed Guilty: When Innocent People Are Wrongly Convicted was the first book published in 30 years to focus on the overall issue.
Since then, Martin has devoted his life to freeing innocent inmates in Ohio and other states. His cases have been featured in numerous newspapers and magazines and on 48 Hours, Dateline, Forensic Files, Unsolved Mysteries and many other network TV shows.
Justice Denied dramatically tells how some of these tragedies occurred and what it took to free the innocent victims.
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.
