From a renowned investigative journalist comes the true story of a couple whose criminal exploits paralleled those of the controversial film "Natural Born Killers." photos. Original.

This indispensable history of the Eighth Amendment and the founders' views of capital punishment is also a passionate call for the abolition of the death penalty based on the notion of cruel and unusual punishment

Ninety-three-year-old Joseph Yourshaw knew his end was near and had carefully planned so that he would have a peaceful and dignified death. He completed an advance directive, appointed his daughter, Barbara Mancini, as his health care proxy, and enrolled in home hospice care. He made it clear -- he wanted to die at home, in comfort and with dignity, not at a hospital. But it was not to be. A simple act of compassion on Barbara's part led her father to a medically intensive, horribly painful death in the hospital - and left her an accused felon, facing 10 years in prison. Falsely charged with trying to assist her father in a supposed suicide attempt, she fought back, in a case that consumed a year of her life, cost more than $100,000, and drew national media attention. Readers will learn about the bizarre and outrageous treatment authorities inflicted on her, including details that never appeared in news reports at the time. Millions of Americans don't know it, but they or their loved ones could easily suffer a similar family tragedy. Readers will come to understand the risks they face and discover how to protect against them. The book also explores the combination of forces that so often cause people to die a death devoid of dignity and full of pain. Those forces include taboos about discussing impending death, religious ideology, ignorance of patients' legal rights, insufficient attention to effective pain management, poor hospice care, and the powerful life-saving imperatives of the health care system. Part memoir, part detective story about an innocent person's fight against injustice, and part social commentary, Cruel Death, Heartless Aftermath is a compelling narrative that holds valuable lessons for millions of readers.

The true-crime story of a bitter divorcée and the murder of her ex and his new wife, by the New York Times bestselling author of Cruel Death. It started when Alan Bates and his new wife arrived at his ex's house to pick up his two daughters for a weekend visit. Then two charred bodies were found in a burned-out car on a lonely Georgia road . . . and investigators pieced together a shattering story of a vicious divorce, a spurned woman's bitter rage, and a thirst for revenge that led to cruel, unflinching murder. Updating this gripping true-life thriller with shocking new details, M. William Phelps uncovers the cold heart of an unthinkable crime. Praise for Death Trap “A chilling tale of a sociopathic wife and mother willing to sacrifice all those around her to satisfy her boundless narcissism . . . A compelling journey . . . . Fair warning: for three days I did little else but read this book.” —Harry N. MacLean, New York Times bestselling author of In Broad Daylight Perfect for readers of Anne Rule and Kathryn Casey Includes sixteen pages of dramatic photos

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1890 edition. Excerpt: ...said Mr. Fogg. "Well, your honor," replied the pilot, " I can risk neither my men, nor myself, nor yourself, in so long a voyage on a boat of scarcely twenty tons, at this time of the year. Besides, we would not arrive in time, for it is sixteen hundred and fifty miles from Hong Kong to Yokohama." "Only sixteen hundred," said Mr. Fogg. "It is the same thing." Fix took a good long breath. " But," added the pilot, " there might perhaps be a means to arrange it otherwise." Fix did not breathe any more. "How?" asked Phileas Fogg. " By going to Nagasaki, the southern extremity of Japan, eleven hundred miles, or only to Shanghai, eight Imndred miles from Hong Kong. In this last journey, we wold not be at any distance from the Chinese coast, which v uld be a great advantage, all the more so that the currents run to the north." "Pilot," replied Phileas Fogg, "I must lake the American mail steamer at Yokohama, and not at Shanghai or Nagasaki." "Why not? "replied the pilot " The San Francisco stewnet does not start from Yokohama. She stops there and at Nagasaki, but her port of departure is Shanghai." You are certain of what you are saying? " "Certain." "And when does the steamer leave Shanghai? "On the llth, atseven oclock in the evening. We have then four days before us. Four days, that is ninety-six hours, and with an average of eight knots an hour, if we have good luck, if the wind keeps to the southeast, if the sea is calm, we can make the eight hundred miles which separate us from Shanghai." "And you can leave--" " la an hour, time enough to buy my provisions and hoist sail." " It is a bargain--you are the master of the boat? " " Yes, John Bunsby, master of the Tankadere." " Do you wish some earnest money? " " If it does not inconvenience...

The true and gripping account of the nine-year struggle by a small band of lawyers to abolish the death penalty in the United States. Its new edition features a 2011 Foreword by death-penalty author Evan Mandery of CUNY's John Jay College of Criminal Justice, as well as a new Preface by the author.The mission, plotted out over lunch in New York's Central Park in the early 1960s, seemed as impossible as going to the moon: abolish capital punishment in every state. The approach would fight on multiple fronts, with multiple strategies. The people would be dedicated, bright, unsure, unpopular, and fascinating. This is their story: not only the cases and the arguments before courts, the death row inmates and their victims, the judges and politicians urging law and order, this is the true account of the real-life lawyers from the inside. The United States indeed went to the moon, and a few years later the U.S. Supreme Court ruled the death penalty unconstitutional. The victory was long-sought and sweet, and the pages of this book vividly let the reader live the struggle and the victory. And while the abolition eventually became as impermanent as the nation's presence on the moon, these dedicated attorneys certainly made a difference. This is their tale.As Evan Mandery writes in his new Foreword, "In these pages, Meltsner lays bare every aspect of his and his colleaguesi thinking. You will read how they handicapped their chances, which arguments they thought would work (you may be surprised), and what they thought of the Supreme Court justices who would decide the crucial cases. You will come to understand what they perceived to be the basis for support for the death penalty, and, with Meltsner's unflinching honesty, what they perceived to be the inconsistencies in their position."Mandery concludes: "It is my odd lot in life to have read almost every major book ever written about the death penalty in America. This is the best and the most important. Every serious scholar who wants to advance an argument about capital punishment in the United States--whether it is abolitionist or in favor of the death penalty, or merely a tactical assessment--cites this book. It is open and supremely accessible." And the author's "constitutional vision was years ahead of its time. His book is timeless." Part of the Legal History and Biography Series from Quid Pro Books, the new ebook editions feature embedded pagination from previous editions (consistent with the new paperback edition as well, allowing continuity in all formats), active TOC and endnotes, and quality digital formatting.

“A knockout” (People) of a thriller from #1 New York Times bestselling author Patricia Cornwell featuring medical examiner Kay Scarpetta. “Killing me won’t kill the beast” are the last words of rapist-murderer Ronnie Joe Waddell, written four days before his execution. But they can’t explain how medical examiner Dr. Kay Scarpetta finds Waddell’s fingerprints on another crime scene—after she’d performed his autopsy. If this is some sort of game, Scarpetta seems to be the target. And if the next victim is someone she knows, the punishment will be cruel and unusual...