Play Audiobook Sample
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist: A True Story of Injustice in the American South Audiobook
Play Audiobook Sample
(0.00) - 0 listener ratings
Quick Stats About this Audiobook
Total Audiobook Chapters:
Longest Chapter Length:
Shortest Chapter Length:
Average Chapter Length:
Audiobooks by this Author:
Publisher Description
A shocking and deeply reported account of the persistent plague of institutional racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent lives
After two three-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Together they spent a combined thirty years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2008. Meanwhile, the real killer remained free.
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how the criminal justice system allowed this to happen, and of how two men, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, built successful careers on the back of that structure. For nearly two decades, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend Dr. West, a local dentist, pitched himself as a forensic jack-of-all-trades. Together they became the go-to experts for prosecutors and helped put countless Mississippians in prison. But then some of those convictions began to fall apart.
Here, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington tell the haunting story of how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation system -- a relic of the Jim Crow era -- failed to deliver justice for its citizens. The authors argue that bad forensics, structural racism, and institutional failures are at fault, raising sobering questions about our ability and willingness to address these crucial issues.
Download and start listening now!
"If, like most Americans, you think that our legal system protects innocent people from being falsely convicted, be prepared to have your faith shattered. In horrifying detail, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington show how structural racism, junk science, overzealous prosecutors, compliant judges, and a bloodthirsty press conspired to wreck lives and convict the innocent. Grounded in Mississippi courtrooms, but with national implications, this bookwill leave you outraged and hungry for change."
— JamesForman, Jr., Professor, Yale Law School and author of Locking Up OurOwn: Crime and Punishment in Black America
Quotes
-
“A superb work of investigative reporting…Balko and Carrington combine expertise, industry, and outrage into a searing narrative.”
— Wall Street Journal -
“Junk science convicted these men; real science set them free…The inability of judges and jurors to tell the difference is why innocent men languish in jail while the prosecutors who put them there run for higher office.”
— New York Times -
“A blistering exposé of Mississippi’s bungle-prone process of investigating deaths.”
— Garden & Gun magazine -
“A horrifying exposé of how a few individuals can infect an entire state’s criminal justice system.”
— Kirkus Reviews (starred review) -
“Sometimes the best thing a narrator can do is just get out of the way of the story. Robert Fass does just that with this tale of stunning forensic fakery in the criminal justice system…Fass’ delivery is measured, steady, and varied with slight pauses…and keeps listeners engaged.”
— AudioFile -
“A clear and shocking portrait…This eminently readable book builds a hard-to-ignore case for comprehensive criminal justice reform.”
— Publishers Weekly (starred review) -
“Notable for its depth and geographic focus…this [is a] stinging exposé of faulty forensics.”
— Library Journal -
“The authors uncover an unholy alliance of racist cops and prosecutors with questionable death investigations and misapplied forensics. This work should spark both admiration and outrage—and, one hopes, reform.”
— Booklist -
“This is a true crime story, but it is more than a report of the tragic murders of two young girls. The crime at the center of this book is the one committed by a justice system that is more concerned with conviction rates than unearthing the truth…A chilling reminder of what happens to the rule of law when the law forgets the rules.”
— BookPage -
“A powerful and instructive story, masterfully told by Balko and Carrington.”
— Ibram X. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author -
Of all the tragedy documented in this book, surely the most pernicious is the unacknowledged progression of discriminatory policies in the American criminal justice system. The black men at the story's center were not snatched out of a Mississippi jail and lynched. They were falsely imprisoned. They were haunted by state efforts to execute them for three decades. This is a powerful and instructive story, masterfully told by Balko and Carrington.
— IbramX. Kendi, National Book Award-winning author of Stamped from theBeginning: The Definitive History of Racist Ideas in America -
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist paints a devastating picture of Mississippi's ongoing systemic abuse of junk evidence by medical examiners and highlights the myriad ways the current legal and political systems reward certain and speedy convictions. This carefully constructed and highly-readable account also reveals the ways in which catastrophic and almost comic expert errors can lead to hasty conclusions, ruined lives, and may take years to correct, if they are corrected at all.
— DahliaLithwick, Senior Editor, Slate -
A haunting true-crime tale of systemic incompetence and racism...Balko and Carrington have written a cry for help.
— The New York Times -
A superb work of investigative reporting....Balko and Carrington combine expertise, industry and outrage into a searing narrative.
— Wall Street Journal -
A horrifying exposé of how a few individuals can infect an entire state's criminal justice system.
— Kirkus Reviews, *Starred Review* -
A clear and shocking portrait of the structural failings of the U.S. criminal justice system... This eminently readable book builds a hard-to-ignore case for comprehensive criminal justice reform.
— Publishers Weekly, *Starred Review* -
Through the intensive scrutiny of how the men were speedily tried, convicted, and then released after years in prison, the authors uncover an unholy alliance of racist cops and prosecutors with questionable death investigations and misapplied forensics. This work should spark both admiration and outrage-and, one hopes, reform.
— Booklist
Awards
-
A Publishers Weekly Pick of the Week
-
A BookPage Book of the Day selection
-
A New York Times Pick of New Books We Recommend This Week
-
An Audible.com “Best of the Year” Finalist in True Crime
-
One of Kirkus Reviews’ Best Books of 2018 in Nonfiction
-
A 2019 Audie Award Finalist for Best Narration in Nonfiction
The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist Listener Reviews
Be the first to write a review about this audiobook!
About the Authors
Radley Balko reports on criminal justice, the drug war, and civil liberties for the Washington Post. He was previously a writer and investigative reporter at the Huffington Post and a reporter and editor for Reason magazine. He is an author and co-author of two acclaimed nonfiction books. His work has been cited twice by the US Supreme Court and by the Mississippi Supreme Court and two federal appeals courts. He has won the Los Angeles Press Club’s Journalist of the Year award, the NACDL’s Champion of Justice Award, the Innocence Project’s Journalism Award, and the Bastiat Prize for Journalism.
Tucker Carrington is the director of the Mississippi Innocence Project at the University of Mississippi School of Law. He has worked as a criminal defense lawyer for his entire legal career, most of it as a public defender in Washington, DC.
About Robert Fass
Robert Fass is a veteran actor and twice winner of the prestigious Audie Award for best narration. He has earned multiple Earphones Awards and been named in AudioFile magazine’s list of the year’s best narrations for six years.