The Court of Last Resort

This post is review of Edgard Award Winner book 'The Court of Last Resort: The True Story of a Team of Crime Experts Who Fought to Save the Wrongfully Convicted' written by Erle Stanley Gardner.

During the middle of the last century, Erle Stanley Gardner (July 17, 1889 – March 11, 1970) was a popular writer of the detective genre. He created many characters in his writing but is best known for fictional criminal side lawyer Perry Mason. 

Perry Mason novels were very popular in my childhood. They were not only favourite of my father and mine but enthralled millions throughout the world. 

Perry Mason’s clients were wrongly accused of murder and he with the help of his detective friend Paul Drake as well as his clever cross-examination unfolded the real culprit.

Gardner was a professionally trained lawyer. He did practice law for some time, but later devoted his time to writing. In between, he created a team of his friends from forensic, legal, and investigating fields and named it the Court of Last Resort.

It took cases of convicted persons, who or their lawyers - despite convictions - claimed innocence. Gardner read the testimony of the witnesses and the team reinvestigated the cases. They brought their findings before the Governors or the courts to get the convicted persons - parole, pardon or retrial. Some of these cases have been published in a book titled ‘The Court of Last Resort’.

I had heard about the court of last resort and knew about the book but could not lay my hands on the same as its revised edition, published in 1954, was out of print. It was reprinted in 2017 and I had purchased it but could not read it. This summer, once I started reading it, I could not stop till I finished,

The basic flaw in the cases discussed was identification of the accused as well as ignoring the fundamental rule of criminal law that witnesses lie but the medical evidence and circumstances don’t. However, the untrained observers failed to notice significant circumstances. 

The team pointed out how prosecution failed to bring out all evidence before the court or defence inadequacy for not giving proper importance to the circumstances or the judges’ failure to properly instruct the jury. 

Apart from the cases the book talks about prison reforms and improvement in police force as well as investigation. The book is a must read for every criminal side lawyer, judges deciding criminal cases, prosecutors and police investigators.

#BookReview #TheCourtOfLastResort #PerryMason #ErleStanleyGardner