Objection!

April 11, 2005
Grace, an ex-prosecutor who for years has been a fixture on Court TV and now CNN, attacks criminals and their lawyers in this fiercely opinionated critique of the criminal justice system. Grace became a prosecutor after her fiancé was murdered and claims to have achieved a 100% conviction rate. A political shuffle cost her that job, but God, she believes, led her to the airwaves to continue her battle of good against evil. Defense attorneys, she contends, are con artists whose job is "to obscure the truth from the jury." Other targets of the author's wrath are celebrity defendants who, she says, receive special treatment at trials and in sentencing; greedy citizens who talk their way onto juries to gather material for instant books; and hucksters who sell memorabilia collected from depraved criminals. Grace inveighs against those who profit from high-profile trials, but fails to note that her own role as television's pro-prosecution talking head could be criticized on that ground. Grace energetically argues that television cameras should be allowed at all trials. No matter how self-serving this proposal may be when made by a prominent member of the "24/7 media," the idea is intriguing and enlivens what is otherwise a fairly predictable and angry rehash of O.J., Peterson, et al. Agent, Frank Weymann.