Terrorism defendants are not predestined to receive unfair trials. If we are alert to the stress factors that can undermine impartiality, we can take measures to avoid transforming the potential for injustice into the actuality of an unfair proceeding."—from the Preface
This is the inside story of an epic courtroom showdown between terrorism and the American legal system. On a snowy day in February 1993, a massive car bomb nearly toppled the World Trade Center. Four Middle Eastern men were quickly arrested and charged with the crime. At the time, Robert E. Precht was a staff attorney for the Legal Aid Society Federal Defender Division in Manhattan, handling routine cases as a public defender. He was surprised to be appointed defense attorney to the chief suspect, Mohammad Salameh, and challenged as never before by the media circus that this major terrorism trial would prove to be. The events and personalities of the trial make for gripping reading, but equally compelling are Precht’s observations on the forces arrayed against fair trials for accused terrorists.
