The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery [Paperback]

Barbara D'Amato (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1, 1997

Chronicles the experiences of Dr. Branion, who in 1968 was accused and convicted of killing his wife and who, despite the prosecution's knowledge of his innocence, endured more than twenty years of appeals and jail time before he was vindicated. Reprint.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Chicago, 1968. Martin Luther King had just been assassinated. The city lay in fear of black mobs, student unrest, violence in the streets. As Barbara D'Amato says, "It was not a good time to be going to trial for anything. It was an absolutely terrible time to be black and going on trial for murder." This stirring tale about a clearly innocent man (his alibi was unassailable) shows how a murder investigation can--by narrowing its focus on a "prime suspect"--go completely awry. A good third of the book is about the doctor's adventures as a fugitive in Africa, where he spends time with such notable figures as Eldridge Cleaver and Idi Amin. The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery won the Anthony and Agatha Awards for Best True Crime.

From Publishers Weekly

In 1967 Donna Banion, wife of a wealthy black Chicago obstetrician/gynecologist, was murdered in their apartment. Mystery novelist D'Amato ( Hardball ) has done an outstanding job of re-creating the era and locale to explain what happened and why. John Banion was European-educated and spoke four languages; his wife was the daughter of one of the wealthiest African American families in the Windy City. His lifestyle was flamboyant, featuring a mistress, a boat, thoroughbred horses and auto racing. Although Dr. Banion was found guilty of his wife's murder, D'Amato argues convincingly that he was innocent. Banion fled to Africa, where he spent 12 years before he was returned to Illinois to serve his 20-to-30-year sentence. Appeals filed in state and federal courts failed as his health deteriorated, until he was finally given a pardon a few weeks before he died in prison in 1990. A well-told, horrifying story.
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Berkley (January 1, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0425156249
• ISBN-13: 978-0425156247
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,102,654 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Lost in the Shuffle, April 29, 2002

By 

jack olsen - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery (Paperback)

It's axiomatic in the publishing business that books with black protagonists will never crack a bestseller list. Thus with "The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery." Too bad. Barbara D'Amato has written a stunning and terrifying study of our injustice system and its built-in bias toward black defendants, no matter how accomplished or brilliant they may be. It took this superb writer five years to research and write, and no wonder. In any list of the best works of crime journalism, this book must stand near the top. Warning: it will move you to tears. And rage. And maybe make you lose your last vestige of respect for a "justice system" that long ago stopped providing equal justice under law.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A TRAVESTY OF JUSTICE..., April 6, 2003

By 

Lawyeraau (Balmoral Castle) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery (Paperback)

This riveting book chronicles and analyzes the amazing Branion murder case in which Dr. John Branion was arrested, tried, and convicted for the December 1967 murder of his wife, Donna. This was a case that caught the imagination of the public, at the time, as the Branions were a prominent family within the African American community in Chicago. I remember seeing a recap of this case on "Unsolved Mysteries" many years later and thinking that it was just about impossible for the doctor to have committed this crime, unless he could have been in two places at once.

The evidence that led to Dr. Branion's arrest was virtually non-existent and wholly circumstantial, fueled by conjecture and speculation. The police work was shoddy, at best, bolstered by faulty memories and a desire to close the case. Dr. Branion was tried in the then notoriously corrupt criminal justice system of Chicago, Illinois. The defense team was spearheaded by an attorney who was astonishingly inept. The prosecution was led by a veteran prosecutor who evidently left his ethics at home everyday before heading off to work. Many years later, the lead prosecutor acknowledged that he knew that Dr. Branion himself could not have committed the murder but prosecuted him any way, as he believed that Br. Branion had paid someone to kill his wife, despite lacking a scintilla of evidence to support such a theory. To compound this travesty of justice further, the trial was presided over by a corrupt judge who took a payoff and who, many years later, was convicted of taking bribes. Need one say more?

The murder of his wife Donna was to begin an undreamt of odyssey for Dr. Branion. After his conviction, he was permitted to be out on bail while pending appeal. For nearly three years, he waited in limbo, until his appeals were exhausted. When his appeals failed, he was sentenced to a minimum of twenty years in prison. He then did the only thing that he felt an innocent man could do, when faced with the prospect of a twenty year sentence for a crime he did not commit. He fled the jurisdiction, a move that would find him spending the next twelve years on the run in Africa until his eventual capture and return to the United States in 1983. He would then spend the next seven years in prison awaiting justice. When it finally came, it was too little, too late.

The author, who together with her husband, a law professor, tirelessly worked pro bono on Dr. Branion's appeals upon his return to the United States, puts together a well researched and persuasive chronicle of Dr. Branion's tragic saga. Well written and comprehensive, this compelling narrative will keep the reader riveted to its pages. It is with good reason that the author was the recipient of the Anthony and Agatha Awards for Best True Crime. Those who enjoy the true crime genre, as well as those who enjoy mysteries, will find the story contained within the pages of this book fascinating. Bravo!

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The further mystery of the name of the doctor, November 15, 2001

By 

Douglas R. Shanklin (Woods Hole, Massachusetts) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Doctor, the Murder, the Mystery: The True Story of the Dr. John Banion Murder Case (Paperback)

This is an outstanding account of a remarkable real life search which proved the innocence of Dr. John M. Branion, convicted in a court of law of the murder of his first wife, Donna. Please note the misspelling of the family name; it is NOT Banion, at least not on my two copies of the book!! The dedication of the writer and her attorney husband toward the solution of false conviction and false imprisonment, but not the crime itself, is an example of welcome dedication to the best of human interest and the never ending search for justice. One should not overlook the severe failings of the judicial system in this case and this book should be read by everyone interested in competent courts and officials, honesty in their dealings, and in protection of the rights of persons accused of a major crime. If only! The case became celebrated long after the crime; TV show "Unsolved Mysteries" has treated this fairly (their first 30 minute piece) and, I am told, it still runs occasionally.