From Publishers Weekly
The combination of a strange Arizona law allowing a person to be convicted of a crime on the word of another who has previously confessed to that crime, an investigator for the county attorney in Phoenix who she claims hated her, and a man who she maintains lied to save himself brought Lukezic to trial. She was found guilty of contracting for the 1980 murders of her husband's business partner, Patrick Redmond, and his mother-in-law. The chapters in which Lukezic and Schwarz ( The Hillside Strangler ) describe her two years in jail vividly depict her torment as, deserted by her husband and brother, her children scattered, she tried to adjust to life. After two more trials, she was cleared. The real culprit has not been found. Rights sold to ABC-TV for a miniseries.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Library Journal
In 1981, Lukezic, a Phoenix housewife, was arrested and charged with contracting the murder of her husband's partner and his family. She was tried, convicted, and sentenced to death. But Lukezic was innocent, convicted mainly on the word of two associates, who were trying to protect themselves. Ultimately, with the aid of attorneys who believed in her, Lukezic was freed after serving three years in jail. This story shows the horror of how easily an innocent person can be arrested and convicted, yet it presents no new insights. Although the sections concerning prison life and the impact of Lukezic's imprisonment on her children are particularly poignant, this is only recommended to libraries with all-inclusive holdings on true crime.
- Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
- Sandra K. Lindheimer, Middlesex Law Lib., Cambridge, Mass.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.
