Customer Reviews

A Perversion of Justice: A Southern Tragedy of Murder, Lies and Innocence Betrayed

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I thought this book was fantastic. I am from Pensacola, Fl where this book takes place and have had experience with the way the Investigators handle things down there. I was molested for years by my step father and when I went to press charges at 14, I was treated like the criminal and not believed. Even put into a little trap to see if I was making the story up, or maybe I just liked the attention and wanted the abuse. I think Pensacola needs to stat deciding to care for the children and not their own careers. This book definetly makes you understand how these kids were found guilty, when they were already treated as guilty even before they went to trial.

Leaving me shocked, disturbed, enraged and at times in tears over the brutal way Alex and Derek were treated, I really think we should all applaud the step Kathryn Medico and Mollye Barrows have taken in writing this book. There is no doubt in my mind that a Perversion of Justice occurred from the very beginning and I am personally horrified that we live in a society where a prosecutor can take a man to trial for murder and not even try to get a conviction and I'm further horrified that a young child can be forced to testify in open court and in handcuffs at the murder trial of a man accused of molesting him.

Regardless of who committed this crime, the fact is that the system failed these young boys miserably and it's only time someone take responsibility for fixing this broken system and Mollye and Kathryn's book is a good first start.

I strongly recommend anyone who cares about justice in America to read this book.

Congratulations to Kathryn and Mollye for standing up for what's right even when it seemed that everyone you talked to "just knew" what happened. This book is so revealing, in that it will open the eyes of anyone who reads it to the truth and yet allows the reader to make his/her own conclusion. It simply gives us the facts that no one heard in the trial. Kathryn does an excellent job of explaining everything so that no one is left confused with techniqual court terms. Thank you sooo much Kathryn for this book, and if you do not have a copy of this , I suggest that you run to the bookstore and snatch it up!

This outstanding book transports the reader to another realm... one full of injustice, negligence, and profound sadness. Poor Alex and Derek never stood a chance against the adults that abandoned, neglected, and abused them. You would think that the juvenile/legal system would be there for them! Instead they swung the hammer that sealed their fate, condemning them for their juvenile ignorance instead of helping them overcome the trials they faced due to the perverse, dishonest actions of adults.

I thank Kathryn Medico and Mollye Barrows for their in-depth investigation of this travesty. If not for their efforts to uncover the truth, this story may have never come to light.

For three days every time I had a free moment i was reading this book trying to understand just how our justice sytem has sustained for so long when everything that is wrong with it is exposed through the Terry King murder trial. I remember hearing about this case on the news a few years ago and all I ever really got from the media was how distirubed these children must have been to have committed these crimes and what was wrong with the children in the world these days. Little did I know that all the faults in this case were do to people simply not doing their job and just trying to put this case to an end and get a convition the easiest way possible. But even though most of the media just portrayed these kids as uncaring terrible children, Mollye, a news reporter genuinely wanted to find the truth..........something my be our justice system should have been interested in as well. VERY VERY VERY good and thought-provoking book!

This well researched and accurate account of one of the most terrible examples of state sanctioned child abuse should be required reading for all parents and legal professionals. The fact that two children could be charged as adults and face life in prison without the POSSIBILITY of parole demonstrates the incredible stupidity of both the Florida legislature, as well as its judiciary. The focus of punishment, when children are convicted of crimes, MUST be on rehabilitation and not punishment and this book clearly shows that laws which allow such prosecution are among the most barbaric our system of justice metes out.

Medico and Barrows should be praised for offering such an in depth account of the terrible ordeal these two young boys endured. Please read this book. It will open your eyes to the immorality and the injustice towards children accused of crimes in Florida, and the manner in which ethics, fairness and justice have been lost in favor of getting headlines as being aggressive towards children who are accused of crimes.

This is a true wake up call to parents, particularly in Florida. While it may frighten you, it is reality and "A Perversion of Justice" will show you how out of control the courts have become when dealing with children.

Kathryn Medico and Mollye Barrows, authors of "A Perversion of Justice", produced an outstanding book about the Terry King murder case in Pensacola and how the Florida justice system destroys the victim's sons.

The story tells of two young brothers and how they were betrayed not only by a justice system, functioning in the dark ages, that should have protected them, but also by a family friend, who turns out to be a convicted pedophile wanting to steal them away from their single parent father and then who finally uses them as sacrificial lambs in the pit that he dug.

If you believe in trying children in adult court, reading this book should change your mind. When you understand what these children had to endure at the hands of the prosecutor, even when the prosecutor was their advocate in a molestation trial and his rolling the cold stone of his office over them, will turn your head in disgust.

A wise judge once said that a proper sentence has both justice and compassion in it. For the King boys there was neither justice nor was there compassion from either the judge or the prosecutor.

To all, I recommend that you read this book. But I also recommend this book should be mandatory reading by Florida's Governor, Florida's Legislators, and the Florida Bar Association. You will get an eye opener.

Proverbs 26:27
Whoso diggeth a pit shall fall therein: and he that rolleth a stone, it will return upon him

A Perversion of Justice hit the nail on the head. Great work Mollye and Kathryn! The book explains through a child's eye the horrors of today's juvenile injustice system. I hope the book is bought by every American family and read by every parent. The tough on juvenile crime political bandwagon parading in this country has been misinterpreted by parents who really have no concept of what they are voting for when they elect politicians with this stance.

This book is a definite wake up call. Parents only find out the terrible reality when their own child gets caught up in the barbed web of the system, and they learn the hard way that their children really aren't under their protection. When prosecutors are given the right to prosecute any age child as an adult, as is the case in Florida, in essence, no child is safe and all children belong to the state instead of their parents.

Ever since a "tough-on-juvenile-crime" political response to a media-hyped juvenile crime wave in the early 90s, the United States Juvenile Justice System has increasingly become a nightmare for America's children. Children caught up in the justice system are no longer recognized as children, yet aren't afforded the rights granted adults. Florida leads the nation in belief that children should be locked away for life.

Society should never respond to children who have committed crimes as though they are somehow equal to adults, fully formed in conscience and fully aware of their actions. Placing children in adult jails is a sign of failure, not a solution. In many instances, such terrible behavior points to societies own negligence in raising children with a respect for life, providing a nurturing and loving environment, or addressing serious mental or emotional illnesses.

Scientific studies have proven that the adolescent brain is not fully formed. Therefore, children should not be held equally culpable as adults. The Legislature needs to come out of the dark ages and listen to experts on child psychiatry and scientific data on human growth and development.

The draconian laws of the past two decades need to be re-evaluated and changed. An easy first step to juvenile justice reform in Florida would be for the Legislature to remove juveniles tried as adults from mandatory sentencing schemes and restore to juvenile judges discretion of deciding whether a child is to be tried in juvenile or adult court, instead of letting prosecutors decide.

There should be defined lines of age distinction drawn between child and adult. If visual difference isn't enough to convince, logic and common sense should recognize that children aren't allowed to drive, sign contracts or vote among other things, because society doesn't believe they are mentally mature enough to do these things competently. Therefore, why is it that if a child commits a crime they are suddenly classified by the courts as an adult?

Any competent adult should know better.

Children are this county's most precious commodity, because they are our future. If a society is judged by how well it treats its most vulnerable, the past two decades of America's juvenile justice system will be recorded as barbaric.

Read this book and you will want to change the juvenile justice system. Laws can be changed, one vote at a time.

This book was very interesting, it sucked me in from the beginning. After reading the book and watching the documentary on A&E about the King brothers I'd have to say that I still don't think they did it. I think it was all Rick Chaves. I don't think the kids were in the right state of mind either. They were brain washed into thinking they're father (terry) didn't love them and was abusing them. I also dont think it was fair that Rick got off as lightly as he did. I know that were his sentence he wont be getting out anyway, but still I think there was enough evidence to convict him for murder.

Medico and Barrows pulled off what few authors can do now--they profiled a tragic case and pulled it off without sounding snotty or stupid. Using language that we can understand, they break down the tragic story of Alex, Derek, and Terry King. Everything from the beginning of Terry's life, to the unstable life the boys were brought up in and Ricky Chavis' life is told in detail. Even the trial stuff was interesting, which some authors tend to lack the skill to do (meaning, usually this is the most boring part of the book). I'm apalled at how Alex and Derek were treated in prison by their own defense team for the molestation charges against Alex, no less! The DEFENSE harassed their own client! Uh, can we say ridiculus?

This is an excellent true crime. Even the younger readers that are interested in true crime (like me) are capable of understanding this.