Customer Reviews

Scales of Justice the Jeffrey Macdonald Story

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The book Scales of Justice, although inexpertly published, is a much more fair and accurate account of the murders than Fatal Justice or several on-line story versions, including Mac's own highly biased website.

Scales of Justice is written by a former believer in Mac's innocence, who spent time and effort researching the case. Her opinions are based on Transcripts, Articles, and Reports, much of the material gained at personal cost through the Freedom of Information Act. If you truly want to study the case forget the cut and paste waste of time entitled Fatal Justice. Check out the actual documents and read them for yourself at:
www.thejeffreymacdonaldcase.com

mac's own site and fatal justice can not be described as unbiased in any shape, manner, or form! For example, mac's site still has a letter CM wrote years ago, expressing her belief in his innocence, even though she has repeatedly asked that it be removed since she no longer believes him innocent.

I found this book through www.thejeffreymacdonaldcase.com website. Having read Fatal Vision, the bestseller about the Jeffrey MacDonald murder case, I was anxious to learn more about the case. Ms. Masewicz's book Scales of Justice did not disappoint me. There is much in this book that has not appeared elsewhere, and I would say it is a must-read for anyone interested in this murder case.

To start off, to call this book the Jeffrey MacDonald story is a misnomer. This is a poorly written and very opinionated account of someone who obviously believes that he is guilty. Although the author occasionally brings to light problems and/or inconsistencies in the case which bring his guilt into question, those sections seem to be more of a token inclusion rather than an attempt to reveal the whole "truth," as the book holds itself out. Instead, it is a very biased account of someone who has obviously gotten very close to the Stevenson (Colette's) family, to whom I mean no disrespect. Anyone who has read Fatal Vision, and more importantly, Fatal Justice, will find very little useful information in this book - and the few bits that are offered are often poorly supported, or the source for the same is not identified.

The opinions and personal attacks of the author, as well as her personal theories, are a little hard to get through, especially in light of the poor writing and editing. Each and every page contains numerous typographical and/or grammatical errors, and many times the text is hard to follow. Granted, Ms. Masewicz has obviously taken great pains to obtain many documents, large sections of which are reproduced in this book. However, much of this is impossible to follow, as she continually adds her own comments in the middle of a supposed "quote," so that you cannot tell where the source information ends and her comments begin.

The inclusion of autopsy photos, although black and white and of poor quality, are distasteful at best. Also in bad taste are her attacks on the authors of Fatal Justice, and her plea at the end of the book to help her "fight to keep this man in prison for the rest of his life."

Anyone interested in an objective analysis of the evidence should read the book Fatal Justice by Jerry Potter and Fred Bost. At one time I, too, believed the media hyped version of Jeffrey MacDonald as portrayed in Fatal Vision. However, after skeptically beginning Fatal Justice, I found my opinion changing after getting through approximately the first quarter of the book. By the end, my view of the case was radically different.

The one redeeming quality of this book is that it emphasizes the loss of the fourth victim - the unborn son (victim as in fatality, as everyone associated with this family was truly a victim of this tragedy). Aside from that, nothing of much substance besides personal history of the Stevenson family is offered.

Anyone interested in an objective point of view should avoid this book. All you will be subjected to is unfounded opinions poorly expressed. Get Fatal Justice instead, and you'll find a much more thorough investigation, easily read, with sources properly credited.

One more comment...my apologies to anyone in the Stevenson family who may be offended by this review. They have indeed suffered a great tragedy, and I do not wish to minimize or make light of their situation or opinions. My comments are directly solely at the quality of this book.

I have to agree with Mr. Benjamin. Not only is the text poorly written and edited (or lack thereof), the inconsistancies are deafening.

I was totally blown away recently during my own research to find that Ms. Masewicz was in the same catagory as Mr. McGuiness (author of Fatal Vision)who said one thing and then turned around and did another. Ms. Masewicz can be found on Jeffrey MacDonald's website, praising him and telling him that she believes he is innocent and that she would do anything for him, if he asked her. You can find it at www.themacdonaldcase.org. I find that morally distorted and that someone with her non-ethical background should not have befriended a family who has been so tormented by their loss. Ms. Masewicz, you are indecent and your book should never have been published.