Trial By Your Peers [Hardcover]

William Zamora (Author)

Product Details

• Hardcover: 483 pages
• Publisher: Maurice Girodias Associates; First edition (1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0818402288
• ISBN-13: 978-0818402289
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 1.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,053,652 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Discover books, learn about writers, read author blogs, and more.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1.0 out of 5 stars Sorry I ever bought it!, August 4, 2011

By 

R. Lowe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trial By Your Peers (Hardcover)

I expected so much more from Mr. Zamora's book. His continual business of getting names wrong...ex; "Danny Wilson" for Dennis Wilson. His claim that Leslie Van Houton was in Gary Hinman's house when it was Mary Brunner. His continual criticism of his fellow jurors.....and his attempt to come off as the only juror wirh a lick of sense. This is not the worst book I have ever read about the Manzon murders but it is a close one to being the worst. I could care less if he thinks he was an actor. One thing for sure is, he is no writer.

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent book of the Manson trial by an actual juror, March 13, 2011

By 

onemanwreckingcrew (Fort Lauderdale) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Trial By Your Peers (Hardcover)

Can't understand why the other reviewers are so critical.

Zamora did a fine job of remembering tons of detail. This is very difficult to do in the juror box where one is not allowed to take notes.

That the jurors were sequestered for nine months is a horror story in itself.

Selecting jurors took a month in itself.

What I found most interesting was Judge Older's admonition (pg 353) that jurors must follow the law as HE states it. He admonished the jurors to only worry about the "facts" of the case. This is typical unlawful repression of juror's rights under the USA Constitution. How do I know ? I went to law school for one year and have taken a case all the way to the Supreme Court. The judicial system does everything it can to prevent cases from ever getting to a jury trial in the first place. If they do reach that stage everything is done with the mindset of winning prosecutions, not advancing JUSTICE.

I have worked with Julian Heicklen a former chemistry professor, who, at 79 years old, works full time now to educate jurors on their constitutional rights while sitting on a jury. He has been arrested numerous time just for handing out this information from the Fully Informed Jury Association.

[...]

To sum up I found Zamora's writing style enjoyable.

I just wish he would have spoke more about the subject of jury nullification.

1.0 out of 5 stars A naricissist tries to write a book, January 13, 2009

By 

Kenneth E. Fletcher "kenthea" (Worcester, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Trial By Your Peers (Hardcover)

Zamora sure was full of himself. A part time two-bit actor, he was chosen to sit on the Manson jury, and he felt his deep insight into other people qualified him as the perfect observer and journalist of the process. Unforuntately, his perceptions are consistently shallow, and his writing is fairly awful. He spends a lot of time on trivialities, too. So the book is slow moving and the writing is annoying. I'm only reading this thing because I'm doing intensive research on Manson.