Ed Gaffney: Premeditated Murder

Premeditated Murder

Ed Gaffney

In Northampton, Massachusetts a big black man Calvin Thompson waited next door for the right moment to kill six men. He fired 120 bullets at them and received two back. District Attorney Fran O'Neill feels he has a perfect case for premeditated murder and plans to prosecute Calvin under the newly enacted death penalty law.

Attorneys Terry Tallach and Zach Wilson defend Calvin, who confessed he carried out his plan and killed the six. They see little hope of getting an acquittal so they lean towards an insanity plea as the legal team prepares for septuagenarian Judge Cottonwood, whose bench bias against alleged criminals is well known since his mother was raped and murdered. Instead of a straightforward case, Zach and Terry uncover a terrorist plot in which the six dead men were participants and a seventh member is still going ahead with destructive plans for Independence Day that ties in to a war in Africa that involves the White House.

This is a deep legal thriller that at its best in the court scenes and when the lawyers meet with their client. The media reaction is prejudicial as the Boston Post displays a picture of a bloody terrorizing looking Cal whom their headline calls Monster. Though the story line seems a bit over the top with the ties to the Oval Office the audience will not care as along with Terry and Zach fans will want to know the truth before the spin maestros twist it beyond comprehension. Ed Gaffney writes a fabulous tale that grips readers from the moment Judge Cottonwood shows his bench bias and never slows down until the confrontation with number seven.

Harriet Klausner