We've reached the one-year anniversary of the tragic Lewiston, Maine shootings on October 25, 2023, and the fallout continues in a steady drumbeat of proposed laws, official investigation reports, political elections, and legal action. The solemn occasion will be marked by a commemoration event at the Colisee on October 25, 2024 honoring victims, survivors, first responders, medical personnel and all those who have banded … [Read more...]
Why Tell This Tragic Story?
Since writing the book, The Lewiston Shootings: An All-American Tragedy, I've been asked a number of times why I chose to write about this horrible event. I've also been questioned on social media for doing so and it's been suggested that I've capitalized on others' pain to profit for myself. The emphasis on my motivations for writing the book, rather than on the issues raised about why it happened and what can be done to prevent it from … [Read more...]
Lewiston Commission Final Report: “Several Opportunities Might Have Changed the Course of Events” (But Don’t Ask For Solutions)
After nine months of subpoenaing witnesses and documents and listening to a wide range of testimony during sixteen public hearings, the Independent Commission To Investigate the Facts of the Tragedy in Lewiston issued its final report on August 20th. The 215-page report, while substantive in details that led to the failure to stop Robert Card II from killing eighteen Mainers on October 25, 2023, did not make any recommendations on how to fix … [Read more...]
Robert Conlin on Why Our Judicial System Tolerates Misconduct and Negligence
Like many millions of Americans, I am hooked on true crime stories. Some see this collective fascination with true crime as an indictment of our current society, but let's remember that Truman Capote's In Cold Blood was an international bestseller when it was published nearly 60 years ago. And 40 years before that, the Leopold and Loeb murder case and the Lindbergh child kidnapping and murder engrossed the nation. Judging by the many … [Read more...]
