It might be Alabama or Alaska, Tennessee or Texas, Michigan or Minnesota. The name of state doesn't really matter. Most wrongful conviction cases have a similar theme - Person A gets arrested for a shockingly heinous killing. He's vilified in the media. The victim's family hates him. The judge throws the book at him. The convicted killer goes off to prison. The media coverage stops. Ten years pass, maybe a lot longer. Then, like a piano … [Read more...]
Author John Ferak’s Work on the “Making A Murderer” Steven Avery Case
Wrongful Convictions At The Crux Of 'Making A Murderer' And FAILURE OF JUSTICE Who would have predicted that a Christmastime 10-part documentary on a true-crime right here in Wisconsin would spark international interest in America's criminal justice system and the plight of wrongful convictions like we've never seen before? My new true crime book, FAILURE OF JUSTICE, describes such a case, as did the Netflix series, 'Making a Murderer,' which … [Read more...]
Prosecutor Proved The Beatrice 6 Innocent And That Their Confessions Were False
John Ferak’s new book "FAILURE OF JUSTICE" about Beatrice, Nebraska brings to mind those strange days when we came face to face with the reality that five people had falsely confessed to participating in a murder. That case confirmed a belief that I have held throughout my career as a prosecutor and as defense counsel. Interrogation is not investigation. The successful solicitation of a confession is no substitute for thorough … [Read more...]
Investigator Tina Vath Unraveled Beatrice’s FAILURE OF JUSTICE Homicide Case
Nebraska Police Investigator Talks About Her Role In The Beatrice 6 Investigation In 2003, I became the Beatrice Police Department’s Criminal Investigator. At the time the department had only one investigator position. I knew the story of the Helen Wilson murder and subsequent investigation that led to the arrest and conviction of six people. I had not reviewed any of the case file and never questioned their guilt or innocence. I just believed … [Read more...]
Did A Psychic Help Solve The Helen Wilson Rape-Murder in Beatrice, Nebraska?
As of February 1988, the Helen Wilson murder investigation was in need of a fresh set of eyes - like a psychic, perhaps? By 1988, more than a hundred potential suspects had been interviewed, examined and excluded. Mostly these were southeastern Nebraska residents, but some were out of state serial rapists from the likes of Kansas and Colorado as well. It didn't matter. Wherever the Beatrice Police Department seemed to go looking, … [Read more...]
FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions; A True Crime Thriller By John Ferak
'MAKING A MURDERER' TIMES SIX! If the dubious efforts of law enforcement that led to the case behind MAKING A MURDERER made you cringe, your skin will crawl at the injustice portrayed in FAILURE OF JUSTICE: A Brutal Murder, An Obsessed Cop, Six Wrongful Convictions. Award-winning journalist and bestselling author John Ferak pursued the story of the Beatrice 6 who were wrongfully accused of the brutal, ritualistic rape and murder of an elderly … [Read more...]
“Making A Murderer,” FAILURE OF JUSTICE Shine Light on Wrongful Convictions
Millions across the globe have watched 'Making a Murderer' on Netflix. It's the story of Wisconsin's Steven Avery. He goes to prison in the 1980s. He's a victim of a wrongful conviction for a brutal rape. Years later, he goes back to prison for murder and people are now debating whether he was victimized by a broken criminal justice in Wisconsin - again. My new book chronicles the terrible saga of Nebraska's Beatrice 6. FAILURE OF JUSTICE is … [Read more...]
Burl Barer and Frank C. Girardot Jr. True Crime Collaboration: A TASTE FOR MURDER
Frank Rodriguez, a much-loved counselor of troubled teens, lies dead on the bedroom floor. His wife and stepdaughter are in shock, and so is the medical examiner when he performs the autopsy. Aside from being dead, Frank is in perfect health. Demanding to know the cause of her husband's death, Angie Rodriguez badgers the police, insisting that Frank was murdered. The cops attribute her assertions to overwhelming grief, but soon they too … [Read more...]
True Crime Author Steve Jackson Interviewed For 48 Hours Story On Oregon Murder Case
Show aired March 5 In the course of working on a potential book in Oregon about a man accused of murdering his girlfriend and mother of his child by pushing her off a cliff in 2009, I suddenly became a focal point of a January hearing over a defense motion to dismiss the case. Pre-trial efforts to dismiss a case are not unusual. However, the defense attorney, Mike Arnold, partly based his witness questioning during testimony on the … [Read more...]
