Description
Book Synopsis For six decades, Pittsburgh-based forensic scientist Cyril Wecht has been an outspoken authority when horrible things happen to everyday people--murders, childhood deaths, tragic accidents and police brutality. His expertise and testimony have been called upon in high-profile cases, including the deaths of John F. Kennedy, Robert F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., Elvis Presley, JonBenet Ramsey, Laci Peterson and others.
As a criminal defendant, in 1979, he was acquitted on charges of personally profiting from his office as Allegheny County Coroner; a federal public corruption charge was dismissed in 2008. Both cases, his attorneys argued, were politically motivated. Wecht''s memoir describes his work on famous cases, his life in the public eye and his legal battles with determined and powerful authorities, from his hometown DA to a U.S. Attorney and the FBI.
Trade ReviewCyril couldn't be intimidated if you faced him with a Sherman tank." —F. Lee Bailey
"I respect Cyril enormously because he stays out there in the public eye and keeps saying what he believes. He's a straight shooter." - Oliver Stone
"Cyril Wecht is an old warrior. When I had dinner with him not too long ago, I could still see bright flashes of the curiosity, the indignation and the fire that have propelled his legendary career for five decades." - Alec Baldwin
"Cyril is a no-nonsense, straight-talking expert. He's a renowned scientist who has little patience for rigmarole or politics. He speaks to the forensic truth of what his investigations and examinations reveal." - Geraldo Rivera
"Cyril Wecht has tremendous credibility. He is not a 'witness for hire.' He's a witness for the truth." - Alan Dershowitz
Table of Contents
- Acknowledgments
- Preface
- Introduction
- My Hometown
- Lessons in Malevolence
- Federal Trial Part I: Choose a Victim, Invent a Crime
- "Be a doctor and you will be your own boss"
- Love and Early Skirmishes
- The Golden Rule: "he who has the gold, rules"
- Federal Trial Part II: Mad Dogs at the Door
- To Sin by Silence: The Assassinations of JFK and RFK
- Media Darling
- Federal Trial Part III: The Aftermath
- I Did It My Way
- The Cyril H. Wecht Institute of Forensic Science and Law
- Witness for Truth: Casework
- Contributors
- The Authors in Brief
- Other Books by Cyril Wecht
- Index
