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The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist cover art

The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

Written by: Radley Balko, Tucker Carrington, John Grisham - foreword
Narrated by: Robert Fass
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Publisher's Summary

A shocking and deeply reported account of the persistent plague of institutional racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent lives

After two 3-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Together they spent a combined 30 years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2008.

Meanwhile, the real killer remained free. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how the criminal justice system allowed this to happen, and of how two men, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, built successful careers on the back of that structure. For nearly two decades, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend Dr. West, a local dentist, pitched himself as a forensic jack-of-all-trades.

Together they became the go-to experts for prosecutors and helped put countless Mississippians in prison. But then some of those convictions began to fall apart. Here, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington tell the haunting story of how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation system - a relic of the Jim Crow era - failed to deliver justice for its citizens. The authors argue that bad forensics, structural racism, and institutional failures are at fault, raising sobering questions about our ability and willingness to address these crucial issues.

©2017 Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington (P)2017 Hachette Audio

What listeners say about The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

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Story that HAS to be told!

This book will amaze at the unfairness to the system in Mississippi. In the beginning of the book, it was said that "you will want to put the book down and shake your head at this story" ..not quoted exactly, but along those lines. Quite right. Many times I stood, mouth open, listening in horror to the MANY injustices this book brings to light.
A MUST READ!

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Brought tears to my eyes, several times.

This ebook brought tears to my eyes, several times.

The value of freedom, the injustice of wrongful conviction and the effect it has on a human being

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Awesome but very sad book

I find it hard to believe that Hayne and West are not doing time for lying under oath.
I am so appalled at what a racist bunch of human beings we are. I fully believe most of it is learned, but it can be changed. We just don’t desire it enough.

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Very interesting

Great documentary about injustice in the Mississippi legal system but it was too long and detailed for me.

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