ISSN 1062-7421
Vol. 9 No. 12 (December 1999) pp. 578-580.

THE WHOLE TRUTH? A CASE OF MURDER ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL by H. L. Pohlman. Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1999. 249 pp. Cloth. $45.00. ISBN 1-55849-165-1. Paper. $15.95. ISBN 1-55849-166-X.

Reviewed by Christopher E. Smith, School of Criminal Justice, Michigan State University.

Atypical criminal cases often garner the most public attention. Bizarre murders, serial killers, and dramatic jury trials capture newspapers' front pages and fill the story lines of movies and television shows. Those of us who teach courses about criminal procedure work continuously to counteract our students' tendency to generalize and draw conclusions about criminal justice processes based on highly publicized, unusual cases. More importantly, all of us, as citizens, must guard against the inclinations of state legislators and other decision makers who fall prey to these misperceptions in formulating court reforms and public policy. Citing
public reactions to the O. J. Simpson murder trial as an example of these problems, H. L. Pohlman sets out "to write a narrative of a typical murder case that
would be both interesting and informative for the general public" (p. 6). Pohlman's project is premised on the "[a]ssum[ption] that an informed public is perhaps the best way to prevent [proposals for] flawed reforms" (p. 6) based on atypical cases.

I applaud Professor Pohlman's motives, and I find much to praise about this interesting, well-written book. It should be noted at the outset, however, that THE WHOLE TRUTH? A CASE OF MURDER ON THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL is not "a typical murder case." The case concerned two female graduate
students who were shot while hiking and camping on the Appalachian Trail. Unlike most murder cases, this case briefly gained modest attention from the national
wire services--I remember reading about it in an out-of-state newspaper at a distance from the Pennsylvania crime scene. The media attention can be explained by several factors. The shooting victims, one of whom survived, were educated, upper middle-class elites. The assailant was a stranger. The apparently random act of violence violated the tranquility of the Appalachian Trail, a recreational setting frequented by upper middle-class elites. Moreover, there was probably a titillation factor at work for some members of the press and public when it emerged that the victims were lesbian lovers. This final factor led others to publicize the case as a means to raise public awareness about hate crimes. If Pohlman truly wanted to educate the public about a "typical murder case," then arguably it would make more sense to study and describe a homicide with a non-affluent victim who was shot by a boyfriend or other acquaintance (i.e., non-stranger) after an argument (i.e.,
non-random) at a bar (i.e., alternative recreational setting). In addition, the nature of court processes and the relationships and interactions of the key decision makers for a "typical" case might be better represented by describing events in a busy urban courthouse rather than the local legal culture of a small town in rural Pennsylvania.

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Pohlman reconstructs the case through court records and interviews with key participants. Although the author did not gain the cooperation of the surviving victim, the in-depth interviews with the investigating police officers, the prosecutor, the defense attorney, the defense investigator, and the judge provide an illuminating picture of the homicide investigation process and the strategies of opposing counsel. The author's awkward interview with the imprisoned shooter raises interesting issues but is ultimately less useful for posing questions about the legal process. The author wisely uses the interview with the perpetrator as an addendum rather
than making it central to the story of the case. The book conveys to the reader several elements that are seldom revealed in other works about criminal cases. In particular, the reader gets a keen sense of police officers' motives and concerns in questioning victims and suspects. Moreover, the book provides interesting examples of police officers' disagreements with each other about various investigative strategies. Although the author's characterization of this case as "typical"
is questionable, the book -- and the reader -- ultimately gain significant benefits from the non-typical nature of the case. The attorney appointed to represent the defendant was experienced and skilled. Moreover, the defense benefited from the work of a skilled investigator, an actor who is notably absent in many "typical" murder cases. Thus the book does an especially good job of showing issues that can arise when a vigorous adversarial process is applied to a homicide case. Because the author had cooperation from the prosecutor and defense counsel, the reader can follow the details of legal strategies concerning an effort to exclude evidence due to an alleged MIRANDA rights violation, a planned diminished-capacity defense based on the defendant's mental state, and the possibility of the prosecution's pursuit of capital punishment. One of the book's greatest strengths is in showing the ways in which discretionary decisions and strategies by lawyers and judges shape the course of criminal cases.

The book is especially useful in showing the complexity and ambiguity that infuse the search for facts in legal cases. Differing memories and perceptions color the accounts provided by different participants in the case. Moreover, the motives of various actors also affect the way in which information is supplied and interpreted from differing perspectives. For example, the surviving victim's initial interviews with the police were affected by her concerns about protecting her own privacy and avoiding biased actions by justice system officials. Casual observers of legal processes, including college students, often expect to see investigations produce
clear-cut facts. In reality, as this book demonstrates, the search for truth is inevitably limited by the participating human beings' differing reconstructions of events.

Scholars interested in police investigations or trial court processes will find useful anecdotal examples in the book, but the book is really aimed at a general audience. Thus the book has greater potential for use by instructors who teach about law and court procedures. In many respects, this book belongs in the same narrative, case study category as Jonathan Harr's A CIVIL ACTION (1995), concerning civil litigation, and John Tucker's MAY GOD HAVE MERCY (1997), concerning a capital punishment case. All of these books are useful for

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taking students inside of the details and complexity of legal processes. However, Pohlman's THE WHOLE TRUTH? lacks the "whodunit" element that helps to grab readers' attention in the other two books. In that sense, Pohlman's book may be considered more "typical" -- at least for criminal cases -- because the culpable party is identified shortly after the crime and the legal processes focus on interpreting evidence and procedural rules in order to determine whether and how the perpetrator will be punished. Despite the lack of mystery about who committed the shocking crime, THE WHOLE TRUTH? deserves serious consideration for classroom use because it provides an interesting, well-written demonstration of the hidden processes that determine outcomes in criminal cases.

REFERENCES:

Harr, Jonathan. 1995. A CIVIL ACTION New York: Random House.

Tucker, John. 1997. MAY GOD HAVE MERCY. New York: W.W. Norton.

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Copyright 1999 by the author.