White Lies: Rape, Murder, and Justice Texas Style
by Nick Davies
List Price:
Our Price: $0.67
You Save: $22.33 (97%)
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Nick DaviesEdition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1991-03-06
ISBN: 0679401679
Number of pages: 402
Publisher: Pantheon
Book Reviews of White Lies: Rape, Murder, and Justice Texas Style
Book Review: White Lies and Black Half-Truths
Summary: 3 Stars
While I certainly will not dispute the fact that racism does exist in this country and has influenced (very prejudicially) the results of many cases where a black man was accused of raping and killing a young white woman, I can't help but feel that Nick Davies has slanted some of the facts in this case. Let me briefly go over some of them for you:
On Saturday, August 23, 1980, Cheryl Ferguson, a girl's volleyball team member, came to Conroe High School in Conroe, Texas at around 9 a.m. to participate in a tournament. Upon arrival, Cheryl left the gym area where the other girls had begun to warm up for their matches to go to the bathroom. Less than three hours later, her nude body was found under a piece of wood in the upper part of the school auditorium by janitors Henry Peace and Clarence Brandley.
When all of the janitors (Sam Martinez, Gary Acreman, John Sessum and Henry Peace) were questioned, each of them (even Brandley) told the same story, albeit in slightly different details: Clarence Brandley directed the other janitors to set up chairs in the school cafeteria. The janitors finished their jobs. While waiting for Brandley to tell them what to do next, three of them (Martinez, Sessum, and Acreman) saw Cheryl Ferguson go into the restroom. After she went into the restroom, Brandley came up behind with several rolls of toilet paper. Upon being told that a girl was in the bathroom, Brandley told the three men and Peace to go across the street to the vocational building. They waited for 45 minutes for Brandley to reappear. Finally he did and told them they could go home for the day. Later on, Brandley and Peace were informed by several girls that Cheryl Ferguson was missing. Peace and Brandley found the auditorium door unlocked and began searching the balcony. Brandley asked Peace three times to search the balcony area before Cheryl Ferguson's body was found.
Nowhere in any of these statements did any of the janitors point the finger at each other. In addition, Brandley's whereabouts were unaccounted for during a 45-minute period at about the same time as that of the victim's disappearance. Also, according to the other custodians, Brandley was the only school employee in or around the main building who had keys to the auditorium, storerooms, and other doors in the building at the time of the offense. Finally, none of the janitors ever reported seeing James Dexter Robinson anywhere near the premises, though they would each "remember" that he was there seven years later.
This evidence clearly showed that Clarence Brandley had the sole and exclusive opportunity to commit the capital murder of Cheryl Ferguson. However, exclusive opportunity is sometimes not enough to be able to obtain a conviction (see Lizzie Borden case) in a trial. The fact that there were several pubic hairs that did not belong to either the victim or Brandley as well as several drops of blood that did not belong to either of them doesn't necessarily mean that Brandley was completely innocent, but, rather, raises the possibility that he might have had some assistance in this crime.
I will admit that the destruction of over 50% of the trial exhibits in the Brandley case just after his conviction and the State's adamant refusal to perform DNA tests Martinez, Sessum and Acreman was very surprising, though I do not believe that it rises all the way to the level of racial prejudice. Please recall, if you will, that, according to the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Arizona v. Youngblood, 488 U.S. 51 (1988): "The police do not have a constitutional duty to perform any particular tests...A defendant must show that the destruction was the product of bad faith on the part of the State." I also will admit that the "walk through" conducted by Texas Ranger Wesley Styles might not have been the best idea because there is always the possibility that memories could be manipulated. However, a comparison with the statements Sessum, Martinez, and Acreman gave before and after the walk through show only a few discrepancies of minor importance. Finally, their recantations seven years after the fact plus the emergence of James Dexter Robinson around the same time must be viewed with extreme skepticism since none of the janitors ever reported seeing Robinson in the building that day and none of the other volleyball players, including Cheryl Bradshaw, reported seeing him in the gymnasium until a broadcast of the case was aired in 1986.
Even though I believe that Brandley might have been innocent, I feel that there was enough credible evidence for him to be convicted. I also believe that, while some of the things that occurred in his case were certainly regrettable, they did not rise to the level of racial prejudice. I do, however, recommend this book for anyone who wants to learn a lot about racial prejudices in the South. It is my distinct hope that the reader will pursue the truth for him/herself by reading other sources that offer different perspectives.
Summary of White Lies: Rape, Murder, and Justice Texas Style
An exposure of racism in 1980s America revealed through the horrific story of a black man, Clarence Brandley, arrested and convicted for murder because of the colour of his skin. Nick Davies is a consultant and reporter for "World in Action".General Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in General Books
Making Jack Falcone: An Undercover FBI Agent Takes Down a Mafia Familyby Joaquin "Jack" Garcia
Touchstone; Published: 2008-10-13; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.47
Price in other shops:
Gilbert Law Summaries : Criminal Lawby George E. Dix
Gilberts Law Summaries; Published: 2001-06; Paperback; Book
Best price: $15.99
Price in other shops:
The Return of Martin Guerreby Natalie Zemon Davis
Harvard University Press; Published: 1984-07; Paperback; Book
Best price: $5.50
Price in other shops:
Criminal Justice Today (10th Edition) (MyCrimeKit Series)by Frank Schmalleger
Prentice Hall; Published: 2008-02-10; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $70.00
Price in other shops:
Criminal Lawby Joel Samaha
Wadsworth Publishing; Published: 2007-03-07; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $78.00
Price in other shops:
Criminal Law and Its Processes: Cases and Materials, Eighth Edition (Casebook)by Stephen J. Schulhofer, Carol S. Steiker, Sanford H. Kadish
Aspen Publishers, Inc.; Published: 2007-05-15; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $77.96
Price in other shops:
Sex Trafficking: Inside the Business of Modern Slaveryby Mr. Siddharth Kara
Columbia University Press; Published: 2008-10-24; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $16.26
Price in other shops:
Gideon's Trumpetby Anthony Lewis
Vintage; Published: 1989-04-23; Paperback; Book
Best price: $4.00
Price in other shops:
Criminal Law Examples & Explanations, 4eby Singer; LaFond
Aspen Publishers; Published: 2007-02-26; Paperback; Book
Best price: $24.99
Price in other shops:
You & the Police!by Boston T. Party, Kenneth W. Royce, Boston T. Party, Kenneth W.: Royce
Javelin Press; Published: 2005-02-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $9.25
Price in other shops:
Similar Books and other products
![Whitewash [VHS] Image](/images/Whitewash-VHS-6304884184-X.jpg){kind=small}
Whitewash [VHS]First Run Features; Release date: 1998-05-12; VHS Tape; VHS Video
Best price: $13.60
Price in other shops: