PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "As the head of the Sex Crimes Unit, Fairstein was instrumental in the wrongful conviction of five black teenagers accused of raping a white woman jogger in Central Park in 1989. It was a case that made headlines across the country and captivated television audiences, a story fueled by racial tensions and racist rhetoric. Fairstein was personally involved in securing the false confessions that formed the prosecution’s entire case. Her conduct was so reprehensible that then-appeals court Judge Vito Titone called her out by name in his dissenting opinion in defendant Yusuf Salaam’s unsuccessful appeal, which details her calculated efforts to isolate and induce a confession from the then-15-year-old suspect. The Five served six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were vacated following the confession of a serial rapist, confirmed by DNA evidence, in 2002. Fairstein has never apologized or changed her position on their guilt. (Nor has Donald Trump, who in 1989 took out full-page newspaper ads in New York City calling for the return of the death penalty after the teens were arrested.) Only four months ago, in a letter to the editor of the New York Law Journal, Fairstein maintained that “the questioning [of the Central Park Five] was respectful, dignified, carried out according to the letter of the law and with sensitivity to the young age of the men.”
---------------------------------------------------------------
STORY: "Writer Linda Fairstein's past as a prosecutor overseeing the Central Park Five case causes award controversy," by reporter Steph Cha, published by The L.A. Times on November 27, 2918. Steph Cha is described as a novelist, editor and attorney who has been a member of Mystery Writers of America since 2013.
PHOTO CAPTION: "Author Linda Fairstein, center, signs her ninth crime novel, "Bad Blood," to Donna Hanover, left, with novelist Mary Higgins Clark, right. Fairstein has been named a Grand Master at the 2019 Edgar Awards"
GIST: "Mystery
Writers of America announced the recipients of its 2019 Grand Master
Award on Tuesday, but the announcement has been met with more outrage
than celebration. The
Grand Master Award, presented at the annual Edgar Awards banquet in New
York, is one of the most prestigious distinctions in the mystery genre,
an honor held by the likes of Stephen King, Walter Mosley and Agatha
Christie. Next year, the award will go to Martin Cruz Smith and Linda
Fairstein. I’d heard of Smith, but not Fairstein. And really, I should
have known her name. Not for her internationally bestselling Alexandra
Cooper series, but because in her former life working for the Manhattan
district attorney’s office, she oversaw the prosecution of the Central Park Five. She shouldn’t be the toast of a black-tie literary gala — she should be notorious. As
the head of the Sex Crimes Unit, Fairstein was instrumental in the
wrongful conviction of five black teenagers accused of raping a white
woman jogger in Central Park in 1989. It was a case that made headlines
across the country and captivated television audiences, a story fueled
by racial tensions and racist rhetoric. Fairstein
was personally involved in securing the false confessions that formed
the prosecution’s entire case. Her conduct was so reprehensible that
then-appeals court Judge Vito Titone called her out by name in his dissenting opinion
in defendant Yusuf Salaam’s unsuccessful appeal, which details her
calculated efforts to isolate and induce a confession from the
then-15-year-old suspect. The
Five served six to 13 years in prison before their convictions were
vacated following the confession of a serial rapist, confirmed by DNA
evidence, in 2002. Fairstein has never apologized or changed her
position on their guilt. (Nor has Donald Trump,
who in 1989 took out full-page newspaper ads in New York City calling
for the return of the death penalty after the teens were arrested.) Only
four months ago, in a letter to the editor of the New York Law Journal,
Fairstein maintained that “the
questioning [of the Central Park Five] was respectful, dignified,
carried out according to the letter of the law and with sensitivity to
the young age of the men.” Here’s what Mystery Writers of America had to say
about Fairstein’s legal career, in this cheery news release on Tuesday
morning: “Linda Fairstein became a sex-crimes prosecutor during a time
when sex crimes were almost impossible to prosecute. In her 30-year
tenure at the Manhattan DA’s Office, she was a pioneer in the war
against rape, fighting for historic changes to the criminal justice
system and for justice on behalf of victims of the most heinous crimes.”
It’s not like they didn’t Google her. They just neglected to mention
her most famous case, the one that’s become synonymous with
prosecutorial overreach and misconduct. Shortly
after the announcement, author Attica Locke — whose “Bluebird,
Bluebird” won the 2018 Edgar Award for best novel —took Mystery Writers
of America to task on Twitter, begging the group to reconsider its
decision to name Fairstein a Grand Master. Locke,
whose television writing credits include an upcoming Netflix series on
the Central Park Five directed by Ava DuVernay, has long been familiar
with the case, but didn’t realize until recently that Fairstein had
reinvented herself as a crime writer, or that so few crime writers
seemed to know about her background. I
was one of the clueless until I saw Locke’s thread, and I’ve been
entrenched in the mystery world since my first book came out in 2013.
I’ve attended countless book events and conferences — it’s very likely
I’ve been in the same room as Fairstein — and have been editing the
crime section of the Los Angeles Review of Books since 2015. There are
certainly big-name authors I don’t run across, but I tend to hear the
gossip. I knew about Anne Perry’s background (see the movie “Heavenly
Creatures”) and that former L.A. prosecutor Marcia Clark was publishing
mystery novels. I find it disturbing that I never heard a word about
Fairstein’s history. Her
presence among us should be the scandal of every conference — it
probably would’ve been earlier if there had been more crime writers of
color when the Five were exonerated in 2002. But at some point, her
background must have become old news, an uncomfortable thing the larger
crime world has been happy to ignore. How many of us have been polite to
her on accident because the rest of us were polite to her on purpose? Tacit
approval is one thing, of course; the Grand Master Award is another.
Mystery Writers of America has made a lot of fuss about diversity over
the last few years, and I do believe that the mystery community has made
some meaningful strides toward inclusion. But we’re apparently still at
a place where the board of Mystery Writers of America thinks calling
the white prosecutor who oversaw the conviction of innocent black boys
“Grand Master” is a good idea. It’s also worth noting that the
Edgar Awards banquet will take place in April, almost exactly 30 years
after the Five were wrongfully arrested and imprisoned. After
Locke’s thread spread widely, Mystery Writers of America said via
Twitter: “We are taking seriously the issues raised by @atticalocke .
Our Board is going to discuss these concerns as soon as possible and
make a further statement soon.” It seems as though the blowback has
taken the board by surprise. On the one hand, the lack of foresight is
breathtaking. But on the other, it sure did look as if everyone was cool
with Linda Fairstein for a while there. Mystery
Writers of America is now in a tough spot. Many crime writers have
already called for the revocation of Fairstein’s award. Meanwhile,
Fairstein is sparring with Locke on Twitter, and I doubt she or her
supporters would be happy to see the organization cave to the pressure.
While the mystery writing community has changed somewhat over the last
few years, it has long been embarrassingly white and, if not outright
conservative, less than progressive in its collective values (hello hero
cops and beautiful dead girls). Fairstein has made a name for herself
writing legal thrillers about a sex crimes prosecutor who serves justice
and saves the day. She's made enormous profits with these stories, and
has been astoundingly successful in shaping her own narrative and
retaining the respect of her community. Whatever
Mystery Writers of America decides –– and let's remember that the loss
of a reward is not comparable to the loss of freedom –– this debacle
will show our divisions. Fairstein's actions can no longer fly under the
radar. We all have to deal with her now."
https://www.latimes.com/books/la-et-jc-mwa-linda-fairstein-20181127-story.html#nws=mcnewsletter
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
