Editorial Content for Barred Justice: A Memoir of Innocence and Deceit
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Reviewer (text)
In BARRED JUSTICE, former tax attorney John Oliver Green recounts in harrowing detail the complexities of the justice system that, for him, wrought injustice and a nightmare of personal fears and pain.
Green’s legal career was just beginning --- preceded by military service, commercial piloting and a stint with the Criminal Justice Division of the IRS --- when he was asked by a client, Linda Schaffer, to locate and rescue her husband Bob, whose private plane had crashed in Mississippi. After debating with himself about the potential perils of getting personally involved with his client, he allowed his friendship with Bob to sway him to do as Linda asked.
"BARRED JUSTICE challenges the notion that readers wish to support --- that there is always justice in the justice system --- offering advice and factual materials for further, serious study."
The resulting circumstances would take Green on a long downward spiral --- from accusations of drug dealing and tax dodging, public disgrace, and even a period of hiding from the law, all the while protesting his total innocence, to the ultimate and seemingly inevitable prison sentence.
The complications that amassed so swiftly were truly frightening, as Green learned that Bob was in fact involved in drug smuggling and a brutal drug magnate was now on his trail. In addition, a former IRS coworker harboring resentments against Green saw his shaky position as an opportunity to swoop in and add to the charges being brought against him. Green realized that he, like so many others, was trapped in a vortex of legal regulations that would force an entirely innocent person into incarceration.
The author writes with researched detail regarding the morass of legalities that dogged him throughout this phase of his life, combined with private revelations and a quiet sense of irony that pervades his disturbing tale. In the midst of his legal woes, he meets and weds Bridgette, who becomes a mainstay of support for him even as she must suffer the financial and reputational hardships that cling to her husband’s unfair treatment and the unbalanced picture it provides to others about him. That they survived and prospered is miraculous.
Green has diligently mined the minutiae of his several trials and the evidence --- some of which was mysteriously destroyed --- arrayed to lead to his imprisonment. His account of prison life should be read by anyone who has experienced or is facing such rigors. BARRED JUSTICE challenges the notion that readers wish to support --- that there is always justice in the justice system --- offering advice and factual materials for further, serious study.
Teaser
In 1982, young tax attorney John Green receives word that a client's plane has just crashed. The client's wife asks John to fly to Mississippi, find her husband's plane and see if he is still alive. Arriving at the crash site, he discovers that his client has died while smuggling drugs from Columbia. Soon John finds himself caught between a vengeful IRS agent with a personal grudge and a drug cartel that wants him dead. With his life in danger, he flees from Oklahoma to Texas where he is indicted and arrested. Without bail, he is shuffled from jail to jail and denied medical treatment while agents try to coerce a confession. John declines a misdemeanor plea, believing that justice will prevail if he goes to trial.
Promo
In 1982, young tax attorney John Green receives word that a client's plane has just crashed. The client's wife asks John to fly to Mississippi, find her husband's plane and see if he is still alive. Arriving at the crash site, he discovers that his client has died while smuggling drugs from Columbia. Soon John finds himself caught between a vengeful IRS agent with a personal grudge and a drug cartel that wants him dead. With his life in danger, he flees from Oklahoma to Texas where he is indicted and arrested. Without bail, he is shuffled from jail to jail and denied medical treatment while agents try to coerce a confession. John declines a misdemeanor plea, believing that justice will prevail if he goes to trial.
About the Book
A disturbing firsthand account of what it's like to be falsely accused, convicted and incarcerated for a crime you didn't commit.
In 1982, young tax attorney John Green receives word that a client's plane has just crashed. The client's wife asks John to fly to Mississippi, find her husband's plane and see if he is still alive. Arriving at the crash site, he discovers that his client has died while smuggling drugs from Columbia.
Soon John finds himself caught between a vengeful IRS agent with a personal grudge and a drug cartel that wants him dead. With his life in danger, he flees from Oklahoma to Texas where he is indicted and arrested. Without bail, he is shuffled from jail to jail and denied medical treatment while agents try to coerce a confession. John declines a misdemeanor plea, believing that justice will prevail if he goes to trial.
