In Joan's Defense: A Twelve Judges Courtroom Drama

The story of Joan Carson’s murder trial is the first of the powerful, new 12 Judges courtroom novels by bestselling author Ron Carter (Prelude to Glory series, et al). The Sixth Amendment to the US Constitution guarantees that all accused of crimes have the right to a jury trial. Historical precedent, dating back to the judges of the 12 tribes of Israel as well as the 12 apostles, set the number of jurors at 12—the number most often used today. While the result is a man-made, less-than-perfect system, it’s probably the best on earth. The 12 Judges novels draw on Ron Carter’s study of the Constitution and his 30 years of legal experience to show real-life dramas played out in this heaven-inspired, but human system. Ben Cooper and Les and Joan Carson have been friends since they were children. So it stuns Ben when Joan shows up in his office badly beaten and admitting that she has just shot her husband to death. Ben takes up her defense, and the odds are stacked against him—all evidence points to Joan, and he sees no use in disputing it. To defend her, he embarks on a legal go-for-broke strategy that may exonerate Joan or send her to prison for life. And while he gambles in the courtroom, outside the courtroom he learns the terrible truth about Les: he had more than likely murdered his business partner. But was Les actually responsible for murder and for his wife’s beatings? Last-minute forensics evidence shows that Les Carson had a brain tumor that most likely robbed him of his capability to rationally think. The revelation in open court stuns Joan and the court as a whole and brings the trial to a thundering conclusion. In Joan’s Defense is based on a landmark trial that Ron Carter himself handled. The incident, the strategy, the trial, and the verdict are represented as they actually happened.