When the 14 year-old old boy came home from school and found his mother on the floor badly beaten and unconscious, he decided to do something. He took a pistol from a drawer, marched into his mother’s bedroom where his drunken step-father had passed out on the bed, and fired point blank into the man’s skull killing him. Arrested and charged as an adult, the youth was taken to an adult jail to await trial.

The boy had been there only three days when defense attorney Bryan Stevenson met him. He was so traumatized that he could not answer any of the lawyer’s questions. He’d been repeatedly sexually assaulted — so many times in that three day period in jail that he’d lost count of how many men had abused him. All the boy did for two hours was sob as Stevenson held him.

This tragic story was one of several that Bryan Stevenson described in an impassioned speech that he gave last week during an Advanced Judiciary Academy conference at the University of Illinois in Champaign/Urbana. I’ve written about Bryan before on my blog. He’s an inspirational advocate.

Bryan and I were invited to speak to the Illinois judges about how wealth and poverty influence our criminal justice system. We’d been invited to lecture because of my book, CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE: Death, Life and Justice in a Southern Town. For those of you who might not have read it, CIRCUMSTANTIAL EVIDENCE is a true story about the murder of a popular, white teenager in the Alabama town that inspired the novel, TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD. A poor, uneducated, black man named Walter “Johnny D.” McMillian was convicted of the killing which happened inside a dry cleaners on a busy Saturday morning. McMillian was sentenced to death after two witnesses testified that they’d seen his truck parked outside the cleaners at the time of the murder and another witness claimed he actually see McMillian standing over the dead girl during a robbery. It seemed as if McMillian had been caught red handed.

But after Stevenson began investigating the case, a different picture emerged. Both witnesses who’d claimed to have seen the truck recanted their stories. Both had received reward money in return for testifying. The eyewitness who swore that McMillian had murdered the girl was proven to be a liar. Even worse, Stevenson discovered that the prosecution had hidden crucial evidence that proved McMillian was innocent. During the murder, he had been at his home miles away helping host a fish fry. Two law enforcement officers had stopped there that day but had failed to come forward to substantiate his alibi. Put simply, McMillian had been framed.

Although Bryan proved McMillian was innocent, Alabama officials refused to free him. It took a 60 Minutes segment about the case to shame local and state officials into releasing an innocent black man from death row.

I spoke first at last week’s conference and described the murder and investigation. Bryan spoke after me about the case but quickly moved to such broader issues as the number of persons with mental illnesses now being incarcerated and his latest campaign to stop pre-teens and teenagers under age fifteen from being charged as adults when they commit crimes. Many of these children are sentenced to life in prison. His work as the executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative prompted the judges in the audience to do something that Judge Susan Hutchinson, who helped organize the academy, said she’d never witnessed before.

They gave him a standing ovation.

Click to continue…

The books of bestselling author Pete Earley promise to take you on a literary journey.

Pete’s Award Winning Non-Fiction

My job as an author is to tell you interesting stories. Sometimes that means taking you places where you normally wouldn’t go, such as inside a maximum security penitentiary, or introducing you to people who you normally wouldn’t meet, such as the American traitors John Walker Jr., and Aldrich Ames.

Besides entertaining you, I believe authors, especially journalists, should expose wrongs. That’s what my books, Circumstantial Evidence, and CRAZY: A Father Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness, represent.

For me, there is no purer form of journalism than a book. A journalist doesn’t have to worry about “sacred cows” or partisan politics. If you can find a publisher willing to finance your idea, you can write about any topic that you wish without pulling punches.

I’m not going to waste space here trying to persuade you to buy my books. They speak for themselves. I just hope that if you read one, you will agree that the trip we took together on its pages was worthwhile.

NO HUMAN CONTACT: SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, MAXIMUM SECURITY AND TWO INMATES WHO CHANGED THE SYSTEM

Available on Amazon

Imagine being stripped to your underwear and put into a prison cell with all white walls the size of a king size mattress. Imagine having the lights on 24 hours per day and not having access to the outside world – no phone calls, mail, newspapers, radios, telephone calls, a pad of paper or pencil. No visits from relatives. You are left only with your own mind to occupy you.

This initially was the fate of Thomas Silverstein and Clayton Fountain after they separately murdered two corrections officer in 1983. Because there was no federal death penalty at the time the federal Bureau of Prisons inflicted the severest punishment that could be legally imposed — NO HUMAN CONTACT.

Neither inmate was an angel. Both had killed other prisoners and where associated with the violent Aryan Brotherhood prison gang. The bureau insisted they would murder again if allowed out of their solitary confinement cells.

Prison officials hoped both men would end their own lives. Neither did. Eventually granted minimal privileges, Fountain turned to religion and endured 21 years before dying alone of natural causes. Silverstein because a skilled artist and lasted 36 years in isolation, long than any other American prisoner. Amazingly, both men found purpose to their existence.

I am the only reporter ever to interview Silverstein face-to-face and communicate with him for 32 years. Using much of his own words, NO HUMAN CONTACT chronicles his abusive childhood and climb to the most violent prison in America.

The murders Silverstein and Fountain committed led to the creation of the first federal Super Max penitentiary in Florence, Colorado, where the nation’s most notorious criminals are housed in solitary confinement. That model has been copied by 40 other states.

Were both men born bad or did they become bad because of the childhood abuses inflicted on them, including the savagery each faced as youngsters and later as adults inside our jails and prisons? Was their isolation necessary or was it cruel? Was it possible for either man to reinvent and rehabilitate himself while in prison – or were such hopes naïve?

NO HUMAN CONTACT tells their stories.

Circumstantial Evidence Death, Life, & Justice in a Southern Town

In Monroeville, Alabama, a young, pretty student was found murdered. Several months later, a black man with no criminal record was sentenced to death for the crime. As he sat on death row, lawyer Bryan Stevenson found the trial was tainted by mistakes, conflicting witnesses, and outright perjury. He was determined to find out if the right man was convicted – even if it took unconventional means.

I was there while Bryan was investigating this miscarriage of justice which he later wrote about in his New York Times bestseller, JUST MERCY, which later became a major motion picture by the same name.

My book goes beyond the story of Walter D. McMillian to also tell about a second murder of a young girl in a nearby town and how her murder was largely ignored by investigators because she was poor and lived on the margins of society in comparison to the Monroeville victim.

Washington Post wrote: ” Earley is a fair-minded reporter, which means that he sees no reason to give even a hint of his views on capital punishment. He apparently decided that his own feelings were irrelevant to the story. There is a purity to this kind of journalism, one that bestows an honor on the fact-seeking reader. Those who favor executions will come away from “Circumstantial Evidence” as unsettled as those who oppose them.”

Available on Amazon

Family of Spies Inside the John Walker Spy Ring

Publishers Weekly review: For two decades John Walker, Jr. fed secrets absolutely crucial to America’s national security to the KGB. Incredibly, for two decades, his treason remained undetected. Pete Earley’s gripping tale of master spy John Walker, Jr. and his ring – his son, Michael; his brother, Arthur; and his best friend, Jerry Whitworth – is dazzling in its detail and shocking in its revelations… a classic of the genre.”

I am the only reporter who obtained access to John Walker Jr., and his Family of Spies. While my book provides readers with the most comprehensive account of his treachery as a spy, it also paints a troubling yet fascinating portrait of a true narcissist and psychopath.

“John preferred a world where there were no white knights, no black knights, no knights at all. There were only gray people drifting in an atmosphere of moral weightlessness. It was this type of world that reflected John’s own image, like a mirror. ‘Everyone is corrupt everyone has a scam.'”

Family of Spies was made into a five hour miniseries shown on CBS television in 1990 and is Available on Amazon.

Confessions of a Spy

The Story of Aldrich Ames

For nine years, Aldrich Ames fed highly classified information to the KGB. Russia paid him millions of dollars–and promised millions more. He betrayed the identities of the United States’ top agents. An act that led to their executions inside the Soviet Union. Never before in American history has one man done so much to sabotage our national security.

Crazy

A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness

It was only when Pete Earley’s own son–during a manic episode–broke into a neighbor’s house that he learned what happens to mentally ill people who break a law. This is a compelling look at the thousands who suffer confinement instead of care and brutal conditions instead of treatment in the “revolving doors” between hospitals and jails. Earley takes us through his experience as both a father and journalist trying to fight for a better way.

Resilience

Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness

At a young age, Jessie Close struggled with emerging symptoms of severe bipolar disorder that lead her to the brink of suicide. In Resilience, she dives into the dangerous shadows of mental illness without shying away from its horror while her sister (actress Glenn Close) shares alternate views on Jessie’s life. With Pete Earley, Jessie tells of finding the treatment she needs and the emotional strength to bring herself back from the edge.

The Hot House

Life Inside Leavenworth Prison

With the cooperation of the Bureau of Prisons, Pete Earley spent much time from mid-1987 to mid-1989 at Leavenworth, a maximum-security institution whose nickname, the Hot House, derives from its lack of air conditioning despite the searing Kansas summers. An explosive eyewitness portrait of life inside the notorious prison, Earley spent two years among 1,400 of the nation’s most dangerous criminals to write this gripping, New York Times bestseller investigative report.

Super Casino

Inside the “New” Las Vegas

In this lively and probing book, Pete Earley traces the extraordinary evolution of Las Vegas from the gaudy Mecca of the Rat Pack era to one of the top family vacation spots. He revisits the city’s history of moguls, mobsters, and entertainers, reveals the real stories of power brokers like Steve Wynn and legends like Howard Hughes and Bugsy Siegel, and offers a fascinating portrait of the life, death, and fantastic rebirth of the Las Vegas Strip.

The Serial Killer Whisperer

How One Man’s Tragedy Unlocked the Deadliest Secrets of the World’s Most Terrifying Killers

The strange but true story of how a young man’s devastating brain injury gave him the unique ability to connect with the world’s most terrifying criminals. The Serial Killer Whisperer will take you into the minds of murderers as never before.

Comrade J

The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War

Between 1995 and 2000, Sergei Tretyakov, more commonly known as “Comrade J,” was the go-to man for Russian intelligence in New York City, overseeing all covert operations against the U.S. and its allies in the United Nations. He was the man who kept the secrets. But there was one more secret he was keeping. For three years, “Comrade J” was stealing secrets from the Russian Mission he was supposed to be serving for the United States.

WITSEC

Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program

For decades no law enforcement program has been as cloaked in controversy and mystery as the Federal Witness Protection Program. Now, for the first time, Gerald Shur, the man credited with the creation of WITSEC, teams with acclaimed investigative journalist Pete Earley to tell the inside story of turncoats, crime-fighters, killers, and ordinary human beings caught up in a life-and-death game of deception in the name of justice.

Prophet of Death

The Mormon Blood-Atonement Killings

An account of the crimes of Jeffrey Lundgren describes how the fanatical preacher used his hypnotic oratory and his twisted interpretations of religious texts to justify the excesses of his church–perversion, sexual slavery, and human sacrifice.

PETE’S AWARD WINNING FICTION

Lethal Secrets

Fiction Novel

During high tensions between the Soviet Union and the United States, the KGB has cleverly smuggled a nuclear bomb into the very heart of Washington D.C. which is now in the hands of a band of Chechen rebels, lead by insane terrorist Movladi ‘the Viper’ Islamov, who’s threatening to detonate it. The fate of the city rests in the hands of a disgraced deputy U.S. Marshal who is reluctantly called into action by his FBI/CIA rivals because he was once a friend of Islamov before he became a terrorist.

The Apocalypse Stone

Fiction Novel

All seemed to be well for Judge Evan Spencer, until he received a package from an old friend containing a cryptic note and a small stone: the same stone Christ used when he stated “He that is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.” Throughout history it has been passed along, inflicting its owner with stigmatic wounds and visions of their sinful life. With the help of an expert on stigmata, Spencer must uncover the secrets behind the stone, or watch his family, career, and his life be destroyed.

The Big Secret

Fiction Novel

In 1955, white supremacists lynch a promising black activist and celebrate by carving their initials into the trunk of “the trophy tree.” Decades later, when a newspaper reporter vanishes while investigating the crime, U.S. Senate Investigator Nick LeRue travels to Mississippi to find her. LeRue is joined in his search by the woman’s twin sister and together, they unearth an old secret that leads them back to Washington and two unlikely suspects – a U.S. Senator and the nation’s best investigative reporter.

DUPLICITY

Fiction Novel

In “one of the best” political thrillers from two Washington insiders (Nelson DeMille, NYT bestselling author), America’s leaders must hunt down a master terrorist in hiding and neutralize the threat of political betrayal.The greatest nightmare for the free world today would be an extremist in hiding, controlling and coordinating radical Islamic groups at the highest level around the globe.In Duplicity, two bestselling authors — former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Pulitzer Prize finalist Pete Earley — weave a grim and gripping tale of this worst case scenario. From home front fears to an international crisis, this thriller is terrifyingly plausible, ripped straight from the headlines.When President Sally Allworth decides to reestablish America’s Mogadishu embassy in Somalia weeks before Election Day, her challenger says she is playing politics with American lives. That turns out to be true when the embassy is attacked and hostages are taken. Station chief Gunter Conner and Marine captain Brooke Grant end up the unlikely survivors of this Benghazi-style strike. And suddenly, they are the only hope for saving their captured colleagues.With his in-depth political knowledge of friends and foes on the political stage, only Newt Gingrich could weave such a spellbinding tale of events and personalities, one that could actually happen . . . if America’s leaders aren’t wary of a world full of duplicity.Order here.

TREASON:

Fiction Novel

Major Brooke Grant must track down the double agent who is infiltrating the U.S. government in this international thriller from influential politician Newt Gingrich and Pulitzer Prize finalist Pete Earley.

Brooke Grant has been waging war against terrorism since her parents were murdered during 9/11, keenly aware that violence transcends borders. But after a coordinated attack on the president at a Washington power broker’s funeral, she realizes that the enemy is closer than she’d ever imagined, hiding in plain sight. The Falcon has gained a weapon no terrorist has ever wielded before: an American-born traitor burrowed inside the U.S. government itself.

Major Grant’s deadly chess match with the Falcon turns personal when he issues a fatwa against her and those she loves. Can she unmask the traitor and stop the Falcon’s most skilled assassin sent to kill her before he strikes? Or will she fall victim to betrayal by a false friend in this gripping story of treachery, courage, and the patriotic fight against evil?

In this realistic tale of modern-day treason, a nation fights for its life against an internal threat: a fanatical jihadist who uses liberty as a shield while trying to destroy the civilization created in its image. With decades of knowledge in national security and politics, only Newt Gingrich and Pete Earley could spin such a vivid mix of reality and fiction — a page-turner that dares readers to guess where the line between the two is crossed.

Order here.

VENGEANCE:

Fiction Novel

In this fast-paced political thriller, Major Brooke Grant joins the president’s top-secret CIA team and races around the globe in pursuit of a terrorist known only as the Falcon.

On the day of Major Brooke Grant’s wedding, an explosive-packed rental truck detonates a deadly bomb, killing hundreds of her friends and family and endangering D.C.’s most powerful politicians.

Saved by a last-minute fluke, Brooke seeks revenge against the master terrorist responsible, an international radical Islamist who is determined to murder her, bring America to its knees, and create a modern-day caliphate.

With help from an odd duo — a Saudi intelligence officer and an Israeli Mossad agent — Brooke goes after her elusive zealot nemesis. But before the team can close in on their target, they discover that America’s worst nightmare has come true.

Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich and Pulitzer Prize finalist Pete Earley deliver fast-paced writing and a frighteningly believable plot in this third installment of the bestselling Brooke Grant series. Set against the backdrop of Washington’s political intrigue, Vengeance is a heart-pounding thriller that raises serious questions about our national security, the power of religious faith to inspire good and evil, the consequences of revenge, and the validity of our constitutional safeguards.

Order here.

COLLUSION:

Fiction Novel

Now a National Bestseller!

What if the Russians really are colluding with Americans…on the left?

#1 New York Times bestselling author Newt Gingrich makes his return to political fiction with this rollicking tale of high-stakes international intrigue—the first book in a new, contemporary series, filled with adventure, betrayal, and politics—that captures the tensions and divides of America and the world today.

Valerie Mayberry is the FBI’s counterintelligence expert on domestic terrorism.

Brett Garrett is a dishonorably discharged ex-Navy SEAL, now a gun for hire, working as a security contractor in Eastern Europe.

When a high ranking Kremlin official must be smuggled out of Russia, Mayberry and Garrett are thrown together to exfiltrate him and preempt a deadly poisonous strike.

As these unlikely partners work to protect their human asset, their mission is threatened by domestic politics: leftist protests, congressional infighting, and a culture riven by hatred.

Collusion raises many of the most significant issues facing America in real life today. How big a threat is Russia? Are American leftist activists susceptible to influence from abroad? How far will our enemies go to disrupt our politics and weaken the nation? Can we trust the media to differentiate between the good guys and the bad guys?

Newt Gingrich and Pete Earley have entertained and educated readers with three previous works. From its explosive opening through several twists and turns to its heart-stopping end, Collusion is their most timely and powerful novel yet.

Order here.

SHAKEDOWN:

Fiction Novel

Mayberry and Garrett, introduced in the national bestsellerCollusion, are caught in the middle of a deadly crisis with a pending nuclear bomb attack and little help from the government that sidelined them both.

When an exiled Iranian scientist is assassinated in Washington, DC, the former FBI counterintelligence agent and ex-SEAL are pulled back into the world of clandestine ops—and the fate of the entire East Coast is at stake. Joining ranks with a heralded Mossad agent, Mayberry and Garrett pursue a skilled international killer hired to murder a legendary Israeli spymaster.

Their pursuit draws them into an international conspiracy led by a power-hungry Russian oligarch intent on destroying Washington, DC, and the Navy’s most important Atlantic base. The oligarch plots to unleash a nuclear onslaught first devised by the KGB but shelved by Kremlin leaders during the Cold War. On top of this, Iran’s sudden offer to help the United States raises suspicions about its possible role in a global shakedown.

With too many enemies emerging and too little time, the two Americans are forced to operate outside official channels to stay ahead of naive US politicians and foreign enemies out to entangle their efforts in red tape. Operating in an international tinderbox, Mayberry and Garrett must decipher which players are allies and which are posers—in time to thwart a cataclysmic nuclear attack on US soil and prevent an international incident that could ignite a third world war. And they must keep themselves alive.

Order here.

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The books of bestselling author Pete Earley promise to take you on a literary journey.

Pete’s Award Winning Non-Fiction

NO HUMAN CONTACT: SOLITARY CONFINEMENT, MAXIMUM SECURITY AND TWO INMATES WHO CHANGED THE SYSTEM

Circumstantial Evidence Death, Life, & Justice in a Southern Town

Family of Spies Inside the John Walker Spy Ring

The Story of Aldrich Ames

A Father’s Search Through America’s Mental Health Madness

Resilience

Two Sisters and a Story of Mental Illness

Life Inside Leavenworth Prison

Inside the “New” Las Vegas

How One Man’s Tragedy Unlocked the Deadliest Secrets of the World’s Most Terrifying Killers

The Untold Secrets of Russia’s Master Spy in America After the End of the Cold War

Inside the Federal Witness Protection Program

Prophet of Death

The Mormon Blood-Atonement Killings

PETE’S AWARD WINNING FICTION

Fiction Novel

Fiction Novel

Fiction Novel

DUPLICITY

Fiction Novel

TREASON:

Fiction Novel

VENGEANCE:

Fiction Novel

COLLUSION:

Fiction Novel

SHAKEDOWN:

Fiction Novel

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