The Smoking Gun

June 9, 2003
A nationally renowned trial attorney and author, Spence (Trial by Fire; Gunning for Justice) introduces his latest book with a cautionary pronouncement: this could happen to you. What follows is an electrifying and sensational true story of an Oregon murder trial that dragged on for more than three years in the late 1980s. In July 1985, Sandy Jones and her teenage son were charged with the murder of Wilfred Gertulla, a neighbor and smalltime real estate developer. Gertulla's wife was present when he was murdered and produces a photograph of Mrs. Jones holding a smoking .22 caliber rifle—seemingly irrefutable evidence of her guilt. Spence later finds out that the Joneses, impoverished farmers and community outcasts, have been battling Gertulla and the town over a questionable right-of-way that runs through the Gertullas' property. Spence, sensing a homegrown conspiracy, decides to join the defense pro bono after seeing the abusive treatment Sandy suffers in the local jail. The state prosecutors suppress evidence, manipulate legal loopholes and generally attempt to deprive the Joneses of a fair trial in order to attain a conviction. This disquieting book shows that the facts don't speak for themselves, innocence is rarely presumed and justice is far from a first priority in America's courtrooms. Spence is a gifted storyteller and his rhetorical skills are mesmerizing. The blizzards of argument and counterargument that would be tedious reading in less talented hands are neatly incorporated into this thrilling account of injustice barely averted.

August 1, 2003
A feud between a real estate developer and an Oregon mountain woman ends with a standoff on a mountain road and the developer dead of a gunshot wound. It looks like a cut-and-dried case: there's an eyewitness and a photograph of Sandy Jones holding a literally smoking gun. But when Spence (Trial by Fire; The Making of a Country Lawyer) takes the case, it's obvious that the situation is much more complex. There were examples of harassment by the developer, a restraining order pending against him, and evidence that the eyewitness herself had shot a gun that day (which she flatly denied). And all the bullets in Sandy's rifle and that of her teenage son were accounted for. The actions of the prosecutors and the judge, all friends of the developer, caused them to be taken off the case, and exculpatory evidence disappeared. Spence's account of prosecutorial zeal (to the detriment of an entire family) and of the ultimate triumph of justice is a well-written and riveting account that should be welcome in all true-crime collections.-Deirdre Bray Root, Middletown P.L., OH

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