Reasonable Doubt: The Fashion Writer, Cape Cod, and the Trial of Chris McCowen

In a case that raises questions of racial bias, corruption, and incompetence in the justice system, Manso gives a searing dissection of the 2002 stabbing death of wealthy Cape Cod resident Christa Worthington and the ensuing trial, which Manso (Mailer) convincingly shows was tainted from the start. Early suspicion focused on several local men, including the married father of Worthington's child. But reaching an impasse, DA Michael O'Keefe ordered a legally questionable DNA sweep of men in the area. This led to Christopher McCowen, a black garbage collector with an IQ of 78 who admitted having consensual sex with the white Worthington days before the murder. After a lengthy interrogation, McCowen "confessed" and was tried for rape and murder in 2005. Despite evidence pointing to other men, the untaped confession, and the shaky DNA match, the jury found McCowen guilty. Appeals based on racial bias and prosecutorial misconduct have so far failed. Manso lays out up front which side he is on (and that he himself became a target of the DA), but he skillfully crafts trial transcripts into a gripping narrative of a system that denied justice to both Worthington and McCowen. (July)