The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist

A True Story of Injustice in the American South

By: Radley Balko, Tucker Carrington, John Grisham - foreword

Narrated by: Robert Fass

Length: 14 hrs and 45 mins

Publisher's summary

A shocking and deeply reported account of the persistent plague of institutional racism and junk forensic science in our criminal justice system, and its devastating effect on innocent lives

After two 3-year-old girls were raped and murdered in rural Mississippi, law enforcement pursued and convicted two innocent men: Kennedy Brewer and Levon Brooks. Together they spent a combined 30 years in prison before finally being exonerated in 2008. 

Meanwhile, the real killer remained free. The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist recounts the story of how the criminal justice system allowed this to happen, and of how two men, Dr. Steven Hayne and Dr. Michael West, built successful careers on the back of that structure. For nearly two decades, Hayne, a medical examiner, performed the vast majority of Mississippi's autopsies, while his friend Dr. West, a local dentist, pitched himself as a forensic jack-of-all-trades. 

Together they became the go-to experts for prosecutors and helped put countless Mississippians in prison. But then some of those convictions began to fall apart. Here, Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington tell the haunting story of how the courts and Mississippi's death investigation system - a relic of the Jim Crow era - failed to deliver justice for its citizens. The authors argue that bad forensics, structural racism, and institutional failures are at fault, raising sobering questions about our ability and willingness to address these crucial issues. 

©2017 Radley Balko and Tucker Carrington (P)2017 Hachette Audio

Gothic Horror-Show, With A Few Digressions

If you've read the Publisher's Summary, you'll know what this book is about in its entirety.
Personally, I was hoping for a bit more about the "cadaver king" and the "country dentist" because when the authors write about them, it's a horror-show, period. Their behavior, their actions, their absolute lack of conscience, are astounding. Their misdeeds are breathtaking in scope. All of it will have you on the edge of your seat, madder 'n a wet hen.
But then the book is also about structural biases, how justice can be miscarried, a plethora of bite-sized examples which, don't get me wrong, are fascinating, but they rather wander here and there some of the time, and my mind rather wandered here and there with them. And then we go back to the meat of the story, and it's "indeed and without a doubt" a gripping listen.
Absolutely worth the time; absolutely worth the credit! Not since Bryan Stevenson's "Just Mercy" have I pondered the justice system so much.
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I have never yelled back at a book before!

I listened over a long drive, and kept yelling "No", and "You're kidding" and a bunch of expletives I won't detail here. The stories are frustrating. The author is very thorough. And the reader is perfect. What's missing is a call to action. I want to do something, but the author doesn't suggest solutions.

But listen anyway.

Excellent book - sheds light on horrific injustice

Would you listen to The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist again? Why?

I don't know that I'd listen to it again, it's not that kind of a book, but it's an excellent book and CLEARLY documents the fallacies and injustices in both Missouri and the larger US legal system.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Cadaver King and the Country Dentist?

The end - tying it all together, showing how the legal system votes in their favor with scientific evidence, but votes against defendants consistently. This book exposes just how evil Steven Hayne, Michael West, Jim Hood (still attorney General of Alabama!), & Forrest Allgood (DA) are. How their desire to not look bad has kept innocent men in Jail, how they have said one thing to the press and actually taken actions that repudiate what they just stated. Horrific that we as a society allow this to happen in the US. If you have read this book and not been shocked or disturbed, you've failed to understand its implications.

What does Robert Fass bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Mr. Fass has a good clear voice that is easy to listen to and added to the book

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

Mostly cry - it's horrific what happened to these people and how the State of Mississippi has constantly sought to obfuscate or deny justice.

Any additional comments?

If you have an interest in criminal justice reform, read this book.

Two little men, big cogs of institutional racism

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. It may be the best example of the nuts and bolts of institutional racism in the legal system. To be fair, it goes well beyond race, but racist motivation is clearly the most prominent aspect of the criminal abuse of power that these men perpetrated.

Two wretched men, and their bands of enablers, were able to bamboozle a state's judicial system, because they were able to give convenient answers that the people wanted to hear, and kept politicians and judges elected and appointed. And in their minds, who would be harmed really, anyway? It turns out, all of us were.

What was the most compelling aspect of this narrative?

The inherent religious bias, such as a prerequisite for state jobs, including the coroner's office, being a declaration of a belief in a (presumably Christian) god, might be expected in the deep South. What was more distressing was that the junk testimony presented by these charlatans, ends up besmirching the good name of honest, objective science. It's already an uphill battle getting Americans to trust science, and the damage these men did was enormous. Science, honestly and objectively conducted, seeks truth, whether one likes the results, or not. These fake scientists, unqualified and unchallenged, did not.

What does Robert Fass bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Good solid reading. No complaints.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I kept having to stop and realize over and over again that this is from the not-too-distant past. I wanted to think this was of a long bygone era, from generations past. Of course there were the over-arching stories of Emmett Till and Chaney, Goodman and Schwerner which reached back to the ghastly era of Mississippi of the 60's. But the story of Hayne and West ran well into the '90s and '00s. That made it all the more infuriating.

Any additional comments?

This is a great book to recommend to anyone who questions the notion of white privilege, and fails to recognize the injustice which has led to movements like Black Lives Matter. As mentioned earlier, it is bigger than just race, it could happen to anyone who is on the "wrong" side of a political system. This was not science. This was not justice.

riveting

the best part was how the authors put the situation in perspective. framing the story as part of Mississippi s history of racism and using the legal system to uphold and enforce social norms. truth, science, and justice are not priorities

Native Mississippian - 5 Stars

I highly anticipated the release of this book and was not disappointed. As a native of Mississippi I believe the story is told with honest and intelligent research. A must for Nonfilction listeners!

Blew Me Away

Oh, my goodness! I know the world has always had injustice, ignorance and con men. I just had no idea that this kind were so firmly entrenched in the legal system. This book should be widely read and discussed throughout our nation. Too bad we can’t require that it be required reading for all judges.
The book has a snazzy title and mentions true crime, but most of the book is eye-opening history. It tackles injustice in Mississippi, but some of it applies to all the US. It also ponders the lack of insights built into legal vs. science mind sets. The book would make a good companion book to Ghost of the Innocent Man by Benjamin Rachlin.
I highly recommend this book!

fantastic book, very well researched.

wonderful listen on my 17 hour drive over spring break. several times I had to pinch myself just to remind myself that what I was reading was actually true. my wife looked at me numerous times as I was listening to it with headphones on and was very surprised by my facial reactions or laughing out loud at the shear utter ridiculousness of what was actually going on by the Mississippi powers to be. recommend to everyone

Good story

As a member of the CJ system for 37 years I found the facts shared here to be compelling. Moreover, the history buff in me truly enjoyed the historical parts. As I listened I couldn’t help but to think about a man I meet several years before this book was written and the facts shared here, allowed me to better understand how Former Commissioner Epps found himself facing criminal charges. Thank you for an enlightening book.

Each chapter more shocking than the last

Move over Stephen King, there's a new master of horror in town. Trouble is, this one actually happened. This story is so difficult to believe, you'll find yourself googling for verification. Unfortunately, you'll find it.

Beyond the story being chronicled, you'll get a lot of historical information in this book as well. From the history of coroners, to an overview of some famous (and some more obscure) civil rights cases, this is the complete telling of a terrible story that will embarrass and anger you.

It is well written, well narrated, and an absolute must listen. It will be tough at times, because you're painfully aware of how deeply these injustices devastated the lives of the victims, but it's a story that needs to be told.

Interesting, but a hard listen

This book is very fact and figures heavy.

It is worth a listen, conversely though it isn’t a page turner. With most books I download I can’t put them down, this was not particularly captivating.

That being said, it is totally shocking that what’s reported in the book actually did happen.

This book shows you why miscarriages of justice are so common in the US

A really important book that shows how two complete charlatans, posing as scientists, were able to send innocent people to death row. It also shows how these frauds were - and continue to be - supported by the US political and judicial establishment. This is one of the most shocking revelations in this book.

As GK Chesterton said: “The horrible thing about ALL legal officials, even the best, about ALL judges, magistrates, barristers, detectives, and policeman, is not that they are wicked (some of them are good), not that they are stupid (several of them are quite intelligent), it is simply that they have got used to it.”

Fascinating

It’s a slog but a really good one, insanity that this all actually happened! It’s almost frustrating.