Author of "Dead But Not Forgotten"
Yeardley Love was no shrinking violet. The truth will come out about the University of Virginia lacrosse star, the young woman whose piercing blue eyes peered out to millions from magazine covers, newspaper pages and television reports. We will all learn that though her name has become synonymous with domestic and dating violence—due in no small part to the allegation that her lacrosse-playing boyfriend beat her to death in a violent rage just weeks before they were to graduate—the...
Let's be honest. A criminal conviction doesn't always mean guilt, and people who are guilty don't always get convicted. That's simply not how the judicial system works. Instead, 12 people are tasked with weighing evidence. Pure and simple. A group of normal, everyday folks is given this most awesome of powers. They could get it wrong. But what are the odds they screw it up twice? A second jury weighed much of the same evidence as the first in the Michael George case -- even a tad more,...
Amber Hunt is an award-winning journalist whose 15-year professional career has largely centered on crime coverage. For eight years, she worked for the Detroit Free Press, Michigan's largest daily newspaper, covering crime in Detroit and its suburbs. She currently is the Associated Press's News Editor for the Dakotas. Amber was a 2011 Knight-Wallace Fellow at the University of Michigan, and she's a past recipient of the Al Nakkula Award for Police Reporting, the only national award dedicated...
Though I rarely talked about it, I had once been in a relationship in which I was threatened and punched and pushed and pulled, and I knew intimately just how difficult it is for women—especially those who consider themselves smart and strong and successful—to seek help. I felt a kinship with Yeardley Love. It could have been me.
A few months ago, I sifted through cat piss-covered remnants stored in my basement as I readied for a move. My job was disgusting but simple: find whatever worthwhile items hadn’t been irreversibly damaged by the acidic mess, especially stuff …
A second jury weighed much of the same evidence as the first in the Michael George case — even a tad more, when considering some newly introduced theories presented by the defense — and, like the first jury, they found George guilty.
In the past few months, I’ve left my Michigan home and headed to South Dakota, where I’m now the news editor for both Dakotas. It’s a fascinating job in a land I had never even visited, much less considered calling …