From the moment Elizabeth Lederer was assigned to the case, the soft-spoken, tough-minded prosecutor was determined to indict and convict the perpetrators. Even with the confessions, proving rape would be incredibly difficult. The victim could remember nothing of the incident. Witnesses could testify only to parts of the case. The physical evidence was inconclusive. Timothy Sullivan, former editor of Manhattan Lawyer and now news editor at Courtroom Television Network, takes us to the core of the Central Park Jogger trials. He shows how Lederer reconstructed the crime and other attacks that night by cross-referencing interviews with gang members, police, victims and other witnesses to indict ten suspects.

Sullivan explores how Lederer and her associates in the district attorney's office planned their strategy, how they dealt with the often contradictory testimony of the suspects and the threats from the defendants' supporters, who gathered in and around the courtroom. Some of the defense lawyers put up spirited fights; others made elementary errors. Under pressure and media scrutiny, and with such problematic evidence, every one of Lederer's decisions had dramatic consequences. Relying on a complex theory of accomplice liability, Lederer obtained rape convictions against four of the accused and convictions on lesser charges against others, including the alleged ringleader.

After covering both trials and reviewing the transcripts, including the arguments at the bench and in the judge's chambers not heard by the jury or the press, the author conducted extensive interviews with the jurors. Sullivan not only gives the most complete picture of this celebrated case and how it was FROM THE CRITICS Publishers Weekly On April 19, 1989, a young, white, female investment banker --her name has been withheld throughout the case-- jogging in Manhattan's Central Park was raped and severely beaten by a group of African American and Hispanic teenagers. Shortly before the assault, this gang also attacked others who were using the park for so-called ``wilding." In his absorbing book, Sullivan, news editor for the Courtroom Television Network, skillfully sorts through diverse details of the investigations and trials. Relying also on transcripts and interviews with lawyers and jurors, he demonstrates how prosecutors developed their case from circumstantial evidence, how numerous errors were made by defense attorneys and why one of the more implicated defendants received a relatively light sentence. Less satisfying is the fact that the author fails to discuss the role of the press and issues of gender, race and class raised by the case. are virtually ignored. Film rights optioned to Edgar Scherick Productions for HBO; Literary Guild alternate. (Nov.) Library Journal Sullivan's lively style gives immediacy again to the Central Park jogger case--not surprisingly, as he is news editor of Court TV and a former editor of Manhattan Lawyer . He covers the arrest through sentencing of ten teenage boys in two trials, which took place in New York from spring 1989 through spring 1991. Sullivan's narrative is always absorbing, despite the jumble of details about the criminal justice system, attorneys, police, and juries whom he interviewed.

The first book on the Central Park ``wilding" cases, it is significant for what it does not do: it does not continue the histrionics of previous reportage; it does not speculate on the historical truths and myths of gender and race relations; and it does not portray the case as a symbol of urban violence, New York City's brutalization, or larger social issues. One of Sullivan's aims is apparently to present enough background to put to rest c  Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group 0-671-74237-X / 9780671742379
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