Gunning For Justice – Spence

I held a copy of the thing in my hand and stared across at the witness over the tops of my glasses. want you to listen to this very carefully, this language you put in this manual, and see if it isn’t just gobbledygook—this language which or- dinary folks must read and understand to save their very Uves!”

I read: “The permissible dose for an individual is that dose, accu- mulated over a long period of time or resulting from a single exposure, which in the Ught of present knowledge, carries a negligible probability of severe or somatic or genetic injuries; furthermore it is such a dose that any effects that ensue more frequently are limited to those of a minor nature that would not be considered unacceptable by the ex- posed individual and competent medical authority.* “Does that mean anything to you?”

I demanded. That was just liter- ary junk which was supposed to inform workingmen. “Yes, it does. It is not a bunch of gobbledygook to me because it was taken from an International Commission on Radiological Protec- tion Report.” “But you put that in your training manual for people, common ordi- nary people like myself, to read and to understand, nineteen- and twenty-year-old high school kids that are coming in to work, farm boys . , .”

Bill Paul was on his feet objecting. I was being argumentative, theat- rical. “Sustained,” declared Judge Theis. Dr. Gofman had said if he’d written the manual he wouldVe included the word “CANCER” in capital letters on every page, but Valentine had left the word “cancer” out of the manual altogether. He admitted taking much of the manual from a 1959 publication on radia- tion impact written by Dr. H. Langham of the Los Alamos Laboratory.

only another hunter, in that dark arena where men are the game and the hunt- er is also the hunted. I stalk the witness on the witness stand, struggle with my adversary, and at some critical moment it becomes a fight to the death.” Some say Wyoming attorney Gerry Spence is simply the finest trial lawyer in America today.

Philosopher, orator, gunfighter, Spence brings a passion and style to American courtrooms gone since the days of Clarence Darrow— in stark contrast to the bland technicians who often represent America’s corpora- tions—whom he refers to as “the gen- tlemen in gray.” He has fought and won—some of the most important criminal and civil cases of our time. His clients are the forgotten people of America, “the crippled, the wasted, and the damned,” and he has extracted huge damage awards for them against the multi-national corporations who, Spence says, have become our masters in a new slavery in which we, the peo- ple, are the new slaves.

His remarkable courtroom victories have sent a clear (continued on back flap) ^ qp ‘J’ ,0 *> jsy ^ lyfr^

1. Spence, Gerald L. 2. Lawyers—Wyoming—Biography. I. Polk, Anthony. IL Title. KF373.S64A34 349.787’092’4 [B] ISBN 0-385-17703-8 347.870092’4 [B] aacr2 Library of Congress Catalog Card Number 81-43926 Copyright © 1982 by G. L. Spence and Anthony Polk ALL RIGHTS RESERVED PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA TO MY FATHER, THE HUNTER Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2011 http://www.archive.org/details/gerryspencegunniOOspen Preface Sometimes I have felt a chilling sweat in laying bare the bare places herein.

I’m afraid I can never say what I have to say correctly—fully, with grace—and besides I can hear it all during a final argument or dur- ing some motion before the court when my opponent chooses to hurl back at me some isolated part of this book for small advantages. But the opportunity to attempt an honest portrayal of oneself is not often offered.

I have set upon the task of doing so with doubt and ap- prehension and hope the risk may somehow prove to be worth the pos- sible cost of failure. To those who will be tempted to strike at me with my own confes- sions, I say I understand. The book is like me. If I take it part at a time I find cause to reject it, but as a whole it is all right with me, and it is as a whole that I offer the book to you.

Without Tony Polk, my colleague, my friend, this book could not have been written.

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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• Title: –
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• ISBN: 0385177038
• Pages: 489
• Language: English (en)

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