Dan Abrams, Chief Legal Analyst for ABC News, and host of the top-rated cable series LivePD, joined The Scott Sands Show this week to talk about the spread of COVID-19 and his new book, John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight For Justice In The Boston Massacre Murder Trial -- click here to listen on our free iHeartRadio app.
This book is so relevant today, Alan Dershowitz even cited it in his impeachment defense of President Donald Trump.
In time for the 250th Anniversary of the Boston Massacre, Dan Abrams, the country's foremost expert on American jurisprudence, delivers the first ever in-depth look at the trial that singlehandedly changed the course of the American legal system and the very foundation of our country. With John Adams Under Fire: The Founding Father's Fight for Justice in the Boston Massacre Murder Trial (March 3, 2020; Hanover Square Press; $28.99), nationally bestselling author Abrams gives a curated view of a Founding Father defending his enemy for the good of a young nation.
When the Boston Massacre happened on March 5, 1770, John Adams was a 34-year-old up-and-coming attorney, and in the name of justice, gambled his career on the most controversial murder case of the day. In John Adams Under Fire, Abrams and co-writer David Fisher draw on the largely forgotten trial transcript, using Adams' own words to transport readers to colonial Boston, a city roiling with rebellion. Abrams looks at the trial through the lens of the entirety of American history, using his expert legal mind to stress important revelations, including:
. The first use of "reasonable doubt" in legal history
. The first ever sequestration of a jury
. The pieces drawn from the British legal system
. The early precedents for what would become our modern legal system
The longest trial in history at the time, the legal proceedings after the Boston Massacre put John Adams in a public spotlight that he would never relinquish. He knew that in the burgeoning nation, even the worst people must have access to a fair trial.