“Let’s kill mummy”
Lawyers Weekly
March 7, 2025 At 16, Pauline Parker found love. Fortunately for Parker, the feeling was mutual, with the year-younger Juliet Hulme returning her strong affections. Meeting in New Zealand’s Christchurch Girls High School, the two created an intricate fantasy world in which only they existed. When their parents realized their bond, something had to be done. After all, it was the 1950s, and such strong same-sex attractions were forbidden signs of mental instability. When Hulme’s parents decided to leave the country, the girls were thrown into a tizzy. They desperately wished to remain together but thought that Pauline’s mother would never allow her to leave with Juliet. To address the roadblock, they devised a remedy: murder. Read more. Cold as Ice - Unsolved Boston MurdersDiscussion at Lynnfield Historical Society
Read: "A New Chapter"“Who’s the No. 1 comedian working today?” Appeals Court Judge R. Marc Kantrowitz asks more than a dozen wide-eyed, mostly young law clerks seated around a long conference-room table. A few moments of tense silence follow. This, after all, is a bit less serious of a query than a judge might typically pose to a student clerk, so it takes a few seconds to warm to the task. Read more.
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About the author
R. Marc Kantrowitz is the most highly published lawyer on state law in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. He has written numerous books on criminal law, motor vehicle tort law, juvenile law, evidence, and mental health, as well as numerous law-related articles. He also writes a column entitled Law 'n History.
Read more. With new book, attorney credits women ‘robbed’ of discoveries over time by men
Book review by R. Marc Kantrowitz
November 1, 2024 “Oh No He Didn’t! Brilliant Women and the Men Who Took Credit for Their Work” by Wendy J. Murphy, Cynren Press; September 2024; $20; 266 pages For those of us (lawyerly disclaimer) who know Wendy Murphy, the word “gutsy” comes to mind, which she proves on page 2 of the introduction to her book. There, she names names — of the well-known TV reporter who shamelessly stole her scoop while working as a commentator for NBC (you’ll have to buy the book to find out who), and the attorney who hired her and another (a male) to give a talk on Title IX regulations. She was lied to and stiffed on her small fee, unlike her male counterpart. I wish she had continued naming the sinners when she wrote about a judge ordering her into court despite the fact that she gave birth two days earlier, or another judge who refused a 15-minute break so that she could breastfeed her baby, explaining that “we don’t take breaks for that.” I’d like to think that we’ve come a long way since those regrettable days and bigotries. Read more. Podcasts
To listen to the latest podcast from R. Marc Kantrowitz, "Ponzi Scheme: The Notorious Namesake," click here.
For previous podcasts, click here. Old Whiskey and Young Women
“Murder and mystery, society, sex and suspense were combined in this case in such a manner as to intrigue and captivate the public fancy to a degree perhaps unparalleled in recent annals.” Ohio vs. Sheppard, 165 Ohio St. 293, 294 (1956).
While this should no longer occur in a criminal trial, it can in a book. And this is the book in which it does. Here, some of the most notorious legal cases in American history are explored. What they have in common is that they titillated, if not repulsed, the entire nation when they first occurred. What they still have in common is that, for the most part, they are today nearly totally forgotten. From the unfair framing for murder of America’s most famous comedian, to America’s first capital case involving an older woman and her much younger lover murdering her husband, to Mad Harry Thaw, the wealthy and mad son of a steel magnate, killing America’s foremost architect over a beautiful woman, all come to life in gripping detail and drama. And meet the real Norman Bates of Alfred Hitchcock’s Psycho, whose mother fixation and real life gruesome crimes far outmatched those of any fictional character. This book brings to life these notorious characters and many more from the rich pages of history. Law 'n HistoryR. Marc Kantrowitz writes a column entitled "Law 'n History" for Massachusetts Lawyers Weekly, the Patriot Ledger, and the sister publications of both. His goal for these articles is to have the reader look at history through a different view. He likes to pick topics about past events that people know little about, himself included. Through his writing he likes to show readers that people are generally the same today as they were hundreds of years ago; the smart, wise and generous vying against the petty, vengeful and stupid. Read more.
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