DEATH OF A 'JEWISH AMERICAN PRINCESS' The True Story of a Victim on Trial

Frondorf (Shirley)

ISBN 10: 0394568540 / ISBN 13: 9780394568546

Published by Villard Books (New York), 1988

About this Item

Hardback. In 1981, Phoenix Restaurateur Steven Steinberg murdered his wife Elana, stabbing her 26 times in their bedroom. It was a brutal crime that rocked a city, and a trial that made a mockery of justice. In 1982 the murderer left the courtroom a free man in possession of his victim's property. He had been sleepwalking, a jury of his peers decided, when he slew his wife, while she cried out to her two children for help. After the not guilty verdict was announced to a packed courtroom, one of the jurors kissed the handsome defendant; other jurors shook his hand, saying, "God bless you, Steve." This is the story of a terrible miscarriage of justice; a triumph of the temporary insanity defence. The defence strategy played to the jury's worst prejudices by making Elana Steinberg appear guilty of causing her own murder. The verdict, which exonerated the murderer and condemned the victim, sent a shock wave through the community, leaving a profoundly disturbing sense that the legal system had failed in a significant way. Illus. + Epilogue. 281pp. lge. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Nr. f. in Vg+ pcdw.

Seller Inventory # 15841

Bibliographic Details

• Title: DEATH OF A 'JEWISH AMERICAN PRINCESS' The True Story of a Victim on Trial
• Publisher: Villard Books (New York)
• Publication Date: 1988
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0394568540
• ISBN 13: 9780394568546
• Binding: Hardcover / Hardback
• Edition: First edition.
• Condition: Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good
• Seller catalogs:
  • Miscarriages of Justice

About this title

Synopsis

Recounts the true story of the murder of a woman by her husband, and his acquittal due to the jury's empathy for his claim to being overwhelmed by her supposedly typical behavior as a "Jewish-American Princess"