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ISBN 978-09789597-4-6
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“Art Campbell provides us with brilliant flashes of insight into the mysterious workings
of the legal system. His prose poems are heart-wrenching, powerful, compelling. As an
insider, Campbell is in a unique position to provide vivid glimpses at the colorful
characters on both sides of the law. His prose poems are full of compassion and a
generosity of spirit. In sharing with us his ‘tales from the trenches,’ he reveals the heart
and soul of a young trial lawyer.”
— Nancy Kim, lawyer and author of critically acclaimed novel, CHIMHOMINEY’s SECRET.
Proceeds from the sale of Trial & Error will be donated to the Innocence Project at
California Western School of Law San Diego, California.
“Professor Campbell has scored a
literary hat trick. He’s written a work
that appeals to the general public,
attorneys, and readers of poetry. An
experienced trial lawyer and
accomplished poet, in TRIAL & ERROR
Campbell candidly reveals the
courtroom life: its ordeals, surprises,
defeats, and triumphs. This volume—
the first of a planned trilogy— is about
the practical education of a young
freedom lawyer.”
— from the FOREWORD
        By Charles M. Sevilla, Esq.
          THE WEIRD CASE

In law the right answer usually depends on putting
        the right question. -— Felix Frankfurter


What can you do with an unlawful pistol-discharge case
when your client is a marshal who confessed he’d shot his
gun for kicks? In this case the clue to stay alert was
signaled by my client’s name: Warren B. Weird.

At 4 a.m. two cruiser cops heard a gunshot, saw a speeding
car, and chased Weird through a “high-crime area,” cop code
for most of Washington, D.C. When they stopped and
questioned him he candidly replied he fired at a wall
for fun. They seized him and his smoking gun.

With a potential jail sentence of one year, the accusation
seemed an easy prosecution win, given gunshots, pistol,
and a full confession on the spot.

“It was a stupid thing to do, Mr. Campbell, but it was dark,
and no one was around. I shot inside a vacant lot. I’d been
to a party and just learned my pregnant sister’s going to
give her kid my name.”

Warren, handsome, slim, well dressed was twenty-nine,
living with his wife and two sons in a deeply mortgaged
home. His prior Air Force record was exemplary, as were
evals as a deputy U.S. Marshal. If found guilty Weird
would lose his job; any jail time would doom his house
and wreck his family.

How could I fulfill my oath to “render vigorous defense”
against a slam-dunk prosecution case? Even swapping
Warren’s guilty plea for probation would cost his job,
a prosecution offer he refused to buy.


(find out how this and many other cases turned out in this
unique look at the law through the eyes of a young lawyer
deeply concerned with freedom, justice and how to put it
down with the voice of a poet.)
TRIAL & ERROR
The Education
of a
Freedom Lawyer

Volume One:
For the Defense

prose poems by
Arthur W. Campbell
Read reviews by Pat Browne, Christopher N. Green and Thomas Larson on Amazon.com.