Defense

Defense attorney Joseph Antonelli is a stranger to defeat. There doesn't seem to be a case - no matter how implausible - that is beyond him. Until the phone rings one crisp April morning and Judge Leopold Rifkin asks Antonelli to defend Johnny Morel, a con man and convicted drug dealer accused of raping his twelve-year-old stepdaughter, Michelle. The prosecution's case is riddled with inconsistencies, and Michelle's history of sexual abuse could be the perfect straw man for the defense. With the testimony of Morel's luscious wife, Denise, there just might be a way out of a conviction. Antonelli has never confused the legal system with justice, so it should have been routine to defend a man he knew was guilty. And it should have ended there. No one suspected it would end in murder. The Defense is a psychological study in suspense. In a world where morality has been reduced to a hefty legal fee and truth to a commodity, The Defense is about the strengths of passion, the elusiveness of truth, and the lethal repercussions of injustice.