Richard S. Jaffe

Richard S. Jaffe is the senior partner of the Birmingham, Alabama, law firm of Jaffe & Strickland, P.C., specializing in the areas of criminal defense and civil rights. A graduate of the University of Alabama School of Law, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, he is board certified by the National Board of Trial Advocacy as a criminal Trial Specialist and is currently listed in both Super Lawyers and Best Lawyers in America. He is licensed to practice law in New York, Georgia, the District of Columbia and Alabama. Jaffe is considered one of the foremost experts and lecturers on criminal law in America and is frequently called upon to comment on death penalty issues and other areas of criminal law by national television, radio and print media.

Mr. Jaffe leads a diverse personal life, the development of which is featured in Quest for Justice. He enjoys creative writing, travel, photography, yoga and meditation.

Now, with Quest for Justice, Richard S. Jaffe presents his profound, inside expose of the personal and professional challenges of the criminal justice system, and how his work with the death penalty and a few of his most celebrated cases have shaped his journey as a lawyer and a human being trying to survive in a system often riddled with a “win at no cost” mentality that is revealed in the riveting real life cases and stories featured in his book.

Quest for Justice

Champion for the Unjustly Convicted

Here is the gripping, no-holds-barred story of some of America’s most shocking headline murders told by Richard Jaffe, a defense attorney who has fought and won more death penalty cases than any other lawyer in America. Join Richard Jaffe, a commentator during the O.J. Simpson trials and frequent guest on NPR, CNN and NBC who is prominently featured in two bestselling books: Execution’s Doorstep and Lone Wolf, as he enters the harrowing world of accused murderers. Follow him as he unveils the truth and fights to right horrific wrongs. 

Quest for Justice: Defending the Damned by Richard S. Jaffe (New Horizon Press, February 2012) is a mesmerizing, behind-the-scenes look at the real stories of Jaffe’s and the country’s most notorious cases, spotlighting concealments and reality as he unearths what really happened in savage murder scenes and seeks who are the real killers. We learn, as Jaffe did, about himself and his values as he finds out about the many injustices (racial profiling, faulty investigation techniques, junk science, etc.) the wrongly accused face and the judicial flaws (prosecutorial misconduct, crooked judges and biases) within the American criminal justice system. Jaffe divulges new revelations and insights into Eric Rudolph, the Centennial Olympic Park and Birmingham family planning clinic bomber, as well as accused murders Randal Padgett, Che Salvatore Swindle, Bo Cochran and Gary Drinkard.

Quest for Justice is a taut and suspenseful journey through crime and the legal process from its most combustible, dramatic points, murder scenes and inside murder trial courtrooms, judges' chambers and prison visiting rooms. Hear life/death verdicts and how the death penalty is decided and administered. You will peer not only into Jaffe’s heart and soul, but also into the souls, hearts and eyes of the men and women he has defended as well as those who have opposed him in these firestorms of controversy, pitting guilt versus innocence. This is a rock’em, sock’em, Grisham style, Southern lawyer’s quest to make a difference and right appalling wrongs in these fights to the death.

SUGGESTED INTERVIEW QUESTIONS:

* You started as an assistant district attorney and assistant attorney general then switched to become a defense attorney. What was it about defending the accused that appealed to you?

* In Quest for Justice, you talk often about cases that appear won, only to be lost and vice versa. It’s an unpredictable side of trial law we don’t often see on TV or in movies or read about. Can you share the misconceptions audiences receive about trial law?

* An interesting point you make along these lines concerns the definition of “winning a case.” Society looks at it in black-and-white: an acquittal is a victory for the defense lawyer, a conviction is a defeat. However, you see relative to the nature of the charge and potential worst punishment. How do you weigh “wins” and “losses” with your clients and your own high standards?

* You have a particular penchant for trying high-profile, high-stakes cases and have built your career and reputation on it. What is it like for you when you sit down for the first time with an accused murderer, look him or her in the eyes and begin building a defense strategy?

* Quest for Justice has a lot of remarkable stories in it, but none quite as sensational as the saga of Judge Jack Montgomery. He was fearsome and fearful, yet you stood your ground to him and ended up helping to end his reign on the bench. What is it about these colorful, outlaw judges that appeals so much to readers?

* Bo Cochran, Gary Drinkard and Randal Padgett are three of the men whose capital murder convictions and death penalty sentences were overturned thanks to your efforts. What emotions move through you when years of work—sometimes fifteen years—culminates with the words, “Not guilty”?

* The centerpiece of Quest for Justice is your firmly rooted opposition to the death penalty. More and more states ban it, yet we still have gross injustices, such as the recent execution of a Mexican national in Texas who never saw his consular representative. In your opinion, what will it take to stop using death as a deterrent to crime and how will you continue to fight for that?

* One of your most celebrated cases was the initial defense of Eric Rudolph, the Centennial Olympic Park and Birmingham family planning clinic bomber who eluded a manhunt for five years in North Carolina. What about his personal convictions and character struck you as similar to your own when you spent time with him?

* You’ve seen the highest and lowest of the human condition and human motive, defended hundreds of accused criminals and practiced and witnessed some incredible lawyering. Which experiences particularly filled your soul with the joy of operating at your highest potential and making a difference?

* Do you still stay in touch with some of the men and women you’ve successfully defended?