This engrossing investigation into the tragic 1988 murder of four-year-old Barbara Jean Horn and its aftermath leads readers through the facts of the case in compelling, compassionate, and riveting fashion. Award-winning journalist Thomas Lowenstein makes an evenhanded case for the wrongful conviction of Walter Ogrod, a man with autism spectrum disorder who has been on death row since 1996. Informed by police records, court transcripts, interviews, letters and journals, and more, Lowenstein relates how Ogrod was convicted based solely on a confession he signed after 36 hours without sleep and how his fate was sealed by an infamous jailhouse snitch. Presenting explosive new evidence, Lowenstein exposes a larger pattern of prosecutorial misconduct in Philadelphia.

“Serial and Making a Murderer have focused national attention on the injustices that can result from shoddy police investigations. The public outrage that has been generated by these programs will be eclipsed tenfold by the events that unfold in The Trials of Walter Ogrod. Lowenstein takes readers through the convoluted twists and turns of this case as few true crime writers have ever been able to do.”  —James L. Trainum, former Washington, DC, Metropolitan Police Department detective and author of How the Police Generate False Confessions

“The Trials of Walter Ogrod is not only a compelling read and a fascinatingly detailed examination of a grotesquely botched murder case, it is a critically important work that rips the lid off the stew of secrets and lies hiding beneath what most think of as ‘criminal justice.’ Innocuous terms like ‘police and prosecutorial misconduct’ take on a new and chilling meaning thanks to Lowenstein’s dogged pursuit and thoughtful analysis.” —Mike Farrell, author of Just Call Me Mike: A Journey to Actor and Activist and Of Mule and Man

“...fans of the Making a Murderer series will be especially outraged by this unjust case.” —Booklist

“an important volume about how the criminal justice system does and doesn’t function.”—Library Journal 

Thomas Lowenstein has contributed to the American Prospect magazine and the Philadelphia City Paper. He is the founder of The New Orleans Journalism Project, which works with journalism students on stories related to criminal justice, and was formerly policy director and investigator at Innocence Project New Orleans, an editor at DoubleTake magazine, and a teaching fellow at Harvard. He lives in New Orleans.