True Justice

For Butch Karp, chief assistant district attorney for New York County, the nightmare begins with the discovery of a newborn baby, apparently murdered, then casually discarded with the city's refuse. Goaded by the media's sensational publicity, the public is screaming for blood, and Karp's boss, D.A. Jack Keegan, is listening. He has ordered the prosecution of the baby's fifteen-year-old mother for murder, intent on making a very public example of the girl. A Hispanic from a poor neighborhood, she's an easy mark for big-city bureaucracy and bigotry. It is Butch Karp's unpleasant job to see that the prosecution gives the public what it wants: a quick and thorough administration of hard-line justice.