A Jury Not of Peers, by Pg Wyal; Legal Review

[Omphalos]

Written in a pushy and immediate style reminiscent of the hack producers of Gernsbeck’s day, with a low and sometimes scatological focus, Pg Wyal’s A Jury Not of Peers is a story of the criminal sentencing of a murderer. The murderer, referred to only as “the man,” or “the man who fled,” was a semi-literate, semi-skilled laborer who worked in a company town. He pled nolo contendere to a charge of the murder of a company manager, during a night of drunken revelry over some slight involving a company prostitute. This story is a new one to me so I read it a few times before sitting down to write this essay. The society in it is either the most enlightened or the most cowardly out there, and I am still scratching my head about the conclusion...Please click here, or on the book cover above, to be taken to the complete review..