Author Description

For over four hundred years, African Americans have fought long and hard to become more than second class citizens of this country. These battles have been fought on many battlegrounds. Health, education, politics and employment are just a few of the many major battles that have been fought. A Legal Lynching is not a story of any of these battles. Instead, this thrilling action-packed account takes place in the criminal justice system. African Americans have suffered many losses in the criminal justice battle. This is a true story of one of those losses chronicled by Judge Kenneth Hoyt. The story is told by Judge Hoyt through the voices of the actual participants. Beginning with his in chambers meeting with former state court Judge Matthew W. Plummer, Judge Hoyt weaves a thrilling yet truthful story of a total disregard for the constitutional rights of two young undereducated African American men. This is not a recount of a system guided by mistakes, but instead a true reflection of the intentional display of systemic racism and how it destroyed the lives of two citizens of this country. With this discourse, Judge Matthew W. Plummer and Judge Kenneth Hoyt give the reader a clear and true view of the constitutional violations in the criminal system suffered by African Americans in this country. It is a story that many whites in America would desire not to be told. Judge Hoyt has not only created a ravishing thriller about criminal justice gone wrong, but he has also chronicled a horrendous recount of a legal constitutional abuse. James M. Douglas Distinguished Professor of Law Texas Southern University Thurgood Marshall School of Law