FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

BOOMTOWN D.A. - CRIMES, TRIALS, AND THE PURSUIT OF JUSTICE

HOUSTON, Texas (May 5, 2010) - Whitecaps Media announces the May 17 release of Boomtown D.A., the exciting memoir of Carol Vance, former district attorney of Harris County (Houston), Texas. From his first misdemeanor jury trial, tried in a barn, to his final trial - the Corll-Henley mass murder case - Carol Vance chronicles his years as top prosecutor in the fourth largest city in the United States. During his eight years as an assistant D.A. and nearly fourteen years as the elected district attorney in Houston, Texas, Vance was on a quest for justice for “the least, the last, and the left out.” He worked hard to reform the law, and introduced many innovations to address a multitude of crimes and better serve the public. All the while, Vance vigorously pursued convictions, and found time to try more cases than perhaps any elected prosecutor in a large city in America.

Boomtown D.A. has it all. The delicate case of bringing charges against a sitting justice of the Texas Supreme Court - and sending him to jail. Grizzly details of high profile murder cases. Touching stories of human drama. Vance’s book covers the turbulent sixties and seventies - a time when Houston doubled in population. Vance oversaw or personally tried some of Texas’ most famous cases - the infamous Joan Robinson Hill and John Hill murder cases; the Texas Southern University riot and the resulting trials; as well as a United States Supreme Court case which bears his name. In one of the most moving stories he recounts the story of a professor who engineered an armed robbery to finance a radical press with ties to a left-leaning Caribbean island nation. Vance secured her conviction but later, when her life turned around inside prison walls, he went to bat for her for a full pardon.

Boomtown D.A. is a great read. It is an excellent study of just exactly what district attorneys do and illustrates their tremendous influence on the criminal justice system in America. This deftly penned account is a wonderful contribution to the history of Houston, and to the legacy of the great prosecutorial tradition that is so important to the rule of law in the United States.

Carol Vance has been a leader among district attorneys in the state of Texas and across the nation. He has been called the the “father” of the Texas District and County Attorneys Association (TDCAA), having worked to turn it into a professional organization and secure its funding. On the national level, Carol was a cofounder of the National College for District Attorneys. While in office Vance served as president of the TDCAA and the National District Attorneys Association and received the highest award each of those associations bestows.

Vance is a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers. After two decades as a prosecutor, he joined the national law firm of Bracewell and Giuliani, where he became a Senior Partner. Even in private life, he could not escape working for justice. As chairman of the Texas Prison Board he led the fight for many reforms. Teaming with Governor George W. Bush and Prison Fellowship founder Chuck Colson, the first faith-based ministry in the U.S. was started at the Carol S. Vance prison where Vance serves as a volunteer today. He has recently received the coveted Fifty Year Lawyer Award from the State Bar of Texas.

Contact:
Kit Sublett, Publisher
Whitecaps Media
www.whitecapsmedia.com
whitecapsmedia@earthlink.net
281-798-0038

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