Linda Fairstein

Career

Fairstein graduated with honors from Vassar College (1969) and the University of Virginia School of Law (1972). She joined the Manhattan District Attorney's office in 1972 as an Assistant District Attorney and was promoted to the head of the sex crimes unit in 1976. During her tenure, she prosecuted the controversial and highly publicized cases such as the "Preppy Murder case" against Robert Chambers in 1986, and the 1998 People v. Jovanovic cases. Fairstein, as head of Sex Crimes, oversaw the wrongful prosecution of The "Central Park Jogger" case in 1990 which was prosecuted by ADAs Elizabeth Lederer and Tim Clements. The convictions in the case were later vacated. Fairstein left the District Attorney's office in 2002, and has continued to consult, write, lecture and serve as a sex crimes expert for a wide variety of print and television media outlets, including CNN, MSNBC and Larry King, among others. Fairstein has consulted for a number of media outlets during a number of high-profile prosecutions, including Michael Jackson's molestation charges in 2004, Kobe Bryant's sexual assault charges, and Scott Peterson's trial. She was the founder of the Domestic Violence Committee of the New York Women's Agenda. She is a frequent speaker on issues surrounding domestic abuse.

Personal life

Fairstein was married to lawyer Justin Feldman from 1987 until his death in 2011 at the age of 92. In September 2014 she married her long-time friend Michael Goldberg, another lawyer, at their home in Martha's Vineyard.

Central Park Jogger case

Fairstein's office supervised the prosecution in 1990 of the Central Park Jogger case, which ended in the conviction of five teenagers. In the settlement, it was claimed that Fairstein, with the assistance of the detectives at the 20th precinct, coerced false confessions from them following thirty straight hours of interrogation and intimidation, of both the youths and their supporting adults. When US attorney David Nocenti, a "Big Brother" mentor to Yusef Salaam, one of the defendants, appeared at the precinct while the defendant was being grilled, Fairstein verbally abused him, demanded he leave immediately, then called her husband to demand the home number of Nocenti's then boss, Brooklyn US Attorney Andrew Maloney, so she could get the young attorney fired.

All five accused teenagers later claimed their confessions were coerced during interrogation through lies and intimidation. Notwithstanding their later claims of innocence, in 1990 the "Central Park Five" were convicted of various assault and sexual battery charges based on the false confessions obtained from the five teens in 1989. Antron McCray, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana and Kharey Wise had signed written confessions, while Yousef Salaam, made a verbal confession but refused to sign. Fairstein's behavior seemed so outrageous that in the 1993 appeals decision on Salaam's case then appellate court judge Vito Titone specifically named her in his dissenting opinion said in an interview, "I was concerned about a criminal justice system that would tolerate the conduct of the prosecutor, Linda Fairstein, who deliberately engineered the 15-year-old's confession. ... Fairstein wanted to make a name. She didn't care. She wasn't a human."

All five convictions were vacated in 2002 after convicted rapist Matias Reyes confessed to the crime. DNA testing of semen found on the victim confirmed that Reyes was the sole contributor of DNA found on the victim, to a certainty of 6 billion to 1. In 2003, Kevin Richardson, Raymond Santana Jr., and Antron McCray sued the city of New York for malicious prosecution, racial discrimination and emotional distress. A proposed settlement in the case was reached on June 19, 2014

In 2009, Ken Burns announced plans to make a film about the case, which he compared to the Scottsboro Boys case. The film, The Central Park Five, premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2012 and was released on November 23, 2012.

Jovanovic controversy

Fairstein was sued by Oliver Jovanovic. The lawsuit alleged that Fairstein engaged in "false arrest, malicious prosecution, malicious abuse of process and denial of his right to a fair trial". This lawsuit stemmed from Fairstein's successful prosecution of Jovanovic in the case People v. Jovanovic that was subsequently overturned on appeal, and then dismissed with prejudice by a new trial judge. The dismissal was requested "in the interest of justice" by the office of the Manhattan district attorney, Robert M. Morgenthau.

There was no physical evidence linking Jovanovic to the crime, and, in fact, while his accuser claimed she had been brutally attacked and left bleeding, there were only a few fading bruises later found. "If she [Fairstein] couldn't tell this was a false report, well, I am just shocked," says former New York City sex crimes detective John Baeza, who worked in defense of Jovanovic after leaving the force.

The $10 million lawsuit against Fairstein and two co-defendants, former Manhattan Assistant District Attorney Gail Heatherly, who now teaches at the Columbia Law School, and New York City Police Detective Milton Bonilla, was dismissed on summary judgment in September 2010.

Dominique Strauss-Kahn

Fairstein assisted District Attorney Vance in his decision not to prosecute Dominique Strauss-Kahn for sexual assault in 2012. Fairstein's writing skills came into play in writing up the declination or decision not to charge.

Publications

Fairstein is the internationally best-selling author of a series of crime novels featuring Manhattan prosecutor Alexandra Cooper. The novels draw on Fairstein's legal expertise.

The titles are:

She has also written a non-fiction book, Sexual Violence: Our War Against Rape (1993).