God’s Nobodies: Misguided Faith and Murder in the Life of One American Family
This Kindle Single e-book, published December 14, 2012, tells the true story of a Syracuse murder, what led to it, and its tragic aftermath. Go to the book’s main web page for more on Tim Ginocchetti and the family and cultural forces that turned a childlike, closeted-gay young man into his mother’s killer. Also on this site are an archive of blog posts about this story, photos and audio clips, and other background on a reporting project spanning more than four years.
In the July 2010 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine, I told part of the story in a feature focusing on Tim’s grandmother, Esther Rufo, whose love for her grandson and dedication to the truth led to her expulsion from her marriage and family.
The American Lawyer
May 2013 “Bar Talk” on West Webster (N.Y.) Fire Department volunteer Ted Scardino and his decision to lend his voice to one piece of gun-control legislation. Scardino was one of four firefighters shot on Christmas Eve 2012 by a convicted felon who allegedly obtained his weapons through a straw purchase.
Miller-McCune magazine (now Pacific Standard)
January/February 2011 feature on an innovative program in Texas to help violent-crime victims recover by talking it out with the criminals who harmed them. A sidebar took a look at Susan Herman’s book Parallel Justice for Victims of Crime.
“Law and Terror,” an August 2008 essay/book review on an analyst’s provocative plan to balance national security with the rule of law.
Slate.com
“Vote for Harriet!!! The dubious professional distinctions of Harriet Miers,” an October 2005 essay calling on my years covering the Texas bar to lend some perspective on a Supreme Court nominee.
Inc. magazine
“Learn to Love Your Lawyer,” December 2004. This was a reported feature giving entrepreneurs advice on dealing with lawyers.
Stanford University Press
“Bench Press: The Collision of Courts, Politics, and the Media,” 2007. I wrote a chapter analyzing news coverage of Samuel Alito Supreme Court nomination. This book grew out of a conference I helped organize in Washington, D.C., televised on C-SPAN, which launched Syracuse University’s Institute for the Judiciary, Politics and the Media.
CNY Sports
“46 Peaks, 35 Years.” The story of my fitful quest to climb New York’s 46 highest mountains. This appeared in the Summer 2010 of a regional sports magazine. (Download PDF)
FPO magazine
“Re: Write,” a column of advice and reported stories for a quarterly magazine on editing and art direction. A link is available for one piece, on legal review of magazine copy.
LawBeat
For nearly three years, ending in May 2009, I wrote a daily critique of legal journalism that was twice named one of the top legal news blogs by the ABA Journal. (Website no longer online.)