Project Divine Wind - Paperback

by Richard S. Platz (Author)

Project Divine Wind is a cybernetic courtroom thriller flavored with mystery and romance. Attorney Jed LeBaron's representation of a young black man accused of simple burglary leads him to the federal courts for a determination of whether a self-aware machine, a synthesis of genetic engineering and computer science, is entitled to the basic civil rights of a human being. LeBaron studied in Berkeley in the mid-Sixties and came away with a law degree. But what next? After returning from a long stay under the Mexican sun to mull it over, he finds employment representing criminal defendants in the down and dirty neighborhoods of Oakland. His employer, Cedrick P. Collins, Esq., is a former longshoreman who earned his law degree from correspondence school and is now the most charismatic, elegantly dressed, and silver tongued African American criminal defense lawyer in the Bay Area. Law school never prepared LeBaron for coping with Collins' streetwise clients. This novel contains a realistic look at the underside of the legal justice system based on the author's own experience.

Author Biography

Richard S. Platz spent several years practicing criminal defense law in Oakland, California, before relocating to Humboldt County, California. There he maintained a solo law practice for 35 years. He served as city attorney for Blue Lake for 32 of those years before retiring there in 2009. In addition to Project Divine Wind, the author has written other novels, including Appointment At Angahuan with James A. Kline, and Of Magic and Delusion. He has also written short stories, poetry, and articles on various topics, which can be read on his website: www.richardplatz.com.