Philip Friedman

Reasonable Doubt Philip Friedman

Face to face with the woman accused of killing his son, Michael Ryan was surprisingly calm... When ex-prosecutor Michael Ryan's estranged daughter-in-law is accused of killing his equally estranged son, she wants him to defend her. At first it seems outrageous, but as he learns more Ryan sees that it's a request he can't refuse. Ex-federal prosecutor Michael Ryan's estranged son, Ned, was brutally bludgeoned to death in the private room of a Soho art gallery. Only weeks later, Ned's wife, socialite Jennifer Kneeland, was indicted as the murderer. Ryan expected that his daughter-in-law would insist on her innocence, but not that she would beg him to defend her. Easier by far to believe she was guilty, bury his grief for the son he hardly knew, and get on with his life. But, much as he wanted to turn her away, it didn't take long for him to see that wasn't a possibility. Out of Ryan's decision to defend Jennifer comes a story of jealousy, betrayal, family strife and sudden violence. Ryan, rebuilding his life after his wife's tragic death, struggling with a seemingly unwinnable case, faces off against his former officemate, Manhattan DA Franky Griglia, who's determined to settle old scores, in the most sensational New York murder trial in decades. As Ryan's ambivalence about Jennifer intensifies, as the painful truth about his son's life begins to emerge, Ryan realizes that his own life is also on trial - as a father, as a lawyer, and as a man.