Variegated Justice

An attempted prison takeover turns into a race riot at a West Virginia penitentiary. When an African-American inmate is charged in a brutal murder committed during the melee, tort lawyer, Jack Fabian, is reluctantly appointed to defend an impossible-to-defend case. His only hope for success is to persuade a jury that his client is insane.

An attempted takeover of a West Virginia penitentiary goes badly, and a violent race riot breaks out among the prison population resulting in multiple injuries and deaths. Successful civil trial lawyer, Jack Fabian, is appointed to represent an indigent African American inmate who is accused of brutally murdering a White inmate during the melee. The lawyer is faced with the dilemma of representing a defendant who has been caught on prison surveillance video committing the act and has no apparent defense. With nothing to lose, Fabian teams up with a psychologist who specializes in diagnosing and treating dissociative identity disorder, also known as multiple personality disorder, to advocate for a "not guilty by reason of insanity" defense for his obviously doomed client. "Variegated Justice" is a fast-paced, legal, psychological thriller that takes the reader into the world of criminal law, criminal trials, and dissociative identity disorder as a basis for the defense of insanity. The novel gives the reader an in-depth analysis of the condition, its relationship to the law, and the trial of a murder case with insanity as the only available defense.

William Parsons, a third-generation attorney and veteran trial lawyer, is a native of Huntington, WV. He received his Doctor of Jurisprudence degree from West Virginia University in 1976, after which he practiced law in West Virginia, the surrounding states, and Washington, D.C. He is licensed to practice in all courts in West Virginia, the United States District Courts for the Northern and Southern Districts of West Virginia, and the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit. Parsons, who in his later years in the practice, concentrated his efforts representing injured clients in medical malpractice and personal injury cases, began his practice as an assistant prosecuting attorney in Cabell County, West Virginia. Thereafter, he continued practicing both criminal and civil law in Wheeling, West Virginia. He is the past president of the West Virginia Trial Lawyers Association and was voted that organization's Member of the Year (1990-91). He is an FAA certified instrument rated pilot. The father of two sons and four grandsons, Parsons is married to Donna Crow, also an attorney. "Variegated Justice" is his second novel. His first novel, "Preferential Treatment," a medical-legal novel, was published in 2016.