Barrett’s debut novel explores legal system
CLIFTON PARK (Nov. 11) — Michael Barrett has seen all sides of the criminal justice system. He’s been trained as an Army interrogator, helped the FBI with international drug cases and worked as a public defender.
So when he decided to write as a hobby, he stuck with what he knew.
Michael Barrett, a lawyer who lives in Clifton Park, explores the shortcomings of the criminal justice system in his debut novel, The Keeler Principle.
Barrett’s debut novel, “The Keeler Principle,” tells the story of a college political science professor who decides to test the amount of justice in the criminal justice system by staging his own murder — an experiment that ends up with his best friend on death row. And when the professor tries to right the wrong, someone who doesn’t want the truth revealed gets in the way.
Can’t happen, right? Barrett — who will read from his novel at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 12, at East Line Books — points to the case of Terry Harrington and Curtis McGhee. They were released after serving 25 years of life sentences when it was revealed prosecutors might have framed them.
“Most of the time we get it right, but there are personal agendas at play,” said Barrett, a Clifton Park resident. “I would say on the behalf of prosecutors is that they overwhelmingly honest. It’s that one-half of 1% that can still do a lot of damage.”
Why does it happen?
“The criminal justice system is run by lawyers and government officials, most of whom are elected,” he said. “They’re mindful of the need to get reelected, and getting reelected doesn’t always align with justice.”
Barrett, who grew up in Putnam County, has seen the criminal justice system up close. After graduating from the University of North Carolina Charlotte, he turned down law school to enter the Army as a private. He learned Arabic at the U.S. Defense Language Institute in Monterey, Calif., and then studied interrogation techniques at Fort Huachuca in Arizona.
That lead to a 1-year stint helping the FBI with drug cases in Chicago and Puerto Rico. He realized he would continue to move from city to city in the job, so he entered the Southern Illinois School of Law with the intention of returning to law enforcement after graduation. Instead he met his wife there.
“When we graduated, we literally took out a map of the United States to see where we wanted to live,” Barrett said. He was offered a job in Albany, and they decided to move to the area. Since then, he has worked in the public defender’s office and in the legislative and executive branches of the state government advising on criminal justice policy.
His background has helped in his writing.
“Living in so many places I got to meet a lot of people from all walks of life,” he said. “You meet characters that give you a basis for writing.”
Barrett said he’s already about 150 pages into his next book. And while the ending of “The Keeler Principle” leaves room for a sequel, Barrett said his next book will be totally unlike the first. Instead it is about life in a small Irish village.
“It’s not even serious,” Barrett said about his next novel. “It’s a fun little book.”
For more information:
- “The Keeler Principle”
- East Line Books, 1714 Route 9, Clifton Park, 371.4151
- Does the Constitution protect prosecutors who fabricate evidence?
