Andy Thibault

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Law and Justice in Everyday Life
Foreword
By F. LEE BAILEY

     Andy Thibault's Law And Justice In Everyday Life is an unusual, perhaps extraordinary book. But then Andy Thibault himself is an unusual, and probably extraordinary man. In this day and age, he is a bit of an anomaly, sort of a gunslinger from the Old West, ready to fire at anything that moves - especially if he doesn't take kindly to the movement.
     After more than 40 years of extensive dealing with the news media, I view the relationship much as my commanding colonel viewed me as (non-lawyer) legal officer, a 21-year-old second lieutenant, U.S. Marine Corps. "Lieutenant," said he, a fine figure of a man straight from central casting, "we have five fighter squadrons and 2,000 men and women to worry about in this Aircraft Group. I'm stuck with you because the Corps has run out of lawyers for the moment. Let's have an understanding. I view the legal branch as a thorn in the side of command. It annoys me constantly, but one doesn't remove it for fear of hemorrhaging. So hear me carefully:  keep us out of trouble, and you will live like a lieutenant colonel. If legal trouble overtakes us, your ass is grass."
     The press can be fairly categorized in the same way. Reporters and columnists are at once a bastion of liberty and a colossal annoyance. But never let anyone doubt that crooks and corrupt or lazy politicians of every kind live in terrible fear of press scrutiny and limelight. Exasperating as they can be, reporters do more than any other entity to keep America right side up. Andy Thibault is dedicated to that kind of watchdog, and often howling dog, First Amendment duty. In Connecticut, cops, lawyers and judges who are less than stellar in their service must twitch nervously the moment Andy pokes his nose into their business. Although he uses both the broadsword and the scimitar in his reportage he inclines toward the former as a weapon of choice. It is somewhat amazing that despite the high station of some of those he has pummeled - usually for good cause - no one has yet framed him and convicted him, or had him rubbed out. He is nothing if not more courageous than was Zorro.
     But there is a softer, sentimental and caring side to his writing which counterpoints nicely with his bellicose aggression toward the unworthy. He has a well-developed sense of the little sensitivities that reside in the human spirit. He is in a way a corollary of Robin Hood; he takes from the powerful and gives to the weak.
     This book - which is mainly about public officials, police, judges and lawyers either shaming or shining - is a good read. Many of the stories stand alone, like slices of life. Others will appear early in the book, with follow-up chapters later. The crown jewel, in my view, is his handling of the strange death of Kevin Showalter, who was slammed 50 feet down the road in New London, Connecticut on Christmas Eve 1973 while changing a tire on the traffic side of a parked car. For many years, Andy Thibault dogged a case which public officials seemed determined to let die, despite the presence of a likely suspect. He tells me his mentor, John Peterson, broke the case open and then handed over the torch. Joined by the victim's mother, Lucille, who revealed herself as a determined but delightful woman as the story unfolds, Andy beats up on police, prosecutors, judges and governors until finally there is action. Spurred on by an appointment hastened by Gov. Ella Grasso, Judge Joseph Dannehy conducted one of the most brilliant and thorough investigations I have ever seen. If this book were only about the Showalter case, it would be worth the price.
     But there is more - much more - and the reader will inevitably wind up wishing that his community had an Andy Thibault as its own Knight, ready to take on whatever dragons, or snakes, that need to be deflated.

F. Lee Bailey gained international renown for his sharp cross-examination skills in 1966, when he won an acquittal for Dr. Sam Sheppard in the case that inspired the television series and movie, "The Fugitive." His other clients have included Patty Hearst, Albert DeSalvo and O.J. Simpson.

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