"The setting was a mansion in an exclusive Fort Worth suburb. The date was August 2, 1976. Shots shattered the night. A wounded woman staggered to a neighbor's home to plead for help. Another woman made it to the highway and flagged down a car. Their stories were the same. A man had invaded the mansion, bent on murdering everyone inside. The police arrived to find a young girl shot to death. The only bright spot in this scene of horror was that finding the killer would be easy. Both women gave the police his name." "Cullen Davis." "But from the moment that name surfaced, what ordinarily would have been an open-and-shut case of crime and punishment became something else. For Cullen Davis was not just anybody - he was heir to a legendary Texas dynasty of oil and money, and Cullen Davis was worth over a hundred million dollars." "Final Justice is the story of a man who believed that money could buy anything, and a riveting account of how he acted out this callous credo. It is the story of the wives his money bought - and how they made themselves over to suit his special tastes. It reveals the murderous lengths to which his arrogance would take him when he was defied. And it climaxes in one of this century's most talked-about criminal trials, in which a brilliant defense lawyer showed how the law could be manipulated and mastered, given enough resources and ruthlessness. Cullen Davis was found innocent of killing, in cold blood, his twelve-year-old step-daughter, despite overwhelming evidence. And he emerged from his sensational trials a hero to a Texas public fervent in its belief that a man of his wealth and position could literally do no wrong." "This extraordinary re-creation, by Pulitzer Prize-winners Steven Naifeh and Gregory White Smith, gives a stunningly intimate view of an astonishing true-crime story. It brings to life a cast of characters that includes not only Cullen Davis and his "unbeatable" attorney "Racehorse" Haynes, but Cullen's ex-wife Priscilla, her circle of lovers and playmates, and the succession of dedicated prosecutors and judges who fell victim to one of the most dazzling defenses in the annals of American justice. At once a searing social commentary and pulsing courtroom drama, this shocking story shows that truth can be - and often is - more terrifying and compelling than fiction."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved