The Honorable Judge Michael A. Ponsor will read from his newly released second novel, The One-Eyed Judge, on Monday, September 18, 12:00 noon – 1:00 p.m. in the Law School Common at Western New England University. The reading is free and open to the public.
The One-Eyed Judge is a fictional account of a complicated and emotional child pornography case. Set in western Massachusetts, the plot emerges through the eyes of the arresting police officer, the judge’s law clerks, the defense attorney, the prosecutor, the witnesses, and the defendant himself. Most importantly, the book presents the viewpoint of the judge on the bench, caught up in the cross currents of his personal life, and facing the nearly impossible task of giving both the defense and the prosecution an impartial and unbiased trial.
When Springfield federal Judge Michael Ponsor semi-retired after three decades on the bench, he started to enjoy two privileges of part-time work, selecting the cases he would oversee, and having more time for fiction writing. His first novel, The Hanging Judge, reached the New York Times bestseller list.
The One-Eyed Judge features the same main character, Judge David Norcross, who Ponsor insists is only loosely based on himself. "Judge Norcross is far less experienced than I am," Ponsor said in a recent interview. "In some ways, he's a nicer, sort of more ingenuous person."
More information is available by contacting Associate Dean for Library and Information Resources, Western New England University School of Law Library at, patricia.newcomb@law.wne.edu.
