A study of the issues, the events and controversy surrounding the deaths of three teenage girls, victims of a fiery crash in a Ford Pinto, and the unfolding events at the courthouse where the resulting celebrated Ford Pinto Trial was heard.

Michael Ashmore's brother, Charlie, comes to him for help after failing a routine drug screen from the airline that employs him. Charlie begs for a second chance and Michael, the airline's legal counsel, gets it for him by suppressing the positive test. But on a flight two months later, Charlie's plane crashes, killing all on board. An autopsy reveals Charlie had taken a lethal dose of barbiturates. Suddenly, Michael's role in clearing Charlie to fly is discovered, and he finds himself indicted for reckless homicide. Certain that Charlie would never knowingly endanger his passengers, Michael must uncover the real reason for the crash, and in the meantime fight a court battle for his life, reputation, and family against a zealous district attorney and a powerful aviation industry with everything to lose.

The book instructs corporate counsel on how to adopt forward-looking compliance policies that can prevent criminal liability and how to mitigate the severity of penalties when they are unavoidable.

New York Times bestselling author Carlton Smith, one of the award-winning journalists who covered the Green River Killer case, examines the rise and fall of a musical legend whose self-destructive personality resulted in murder in Reckless: Millionaire Record Producer Phil Spector and the Violent Death of Lana Clarkson. In the early morning hours of February 3, 2003, police were summoned to the spooky Alhambra, California castle of legendary music producer Phil Spector. There they discovered the body of actress Lana Clarkson, dying in a chair, shot through the mouth. Spector claimed she had killed herself, but was soon charged with murder. The pop music genius, who revolutionized music from the Beatles to the Ramones, was making headlines again. But Spector, notorious for his eccentric behavior, volatile temper, and fascination with guns, pleaded innocent. What really happened on that fateful pre-dawn morning in Spector’s hilltop mansion? As the controversial wunderkind’s life of fame, money, and excess was coming undone, a true Hollywood mystery was about to unfold.