And Justice for All

The Improbable Story of Virginia Snyder, Investigative Reporter and Private Investigator

Throughout my life, I have probed more than one hundred homicides, including fifteen death-row cases, whereby I helped save six men from execution. My cases have included a retired teacher whose dismembered body was hidden in a trunk; a pedophile who killed a sixteen-year-old and got away with murder because he was an informer for the police department; an attorney who held one of his elderly clients hostage; and a Cuban fry cook, Luis Diaz, who was unjustly convicted and imprisoned as a serial rapist for twenty-six years. But And Justice for All is more than individual cases; it is also about the corruption and callousness of many officials who were and are major players in our justice system.

This book is about my searching for justice in Florida; but based on my extensive reading and experience, I believe that circumstances are similar elsewhere in our country. This story is about my successes, as in the Louis Diaz case, and about my continuing challenges, those cases I have not resolved to my satisfaction. I do not believe in the concept of failure because, even as a child, it has never been in my nature to quit. I have fought city hall and won. I know what one person can do to challenge the system.

-From the Introduction