Shortlisted · Contest #338
Moral Bankruptcy
A professor enters a restricted library collection and finds a book of unsettling cases. The more closely he reads, the harder it becomes to keep moral judgment at a comfortable distance.
Shortlisted · Reedsy contest #218
The Case Against Michael
A prosecutor and a defense attorney share cigarettes, cases, and a friendship strained by the work. A domestic-violence prosecution tests the distance between their ideals and the system they serve.
Read the complete story on Reedsy- Genre
- Drama / Friendship
- Setting
- Brooklyn’s criminal courts
- Themes
- Loyalty, exhaustion, justice
- Published by
- Reedsy Prompts
The story
Before you begin.
Late-night arraignments have become routine for two friends on opposite sides of the courtroom. When a violent assault becomes a homicide case, professional obligations collide with private doubts. In courthouse conversations and the lives beyond the case file, the story examines what happens when doing the job begins to erode the reasons for doing it.
Content note: Domestic violence and death.
Continue to the published story