Wicked Takes the Witness Stand

Wicked Takes the Witness Stand is a True Crime Book which focuses on the death of Jerry Tobias and the court cases and prosecutions that sprang up around it, lead by prosecution witness Debbie Parmentier. The book was written by Jerry Tobias and was published by University of Michigan Press on 30 Oct. 2013.

Description
On a bitterly cold afternoon in December 1986, a Michigan State trooper found the frozen body of Jerry Tobias in the bed of his pickup truck. The 31-year-old oil field worker and small-time drug dealer was curled up on his side on the truck’s bare metal, pressed against the tailgate, clad only in jeans, a checkered shirt, and cowboy boots.

Inside the cab of the truck was a fresh package of expensive steaks from a local butcher shop - the first lead in a case that would be quickly lost in a thicket of bungled forensics, shady prosecution, and a psychopathic star witness out for revenge. He was bloody, bruised and his hands appeared to have been bound with jumper cables. Inside the cab of the truck was a fresh package of expensive steaks from a local butcher shop - the first lead in a case.

The investigation into the case first focused on a single suspect, Laurie Moore, a local butcher. He would later be arrested and tried for murder. The key witness for the prosecution was Debra Parmentier who knew a lot about what had happened and as time went on her story grew as others became implicated in the crime. This case is so wild that it may seem unbelievable but it is true

Award-winning author Mardi Link’s third book of Michigan true crime, Wicked Takes the Witness Stand, unravels this mysterious and still unsolved case that sucked state police and local officials into a morass of perjury and cover-up and ultimately led to the separate conviction and imprisonment of five innocent men. This unbelievable story will leave the reader shocked and aching for justice.

Podcasts

 * Generation Why Podcast: 311 - Who Killed Jerry Tobias?
 * Generation Why Podcast: 312 - Who Killed Jerry Tobias?