Overview

In 1967, only four days after the Supreme Court decided Loving v. Virginia, Jacqueline St. Joan married across the color line in Virginia-and lost her family as a result. What followed was a life shaped by the upheavals of the era: divorce, single motherhood, and deep involvement in the second wave of feminism, including relationships with both women and men. In the 1980s, St. Joan became a judge in Denver, presiding over cases that exposed the fragility and resilience of ordinary lives. Her rulings brought her both respect and criticism. She writes of cases that linger long after the gavel falls, of moments when the law offers no clean answer, and of the personal toll which controversial decisions take. She writes of times when attorneys or the press turned their attention to the judge herself--reviving her memories of her musician father and her complex, racist mother, of her own anti-war protests during Vietnam, of clients who'd dropped domestic abuse complaints out of fear.... As she re-collects relevant pieces of her memories, she takes readers into the corridors and assigned rooms of the Denver City & County Building so that they can consider how a judge tries to balance legal requirements and human empathy. Moving between courtroom and home, Your Verdict explores how gender, sexuality, race, conscience, history and responsibility shape the choices we make and the costs we bear. Several cases get particularly resonant attention: the ""defacing"" of a statue of Columbus by a group of American Indian Movement protestors; police and public response to the trial of a prostitute with AIDS; treatment of a lawyer whose ex-husband (a policeman) had shot her in court; a defense attorney's demand that she recuse herself because she would inevitably be biased against a famous football player accused of domestic abuse. The trials of Operation Rescue members, arrested for ""disturbing the peace"" and ""harassment"" at an abortion clinic, constitute a particularly nuanced chapter as she examines individual motives and actions in light of various laws' requirements and of her own experiences with political protests, a deeply Catholic childhood, and much more. This memoir resists easy closure. What emerges is a hard-won integrity: the author's refusal to choose either her belief in the law or her belief in love. Your Verdict: A Judge's Reckoning with Law and Loss is a memoir about courage, reinvention, and what happens when a life lived outside the rules enters the courtroom.

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9781967986019

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Reviews

I found Your Verdict: A Judge's Reckoning With Law and Loss to be a remarkable book. Memoirs often can be a little tedious, but not this one. I was captivated from the first page to the last. In some ways the book reads like a really good novel: a strong lead character, good flow of events, and a vivid sense of place and time. Ms. St. Joan, a highly regarded writer and poet, was a controversial Denver judge during the turbulent 80's. In the telling of her life story, she skillfully- and with impressive insight and honesty- weaves her past into the telling of her most controversial and high profile criminal court cases. Your Verdict is a fascinating, incredibly well told story that will leave you reflecting on the author's journey long after you've finished it. Harry MacLean, author of Starkweather and In Broad Daylight Cinematic and propulsive, I couldn't put down Jacqueline St. Joan's memoir. I was fascinated by her life as a judge and a feminist. What insight into the moral complexities inherent in a life! Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light Your Verdict follows the career and social awakening of feminist, com- munity activist, lawyer, judge and poet, Jacqueline St. Joan. Rejected by her family for marrying a Black man, divorced, reduced to welfare, St. Joan nevertheless finds her way. . . . As a county judge, [she is] keenly aware that many of the laws she has pledged to uphold reflect a legacy of slavery, female oppression and various economic and structural injustices. Dodging death threats, personal and media attacks as well as her own self- doubts, this judge, like . . . Joan of Arc, emerges ""a strong woman fighting on a man's battlefield."" And thankfully, unlike the 15th century martyr, this St. Joan lives to write about it. Gregory SETH Harris, author of The Reluctant Messiah We don't have books like this because no one has had the courage to court eviction from the tribe, until Jackie St. Joan. Alexandra Fuller, author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and Fi: A Memoir of My Son

I found Your Verdict: A Judge's Reckoning With Law and Loss to be a remarkable book. Memoirs often can be a little tedious, but not this one. I was captivated from the first page to the last. In some ways the book reads like a really good novel: a strong lead character, good flow of events, and a vivid sense of place and time. Ms. St. Joan, a highly regarded writer and poet, was a controversial Denver judge during the turbulent 80's. In the telling of her life story, she skillfully- and with impressive insight and honesty- weaves her past into the telling of her most controversial and high profile criminal court cases. Your Verdict is a fascinating, incredibly well told story that will leave you reflecting on the author's journey long after you've finished it. Harry MacLean, author of Starkweather and In Broad Daylight Cinematic and propulsive, I couldn't put down Jacqueline St. Joan's memoir. I was fascinated by her life as a judge and a feminist.2 insight into the moral complexities inherent in a life! Kali Fajardo-Anstine, author of Woman of Light Your Verdict follows the career and social awakening of feminist, com- munity activist, lawyer, judge and poet, Jacqueline St. Joan. Rejected by her family for marrying a Black man, divorced, reduced to welfare, St. Joan nevertheless finds her way. . . . As a county judge, [she is] keenly aware that many of the laws she has pledged to uphold reflect a legacy of slavery, female oppression and various economic and structural injustices. Dodging death threats, personal and media attacks as well as her own self- doubts, this judge, like . . . Joan of Arc, emerges ""a strong woman fighting on a man's battlefield."" And thankfully, unlike the 15th century martyr, this St. Joan lives to write about it. Gregory SETH Harris, author of The Reluctant Messiah We don't have books like this because no one has had the courage to court eviction from the tribe, until Jackie St. Joan. Alexandra Fuller, author of Don't Let's Go to the Dogs Tonight and Fi: A Memoir of My Son

Author Information

Jacqueline St. Joan is a former Denver County judge whose life story spans the civil rights movement, second-wave feminism, and the modern courtroom. In 1967, she married inter-racially in Virginia, an act that led to estrangement from her family and a life shaped by social change, single motherhood, and feminist activism. Years later, her unconventional past resurfaced when she became a judge and some of her rulings provoked public controversy. St. Joan is the author of two novels, a collection of short fiction, and a poetry collection. Her memoir, Your Verdict: A Judge's Reckoning with Law and Loss, explores the collision between private life and public authority. She lives and writes in Colorado.

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