AS SEEN ON TV: BURTON WEINSTEIN

After a break for the Two For Tuesday edition of the "As Seen On TV" showcase, we're back to conclude our theme about the Tracey Thurman case from Connecticut - with a native Nutmegger.....

BURTON WEINSTEIN

AS SEEN IN:
"A Cry For Help: The Tracey Thurman Story"

AS PLAYED BY:
Bruce Weitz

Suing the city of Torrington as well as twenty-nine individual police officers, Tracey Thurman claimed a violation of her constitutional rights set forth in the Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which says, "nor shall any state... deny to any person within its jurisprudence the equal protection of the laws."
Originally, the equal protection clause was applied only to cases of race discrimination, but in 1961, the Supreme Court held that Section 1982 of the U.S. Code afforded a more general "federal right in federal courts because by reason of prejudice, passion, neglect, intolerance or otherwise, state laws might not be enforced and the... rights guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment might be denied by state agencies."

A federal court jury heard the case in 1985, found twenty-four of the officers liable, and awarded Tracey Thurman $2.3 million in compensatory damages. Tracey Thurman was fortunate in that an extraordinary man came forward and offered to represent her. Burton Weinstein was not only a good lawyer, but a genuinely good human being who believed that a major injustice had been done and that Tracey Thurman had the right to be heard in a court of law to rectify that injustice.
- Raoul Felder & Barbara Victor
"Getting Away With Murder
(Weapons For The War Against Domestic Violence)"

BCnU!