Under Duress

THE DEFENDANT CLAIMS HE HAD NO CHOICE. BRUNELLE CHOOSES NOT TO BELIEVE HIM.

Homicide prosecutor David Brunelle's latest case has an unexpected the victim is alive -- barely.

A wealthy plastic surgeon attempts to murder his business partner, sending him into a coma with a life-threatening gunshot wound. The surgeon calls 911 himself, then tells police he had no choice but to shoot the victim. He spins a tale of anonymous stalkers from the dark web and bone-chilling threats against his own family. A high-profile defense attorney takes the case and convinces an overly intellectual judge to allow the defendant to claim the legal theory of duress, a total defense -- to every crime except completed murder.
The best thing that could happen to Brunelle's case would be for the victim to die, thereby precluding the duress defense. It's an outcome Brunelle has to resist wishing for. Instead, he teams up with his favorite detective and his best co-counsel to dig into what really happened, and more importantly, why. Brunelle needs to convince the jury the defendant is lying. If he fails, the jury will wrongly acquit a would-be murderer for acting Under Duress.