Aaron Freiwald, Managing Partner of Freiwald Law and host of the weekly podcast, Good Law | Bad Law, is joined by author and journalist, Jim Tracy, to discuss his brand-new book, Sworn to Silence: The Truth Behind Robert Garrow and the Missing Bodies' Case, and the impact the Robert Garrow case has had on the legal field, law school curriculums, and the notion of attorney-client privilege.

 

In our first ever true-crime episode, Aaron speaks to Jim Tracy, a veteran reporter and published author, to discuss his new book about infamous serial-killer, Robert Garrow. Jim has a personal connection to the Garrow case and explores this and more throughout today’s episode.

 

Robert Garrow was an American serial rapist and later spree killer who was active in New York during the 1970s. In today’s episode, Jim explains the twists and turns of the Garrow story that began when Robert Garrow went on an 18-day killing spree, stabbing four people to death before being apprehended – Garrow went on his spree after committing several rapes, and as you will hear, most likely after committing several other grisly murders.

 

The Garrow case begins with the horrific acts of Robert Garrow, but as Aaron and Jim discuss, there is much more to the story. In his book and throughout today’s episode, Jim tells the amazing and unforgettable tale of two American lawyers who did the unthinkable, the unprecedented – they found themselves balancing their client’s unforgivable secrets with their oaths as officers of the court. Today, the Garrow case is considered a landmark legal story that is studied and analyzed in law schools worldwide. The events of Garrow’s terror in the Adirondack Mountains has been indelibly marked in Tracy’s mind since he was eight years old and in Sworn to Silence, he weaves together a true crime narrative that should rank with some of the most compelling American crime stories of modern times; he does so while taking the reader on a riveting journey back to the 1970s, unveiling an American killer most people have never heard of, and explaining the groundbreaking legal implications this story has had on our modern understanding of attorney-client privilege.

 

Jim Tracy has won multiple national and state writing awards, including placing first in the prestigious Associated Press Sports Editor contest. He spent a considerable amount of his career with the Pulitzer Prize winning newspaper, The Post-Star, a publication in Glens Falls, N.Y. Prior to his successful career in journalism, Tracy was a former aide to New York State Senor Norman Levy. A graduate of the State University of New York, Jim was born, raised and still resides in the foothills of the Adirondack Mountains, where today’s story takes place. Jim has spoken publicly about the Garrow case at several historical societies and continues to be interviewed for his knowledge and experience with the case.

 

Listen now!

To check out Jim’s new book, Sworn to Silence:

Buried Bodies: A Conversation w/ Jim Tracy

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