The Witness brings a new dimension to true crime literature. CSI has rolled-up the tape but the investigation isn't over. Detectives cool their heels from pounding the pavement, but the interviews have just started. The crime is solved. The suspects - charged and booked - are left to contemplate their fate. However, one question remains: What is justice? In the second stage of the trial, the jury is charged with the task of deciding a just and adequate penalty. Instructed to put aside their own experiences and put on the defendant's shoes, they must arrive at an impartial decision based on the facts. Draper, piecing together shards of personal circumstances and life often swept under the rug of family shame or neglect, leads them through the defendant's LifePath, from his birth to this murderous act. She reveals how the past casts a grave shadow over one's future.