Reversal of Fortune

A semi-fictionalized account of the appeal process by criminal lawyer/Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz of the 1982 conviction and thirty year sentence of Claus von Bulow for attempting to murder his Newport, Rhode Island socialite wife Martha Sunny von Bulow is presented, Claus who has always professed his innocence. Sunny has been in a coma since December 1980 - her second coma in the span of a year - she now declared brain dead, meaning she will never emerge from the coma alive. The attempted means of murder, that which purportedly placed her into this second coma, was by an overdose of insulin, she not needing such for any medical purpose. While money could have been a motive - Sunny worth $14 million, while Claus only worth $1 million - the conviction was centered on adultery, with Claus' mistress, daytime serial actress Alexandra Isles testifying against Claus for the prosecution. For reasons largely related to process of law, Dershowitz accepted the high profile appeal case when asked by Claus, despite believing, like most of the public, that Claus is indeed guilty, that belief only exacerbated by Claus' rather outward callous attitude and behavior, despite feeling despondent about another case where his two innocent clients were convicted of murder, and despite there only being negative consequences for his career if he loses the appeal. Dershowitz will find that Claus up close and personal does not largely change his view of him. With many of his students assisting him on the case - some who don't agree with helping free a person obviously guilty - as well his his ex-girlfriend, Sarah, an accomplished lawyer in her own right, Dershowitz will find that the case will take on more dimensions, some personal to him, than he could have imagined.