Uploaded October 2013 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
"For me, taking the sort of dry principles of the law and bringing them into contact with human beings . . . it's like you jump into hyperspace. And everything that's dull about the books and the theory becomes provocative." —Michael Ponsor Michael Ponsor's extraordinary debut thriller, The Hanging Judge, is a compelling exploration of that very process. Based on the author's own experiences in the courtroom, the novel follows the lives of those affected by a federal death penalty trial in the wake of a gang-related drive-by shooting in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In this exclusive video, Ponsor discusses his time presiding over tough criminal cases, including a death penalty trial, as a US district judge in Massachusetts, and how these experiences informed his writing of The Hanging Judge.
"For me, taking the sort of dry principles of the law and bringing them into contact with human beings . . . it's like you jump into hyperspace. And everything that's dull about the books and the theory becomes provocative." —Michael Ponsor Michael Ponsor's extraordinary debut thriller, The Hanging Judge, is a compelling exploration of that very process. Based on the author's own experiences in the courtroom, the novel follows the lives of those affected by a federal death penalty trial in the wake of a gang-related drive-by shooting in Holyoke, Massachusetts. In this exclusive video, Ponsor discusses his time presiding over tough criminal cases, including a death penalty trial, as a US district judge in Massachusetts, and how these experiences informed his writing of The Hanging Judge.
