Cape & Islands News

The Case against DA Michael O'Keefe

Are you ready for THE story of the summer?
The case:  The Cape Cod murder of NYC fashion writer Christa Worthington.

By Laura Rossi Totten

Author Peter Mason is impracticable in seeking the untold story of our tarnished District Attorney.

The controversy: 

The book (REASONABLE DOUBT by Peter Manso) is explosive for many reasons, not the least of which is that Peter Manso reveals that the wrong man is likely in jail as the result of inept law enforcement and a trial fraught with racial profiling.

The story: 

Author Peter Manso (PTown: Art, Sex and Money on the Outer Cape; Mailer: His Life and Times, and Brando) has fought long and hard, and put himself in danger to tell this story -- refusing to be silenced. 

The story of the Worthington murder, the investigation and the crime has been covered in the news, but Manso tells the real story and why he thinks the murderer is still out there on the Cape.

One recent story about O'Keefe, "The DA's New Clothes, or, McCowen Unbound", drew over 220 comments.

The DA tried to silence him, now O'Keefe is under investigation

"It's unpleasant, but it's not going to disrupt my office." - Michael O'Keefe.

In 2008 The New York Times ran a story that focused on Mr. Manso's indictment on 12 charges brought by Cape Cod DA Michael O'Keefe who, it is widely believed, went after Manso in an attempt to silence his coverage of the Christa Worthington murder trial. Manso's new book, Reasonable Doubt is the product of that coverage.

Mr. Manso endured some 18 months of legal harassment before being vindicated with the assistance of the Authors Guild, the Massachusetts ACLU, the Media Law Resource Center and other groups.

All charges against Manso were effectively dismissed on June 26th, 2009, only months before the start of a Worcester, Mass., Federal Grand jury investigation of DA O'Keefe for his alleged misuse of office and involvement with mob-connected gamblers on Cape Cod. Manso's case was handled by Judge Richard Connon of Barnstable County Superior Court, case docket #  2008-112.

This story had quotes from six well-known authors and attornies including Alan Dershowitz who said, "Intrepid and meticulous, Manso gets it all ... This is the dark side of the Cape that whispers in bad dreams, screams down the alley ... and hides out of sight on sunny days when tourists wonder the quaint old streets or lie on the sand in bliss."

The real story about the Christa Worthington murder is finally told

The book which will keep DA O'Keefe awake for many nights to come. Buy itn on Barnes & Noble here or on Amazon here.

Reasonable Doubt presents a truer, more believable picture of Christa Worthington -- her life and her death.  

It chronicles the three-and-a-half year investigation, relying on the investigators' own reports, on state crime lab documents and grand jury transcript which have never before been made public.

With some fifty pages of endnotes listing each and every one of Manso's sources, the author's report is not only well researched but sets a new standard for accuracy in the field of true-crime books.

To date, Vincent Bugliosi, Alan Dershowitz, Barry Scheck, and others, none of whom knew Christa Worthington, have endorsed Reasonable Doubt. Reconsidering who this woman really was--and how she lived--readers will surely come away seeing this case in a new and different light, just as they will see Cape Cod differently, too.

Reasonable Doubt will be in bookstores on July 5.  CapeCodToday will run a two part interview with Peter Manso July 4th and 5th.

For more information on the book and Peter Manso's appearances please visit Peter's Facebook here, and read Peter's CapeBlog on Cape Cod TODAY here.