Alesha Cary’s Reviews > Mizpah: The Bobby Dunbar Kidnapping Legend > Status Update

The Supreme Court has overturned Walters' conviction, but Garland the the Louisiana prosecutor is keeping him imprisoned as long as possible. The two defense attorneys continue to fight for him, even at a substantial financial cost. Julia, at this point, has faded into the background. She is, as with the other story, an "other," a character that is a footnote and not a point of importance. I find that sad.

The trial ends with Walters being found guilty and Julia so ill that she must be hospitalized. In the aftermath of the verdict, Sam Blair, reporter, visits Walters in jail, and Walters leaves him with a single word: Mizpah, the title of the book. Walters wanted to be buried in this parish to mark the place where justice had gone so wrong. Hollis and Rawls receive letters of support from those who believe in the case.

Walters has been extradited to Louisiana, and his hopes for a fair trial are demolished. The wealth and power of the Dunbar family crushes the very clear evidence that the child they have in their possession is not their son. The idea that with so much evidence there is no hope of a fair trial is disheartening and a testimony to the prejudice and difficulty faced by the poor in this time. Julia longs for her son.

The degree of injustice in this case is pretty profound. The author has done a exceptional job outlining the evidence in the case and supplying the contents of the attorney's files. It is impossible to look at these documents and not see the amount of prejudice against poverty that was rampant when pitted against a family with wealthy and position. The injustice done to WC Walters and Julia Anderson is astounding.

The further I read, the more disturbed I become at the amount of evidence that as ignored and at the way that perceived social status railroaded an innocent man and robbed a family of their child.

From the way that a letter from an African American witness was altered to the way that one piece of “evidence” was that only a wealthy child would speak with good grammar, this was a travesty and completely unfair.

The preface of the book details how it connects to Margaret Dunbar and A Case for Solomon, and the connection is troubled. The author of this book was the defense attorney for WC Walters, who was convicted of kidnapping Bobby Dunbar, & the book itself is a narrative connection of the files & research the author found.

It paints the Dunbar family very unflatteringly in the beginning, as they didn’t want the truth.