Judge Cashman

Ed Cashman spent twenty-five years on the bench, presiding over drunk driving cases and murders and everything in between. After a while, he started to question whether the American criminal justice system was actually achieving justice. The kinds of sentences that the public demanded and that lawyers accepted often felt more like vengeance than fairness. Judge Cashman tried to give defendants—even those charged with heinous of crimes—a chance to redeem themselves. It was a philosophy that some people didn’t understand. And Cashman eventually paid a terrible price for it.

Life Sentence: Eleven Years After Being Tried in the Court of Public Opinion, Former Judge Ed Cashman Defends Himself

By Mark Davis

The beautiful photo of Judge Cashman is by Matthew Thorsen of Seven Days.The music for this show was made by Vermont musicians Brian Clarkand Mike Donofrio and Peter Cressy.