54 pages • 1 hour read
Matt RichtelA Deadly Wandering
Nonfiction | Book | Adult | Published in 2014A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
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BetaChapters 28-31Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 28 Summary: “Hunt for Justice”
A roundtable of lawyers convenes in the Cache County Attorney’s Office. Terryl is adamant about charging Reggie with a serious crime, but Baird makes counterarguments. He thinks Reggie “seem[s] like a decent kid” (223). Besides, Baird had an experience that gives him some empathy for Reggie’s situation: When Baird was 16, he was driving on his motorcycle and waved to the local mailman. His attention diverted for a second, he didn’t notice a young boy dart out into the road and hit him at full speed.
In the end, the county attorney decides to side with Baird, but tells Terryl if she can find a prosecutor willing to take on more aggressive charges, they’ll pursue it. Terryl goes to Don Linton, a well-known county lawyer. He doesn’t know much about texting and driving, but while he finds no legal precedent, he does find a “scientific” precedent in Dr. David Strayer, who lives nearby and whose research shows that texting while driving was more like driving drunk than driving while drinking a Coke. Dr. Strayer, one of the only researchers in the field, operates a tiny operation, barely sustained by small grants because “In whose interest was it to discover that there was a risk to this thing that everyone loved doing, and that was one of the most culturally celebrated activities, multitasking?” (229).
One remaining problem is political: Reggie is a poster boy for the Mormon Church, so going after him could have repercussion on and from the Mormon community. However, Linton has few qualms about prosecuting a Mormon: As a child, he was sexually abused by a church member. When he was 21, Linton quit his mission early after his sister died of cancer, so he knows firsthand how hard having a mission end abruptly can be, and how much shame from the community it can bring. Regardless, he decides to proceed.
Chapter 29 Summary: “Reggie”
Reggie is at his first missionary conference, when he learns that he’s been charged with negligent homicide. He returns home and sees a counselor who prescribes an antidepressant, but Reggie rips up the prescription order because he doesn’t want to feel a false sense that everything is okay when it’s not.
Reggie’s lawyer, Bunderson, thinks the case is winnable, though he is concerned when he hears that Reggie lied to the bishop about having sex with Cammi—the prosecution could use it to show that Reggie can’t be trusted about anything.
Chapter 30 Summary: “Hunt for Justice”
On September 18, 2007, Leila O’Dell goes to the courthouse with Megan, Jackie, and Terryl to watch Reggie’s arraignment. He enters a plea of not guilty. The women are angry with Reggie’s lawyer his anger and hostility.
Bunderson explores several defense strategies. He wants to get Rindlisbacher’s testimony thrown out because the trooper hadn’t read Reggie his Miranda rights. Mainly, Bunderson wants to keep Reggie from having to testify, and to slow-walk the case to let the “steam go out of [the] situation” (244).
On November 21, Rindlisbacher and Singleton interview Reggie’s mom, but her lawyer son Phil comes with her and aggressively protects her. The exchange, Richtel argues, frames a debate that the jury would later argue about: Whether Reggie’s family convinced him to deny that he was texting at the time of the accident.
Chapter 31 Summary: “Hunt for Justice”
Leila’s state senator lets her know that texting and driving might demand legislative action.
At the same time, state representative Stephen Clark sends a quick text while driving and narrowly avoids slamming into the car in front of him. He resolves right then to do something about it, though he knows it will be an uphill battle—Utah’s conservative legislature doesn’t like increased regulation.
Chapters 28-31 Analysis
These chapters detail the beginnings of the court battle between Reggie and the State of Utah. The scientific analysis of attention takes a back seat as the book focuses on the many different challenges on the legal front. There are small-scale obstacles to bringing a court case against Reggie, from finding a prosecutor willing to charge a seemingly upstanding Mormon teen with negligent homicide, to proving that his texting playing a key role in the accident, to finding legal precedent for garnering a conviction. Simultaneously, there are large-scale problems in trying to get the conservative Utah legislature to seriously consider outlawing texting. Another theme emerges about the role of empathy in healing and redemption. It surfaces when county attorney Baird refuses to press charges against Reggie, spurred by his own experience with distracted driving—in his case, hitting a small child with his bike. Baird’s willingness to forgive Reggie’s actions contrasts with the attitude of prosecuting attorney Don Linton. Linton was molested by a member of the church, and it led him to think twice about “the difference between spirituality and religion, between faith and the institutions that deliver its message” (231-32). While Linton has sympathy for Reggie, aware of the tremendous stigma the young man will face when his mission must be cut short, Linton values justice and fairness above empathic forgiveness.
