Willful Intent
A Novel
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About the Book
In 1986, it takes LAPD Officer Donald Henderson just ninety seconds, while in foot pursuit of suspected car thieves in South Central Los Angeles, to plant the crosshairs of future government civil rights charges on his back. After he is absolved repeatedly of excessive force charges, Henderson falls afoul of the public fury over the 1991 beating of Rodney King and simultaneously loses his badge and his freedom. Some thirty years later, Officer Henderson’s prosecutor, Keisha Howard, is now a senior official in the Justice Department and on the short list to become the next attorney general. Known for targeting law enforcement for civil rights violations that include the Henderson case, Keisha acknowledges she has a chip on her shoulder and that an AG appointment will lock it in its rightful place forever. But just as she is preparing to secure the nomination, LAPD officers chase and beat up a teenage Hispanic suspect, bringing the Henderson case into the public eye once again. Now with her dreams for power in jeopardy, Keisha searches for answers within her memories of the trial. But what she does not know is that the past is about to rise up and change everything. Willful Intent shares the gripping tale of an ambitious assistant US attorney’s journey as she embarks on a quest to achieve her professional dream and impede the repercussions from a past prosecution.
About the Author
David H. Brandin is a retired computer scientist who served as a consultant to public safety organizations and as an expert in intellectual property law. His first novel, The Horns of Moses, earned iUniverse’s Editor’s, Publisher’s, and Reader’s Choice awards in 2007. He published The Lodge-A Tale of Corruption, which earned a Rising Star award in 2009; and The Earthquake Prophet, a collection of short stories, in 2011. Wings, a collection of flash fiction stories, was published in 2015. Brandin resides on the Central California coast, is a master scuba diver, and served as president of the Association for Computing Machinery.