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The heroes of this story were of course the Manhattan detectives and prosecutors who turned up the evidence exonerating Whitmore while at the same time gathering other evidence that led to the arrest and conviction of the real killer. But the reporters, including Lieberman of the Post and Selwyn Raab, then of the WorldTelegram and Sun and later the New York Times, who wrote stories that helped to expose this miscarriage of justice also deserve credit for performing a public service in the very best tradition of American journalism. Several books were written about the case, including one by Raab entitled Justice in the Back Room, which was turned into a movie starring Telly Savalas, as the Manhattan detective who helped to clear Whitmore. The movie led to the longrunning popular TV series Kojak starring Savalas.After the exoneration of Whitmore, Opotowsky called me over to his desk and just said with the tiniest of smiles, See, you were right. I learned two things from this case that conventional wisdom can too easily turn into a trap and the importance of editors with the backbone to stand up for their reporters.

 

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