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 First US edition cover | |
| Author | Joe McGinniss |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | True crime, Biography |
| Publisher | Signet Books |
Publication date | August 1983 |
| Media type | Print (hardcover & paperback) |
| ISBN | 978-5550488560 |
| Followed by | Blind Faith (1989) |
The controversy over Fatal Vision, journalist and author Joe McGinniss's best-selling 1983 true crime book, is a decades-long dispute spanning several court cases and discussed in several other published works.
Fatal Vision focuses on Captain Jeffrey R. MacDonald, M.D. and the February 17, 1970 murders of his wife and their two children at their home on Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In 1979, MacDonald was convicted of all three murders and sentenced to life in prison. McGinniss was hired by MacDonald, prior to the start of the criminal trial, but he later became convinced that MacDonald was guilty, and the book supported MacDonald's conviction.
The book sold well, and gave rise to a miniseries of the same name on NBC the next year. The book led to MacDonald suing McGinniss, a case that was settled out of court. The book and its conclusions were challenged by several subsequent publications.