Final Argument: An examination into the murder of Mac and Muff Graham on Palmyra Island and subsequent trial of Stephanie Stearns

I have heard it said, that it is not whose right or wrong in a court trial, but how the case is tried that determines who wins. It helps to have an incompetent judge, and an incompetent prosecutor, to go along with an incompetent defense attorney!The above is a truly "winning" team! Just not for justice.

I purchased this book after reading Vincent Bugliosi's fascinating book, And The Sea Will Tell. I was intrigued by this author's assertion that the supposed ignorance of the prosecutorial and defense lawyers of long distance yacht travel resulted in the female defendant, Stephanie Sterns, fooling everyone into believing she had no part of the murders of Mac and Muff Graham. I cannot address everything but hope my examples will show why this book is a waste of your time. This book is brimming with unsupported and ridiculous made up scenarios.***The ebook is poorly formatted. One cannot click on chapters in the table of contents to jump to spots. Chapters run one into another, making it difficult to find what you're looking to re read.***The author is obviously knowledgeable about boats. However, this doesn't translate into any important insights where the murders are concerned. Neither side argued that Sterns and Walker were more than mediocre sailors, and any "lies" told have zero to do with murders.***The author schizophrenically describes Mr Bugliosi. Note: Bugliosi was a brilliant prosecutor before his late career as a defense lawyer (just 3 cases - all wins). He successfully prosecuted 105 out of 106 felony jury trials, which included 21 murder convictions without a single loss. Without a doubt Bugliosi's books show him to be a man of large ego. This doesn't mean he was incompetent or unjustified in his high self opinion. Let's look at a few of Bucy's descriptions of Bugliosi."The hard hitting, battle tested, Vincent Bulgiosi, successful prosecutor of the Manson clan...""...viewing his erratic behavior one suspects that he was afflicted with a mild case of autism, ADD, Aspergers, or the like. He is unable to deduce logical conclusions about human behavior...""...Vincent Bugliosi lied and mislead his readers about his trial skills."He also mocks Bugliosi's trial preparation methods, which were intensive and required thousands of hours.So wait...what? Was Bugliosi an accomplished lawyer or a mentally defective incompetent?***Bucy spends large portions of his books making up fanciful, outrageous scenarios about the murders and about Sterns and Walker.He claims:Muff was buried on shore. (He MUST claim this since he also claims she was shot on the Sea Wind, leaving bullet holes. Never mind the FBI found no crime evidence on board, like said bullet holes. Never mind the hole in her skull was, per experts, most likely the cause of abrasion due to wave action. To support his shooting theory, Bucy must disregard FBI and expert witnesses.He spins fanciful scenarios claiming Muff was shot, fought with Sterns on the Sea Wind, tortured with a blow torch while alive, tied and repeatedly raped and sexually assaulted with objects by Sterns. He claims Mac was killed on the Iola and Muff was forced to watch them sink the Iola with his body on board, taking photos of the boat as souvenirs. And many other crazy things, some of which Bucy presents as truth and some as suppositions. All without any evidence. None. Zip.***"Seaworthiness of the Iola is the single most important factual consideration to be determined."No doubt. Bugliosi says the same. Bucy ridiculously claims Sterns and Walker sailed 970 nautical miles simply to murder strangers and steal their boat - they went all that way without knowing if anyone would even be on Palmyra? An island people visited to be alone? And he claims their boat was unseaworthy: "...sailing to Palmyra with no possibility of return to Hawaii aboard the Iola."Would you sail a boat 970 miles (1116 land miles) to attempt to commit a crime when you didn't even know if anyone would be there when you arrived? Or that they'd be vulnerable or have a boat worth killing for? I'm sure there were closer, easier boats to steal."...what did Stearns and Walker intend sailing a derelict vessel to Palmyra Island, 970 nautical miles south of Hawaii with no possibility of return?"Obviously the Iola was seaworthy. Obviously it could return to Hawaii. Otherwise they'd never have made it to Palmyra."Against the odds the Iola almost completed her mission. Attempting to enter the Palmyra lagoon she ran hard aground because of the poor seamanship of Stearns and Walker. Defendants fell short of their goal."Uh, no. They came 1116 miles and just couldn't make it into the lagoon without help. Bucy's comment is akin to saying my car trip from NY City to Tallahassee FL failed because once I arrived I couldn't get in the driveway without a tow!***The Pollock testimony:"Marilyn Pollock...found Walker to be a “eerily frightening figure" ... "I would be ...doing something topside and he would row past our boat. I would speak to him but he would never acknowledge me. Never speak back. He’d just watch what I was doing, making me uncomfortable.” She stated this happened at least “ten times”.""...fearing for their own safety, the Pollocks cut short their planned vacation...[and] warned the Grahams about defendants, urging them to leave. On departure of the Pollocks Muff was in tears wanting to leave with them but Mac feeling secure in his competence and weaponry refused to heed their advice...Prudently, they felt the better course was to vacate the island believing defendants were a constant source of trouble, dangerous and were totally unpredictable."Okay, right. Mrs Pollock found Walker to be terrifying yet continued to attempt to talk to him just from her boat "at least ten times." Believable? Nope. Would you do this? At least 10 times?Or this: "The Pollocks, bearing no grudge, gave Stearns a departing gift of flour and cooking oil." Pollock supposedly wants to leave the island because she's scared and believes her new friends, and possibly she and her husband, will come to harm. Believes Muff thinks she'll be murdered, and that that is a reasonable fear. So she gives the evil couple a GIFT before going! Yup. Also so, so believable.Just one example of Bucy's imaginative evaluations of Sterns and Walker's charater..."a charge relating to use of marijuana and an arrest for possession and sale of MDA. Described...as a hippy with a “foul mouth”."Yep. People who swear and are guilty of minor crimes often plot sadistic torture murders! What a leap!"A writer of dime novel, crime fiction, could not make up this crap!"Maybe not, but apparently Bucy can!

When I read Vincent Bugliosi's book "And the Sea Will Tell," I found it a captivating story. The book was well-written, despite being an obvious self-aggrandizing account by its author. But I felt the egotism in the text was probably a true reflection of Bugliosi's personality, which made it somehow even more compelling.However, one cannot read "And the Sea Will Tell" without having serious doubts about the innocence of Stephanie Stearns, as well as Bugliosi's own supposed belief that she was innocent. Bugliosi admits that Stearns (called Jennifer Jenkins in his book) was a compulsive liar, making his defense an exhausting and trying experience. He had a big challenge ahead him in convincing a jury that someone who appears to be obviously guilty was actually innocent. He succeeded with the jury, but certainly not with every reader. Bugliosi's book reads like a textbook on how to get a murderer acquitted.Tom Bucy's self-published e-book "Final Argument" finally puts together an exhaustively researched, point-by-point rebuttal to Bugliosi’s account, something that was sorely lacking by the prosecutors in the courtroom. If you have read "And the Sea Will Tell," and have remained fascinated by the story of the unfortunate events on Palmyra Atoll in 1974, you will find a lot of your questions answered in "Final Argument." In fact, reading "And the Sea Will Tell" is pretty much a necessity before reading this book.Mr. Bucy's passion, expertise, and research are obvious in "Final Argument," but it's a mixed bag as literature.FIRST THE GOOD:Bucy's research is incredible. He compares portions of the actual trial transcript with how they are presented in Bugliosi's book, which gives a different picture than Bugliosi’s self-serving narrative. He also digs deep into the previous related trials (theft of the Sea Wind, and the murder trial of Buck Walker) to bring up many points that the prosecutor should have presented. One gets the feeling (as in reading "And the Sea Will Tell") that the prosecution is so sure it has a slam-dunk case that they took too much for granted and were lazy about properly preparing and presenting their case. Combined with possibly being intimidated by Bugliosi's reputation and stature, this led to being blind-sided by the defense team. Bucy's book points out the many times the prosecutors let Bugliosi get away with overstepping the rules of the court, and possibly even subornation of perjury.Bucy is very passionate and knowledgeable about his subject. He seems to know the law, courtroom tactics, and sailing. He holds back nothing when giving his opinions about the players in this drama, sometimes with comically blunt verbiage. "Final Argument" is full of great tid-bits about sailing, legal practice, and human nature.Bucy is not shy about letting us know of the ways the prosecution failed. This is more than just arm-chair quarterbacking; one gets the feeling that had Bucy been involved in this case things might have turned out different. But unlike Bugliosi’s account, Bucy's book does not come across as egotistical and self-serving, but rather as a passionate and detailed discourse about injustice.For all the above reasons, I enjoyed reading "Final Argument," and had a hard time putting it down. But as I said, it's a mixed bag as literature, so...THE BAD:The relative ease of publishing an e-book means that many of them are available before they ready. Such is the case here.Bluntly: this book is in desperate need of an editor! In enumerating the details below, I'm not trying to pile on or be insulting. Perhaps Mr. Bucy and other self-publishers will find this critique helpful.From the first page there are obvious errors in grammar, form, and spelling, such as the well-worn it's/its confusion. There are countless superfluous commas throughout the book; sometimes it seems like not a sentence goes by without extra commas thrown in. Meanwhile, there is a serious underuse of the word "the." There are numerous incomplete and confusing sentences. Also, most obvious and tiring, whole sections and paragraphs are repeated, sometimes within a page or two of each other.The structure of the book needs work as well. It's unfair to compare the structure to Bugliosi’s book since he had a co-author, an editor, and previous experience writing a best-seller, but I'll do it anyway since it's the tome that is already in discussion. Whatever you think of Bugliosi and his client, "And the Sea Will Tell" is written in a compelling narrative manner, with atmosphere and detail that takes you right into the story. You can feel what it's like to be on Palmyra, on the Iola, on the Sea Wind, and in the courtroom. Final Argument cannot hope to achieve this measure of narrative, being as it is essentially a point-by-point rebuttal to Bugliosi's book, but some simple edits and changes in structure would have gone a long way toward making it more readable and accessible.Paragraphs outlining the story could have been sprinkled throughout the book, letting us know why the details we are about to read are important in discovering the truth. Along the same lines, a few sentences here and there defining or describing nautical terms used would have been very helpful. I found myself searching online for clarification in several instances.One last nit-pick: the actual formatting of the book needs some work. New paragraphs start without double line breaks or indents, and chapter/section titles are inconsistently spaced. This, coupled with the entire work being formatted in bold type, makes for a dense wall of text that is not inviting to read. Using normal type for the body and bold type for the chapters and sections would make for a much easier reading experience.Perhaps Mr. Bucy can let an editor take a look at his obviously well-researched book and give us a second edition. I think his voice deserves to be heard, and it pains me to think the lack of editing may restrict his audience.I wish I could give this book more than three stars, but the shortcomings listed above make it more difficult to read than it needs to be.(A side note: Mr. Bucy found out that Muff Graham's remains were still in an evidence locker and he felt they were long overdue for a proper, respectful burial or cremation. Mr. Bucy put a lot of effort into tracking down relatives and dealing with bureaucracy to try to accomplish this. I'm not sure if it's been done, but I am thankful he took the time to try and make this happen.)

I live in Northern CA so I was both shocked and fascinated to find out from this book that "Buck Walker" lived in Willits, CA, about an hour from where I live, for many years before he had a stroke and passed away. I was drawn to this book because I had just re-read V. Bugliosi's book, "And The Sea Will Tell" for about the fourth or fifth time. (The reason I did this was because I am so haunted by the story of Mack and Muff Graham's disappearance and murders. It seemed to me that "Jennifer Jenkins", the woman who was acquitted for the crimes her boyfriend was charged with, was absolutely a sociopath or a psychopath and I could not understand why V. Bugliosi was so convinced of her innocence. I believe she masterminded the murders and enjoyed committing them while under the influence of drugs.)One thing in particular jumped from the page. Jennifer Jenkins wore Muff Graham's clothing after they stole her yacht. That tells you everything you need to know about how the mind of a covetous psychopath works.

Satisfied Customer!

I absolutely LOVED this book! It adds much needed objective, incisive analysis of Stephanie Stearns' role in the murders, which was absent from Bugliosi's books "And The Sea Will Tell," which I also read. I highly respect Bugliosi for his work on Manson & his criminal cult members, but it is obvious he wrote the book as a defence attorney, paid for by Stearns' rich family. Bucy's book is rivetting & he proves beyond a reasonable doubt in my mind what the evidence & common sense already indicated, that Stearns' was guilty of involvement in the murders of Mac & Muff Graham, obstructing justice, & much more than theft of a yacht. Read this book - if you read only one book about the Palmyra Murders, read Tom Bucy's "Final Argument"!

Bugliosi's book 'And the Sea Will Tell,' presenting as it did a reasonably full account of the murder of 'Mac' and 'Muff' Graham on the island of Palmyra, is a compelling read. I read it again quite recently and, finding that Mr. Bucy had written what was apparently a rebuttal of the findings of Bugliosi - specifically that Stephanie Stearns, rather than being innocent of the murders as was determined at her trial - was, in fact, the instigator and sadistic killer behind both deaths.Unfortunately much of Mr. Bucy's argument is lost in what appears to be a response that is largely delivered via a copy of his notes as he progressed through the trial transcript and other background reading. I actually think there is some rather compelling evidence in here and that initial verdict was likely wrong. Mr. Bucy was so certain her offered to support a new trial against Ms. Stearns; an offer declined by the relevant office.As others have mentioned, the book is simply let down as it needs some solid editing and thought as to how the evidence is to be presented. As it is currently structured, the book is simply too disjointed for its key messages and import to carry through to the reader. In addition, just when you're siding with the author and appreciate his efforts in reviewing and re-presenting evidence in a way that seems factual and logical, he introduces nightmarish scenarios of the sadistic deaths that are not supported by any evidence, testimony or others. Those sections of the book are readily easy to put aside since the specifics of the deaths aren't required to carry the rest of the book but it is some content that could have been edited out without loss and seems only designed to inflame an emotional response to the defendants.Other areas of concern are simply indicative of a book that needs more work to be published. In at least two locations, Mr. Bucy is in the midst of presenting details of the murders and discussing evidence that might be located in the 'Iola' - one of the two yachts of specific interest, when he writes: "Had they performed every known test on the Iola they would have discovered little evidence of murder because neither of the Grahams were murdered on board the boat." This is simply confusing for the reader and highlights the dearth of editing/proof-reading completed; Mr. Bucy's own argument is that Mac Graham *was* killed on the Iola and what he intends to mean is 'Sea Wind' (the second of the yachts and that belonging to the Grahams.)I appreciate Mr. Bucy's passion for the case and I think he has reason to be aggrieved at both the prosecution - who really didn't present the strongest case possible as well attested in the book - and from Mr. Bugliosi in defence. With Mr. Walker having now passed the only person who could possibly resolve the entire issue seems determined not to do so but for those who might be interested in the case and want to perhaps evaluate the trial and evidence from another perspective this book would be a worthwhile read.

Final Argument is so bad, in so many ways, that's it's hard to know where to start a review. As others have said, the book doesn't seem to have been edited, so much of it reads like a stream of random thoughts, with little coherence, and the endless errors in grammar, spelling and sentence construction are distracting.In the end though, the editing is the least of this awful books problems. The author's starting premise seems to be that he has divined the exact sequence of events that occurred on Palmyra, resulting in the deaths of Mac and Muff, despite there being being no evidence at all for much of what he states as facts; Mac was beaten to death with a hammer, Mac's body was in the cabin of Iola as she sank, Muff was torture and raped ... all this in graphic, disturbing detail - even though no evidence supports any of it.Just an awful book, and a complete waste of money - steer well clear.

The book is very repetitive and needs a good edit. There may be some prejudice of the author against Bugliosi. (I note that this manuscript was not released until Bugliosi's death.) It was interesting to read some of the activity behind the scenes; however, I still have no understanding of why Bugliosi took on this client. Bucy puts forward his idea of what happened on Palmyra and there may be some justification for his theory. Some of his theory is speculative. However, the book does add information and give detail missing in And The Sea Will Tell. I read the entire book and felt I did get something out of it.

The author makes some fair points but doesn't address any other possibilities in the deaths of Mac and Muff Graham. He goes to great lengths to show that Sterns couldn't navigate and that the boat was unseaworthy - but Stearns got them to Palmyra and back again, and the boat did get them there. I believe that Walker, and possibly Sterns are guilty, but other possibilities are a murder suicide (husband shoots wife and then himself), or that they really did drown, someone finding a body on the beach at some time later and burying it in a trunk. But none of these possibilities are looked at, and in fairness they should be.It's a weird story and well worth the read. I still wouldn't convict Stearns if I were on a jury based on the evidence in this book. Reality is too complicated to write a book about.