Attorney’s book returns to the scenes of the crime

Murder on Birchleaf Drive: The True Story of the Michelle Young Murder Case. Steven B. Epstein. Black Lyon Publishing. 360 pages. $19.95.

It remains to this day one of the most notorious murders and trials in North Carolina history—the gruesome killing of Michelle Young, and the subsequent conviction, on a second attempt, of her husband, Jason Young, as the murderer. The lengthy pursuit of justice generated national headlines and saturation-level media coverage in Raleigh, where the crime occurred.

Now that the appeals in the case have presumably, and finally, been completed, attorney Steve Epstein of Poyner Spruill in Raleigh has penned a thorough and compelling history of the ordeal, which was published on June 1. Epstein was not involved in the case, but has made a wise selection of subject matter, as the case remains fascinating, even more than 13 years after the murder.

The early pages of the book do a solid and helpful job recounting the murder and the principal actors, even if much of that story has already been well chronicled. But the book really takes off when it begins to tell the story of Young’s trials—and there were two, the first ending in a hung jury and the second resulting in a conviction. Although Epstein is a civil litigator by trade, not a criminal law attorney, he brings a lawyer’s keen eye for trial tactics in walking readers through the significance of the decisions made, or not made, by the attorneys on each side.

And the attorneys involved in the case are, if not the stars of the book, certainly prominent characters, from judges to defense attorneys to prosecutors and others. Anyone who was practicing law in the area around that time will no doubt come across a lot of familiar names and faces, and the readers learn quite a bit about each of their stories. Epstein’s perspective provides a reminder that the choices made by trial advocates can be at least as significant as the evidence in a case in influencing a jury’s decision.

Indeed, many of the most interesting moments in the book analyze the shift in tactics by prosecutors from the first trial to the retrial that helped them secure the conviction. Epstein makes the case that the criminal justice system was eventually able to ferret out the truth of the murder. More than anything, Young comes across in the book as someone who thought he was smart enough to pull off the perfect crime, and might well have done so had he not bungled it repeatedly.

But the contrast between the first trial and the second is also somewhat sobering, even if it appears clear that jurors ultimately reached the correct conclusion. The second trial focused far less on the tangible evidence linking Young to the murder—which was admittedly spotty—and far more on establishing that he was a reprehensible person who had aggressively exercised his constitutional right to remain silent, both of which seem to have made a strong impression on the second jury.

Importantly, jurors in the second trial, but not the first, also learned that Young had declined to contest a civil lawsuit against him, leading to a default judgment deeming him to be his wife’s slayer. As a result, the North Carolina Court of Appeals unanimously overturned the conviction in 2014, but that decision was unanimously overruled the following year. Epstein’s book closes with a trial court judge’s 2017 ruling denying Young’s request for a third trial.

Ultimately, the book is a thorough telling of the Jason Young saga, but one that still moves at a brisk pace. It’s a good choice for true crime aficionados, or anyone looking to learn more about one of the most infamous legal dramas in Raleigh’s history.

Follow David Donovan on Twitter @NCLWDonovan