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You may purchase a signed
copy
of Jim's book, "Flame Out: From Prosecuting Jeffrey
MacDonald to Serving Time to Serving Tables", for $17.95
plus $2.00 S&H. Order this book on the
register/order
page.
 Jim
Blackburn became famous as the young prosecutor who
prosecuted Jeffrey MacDonald for the murder of his wife
and children in 1970 at Fort Bragg. Afterward, Jim
joined a private law firm in Raleigh and became a
prominent attorney with a thriving law practice.
Several
years ago, Jim Blackburn's fall from grace from the
practice of law made the front pages of virtually every
newspaper in North Carolina. What did not make the front
page was Jim's diagnosis of severe depression, which
nearly cost him his life. His subsequent imprisonment,
and later waiting tables in a very public restaurant to
survive, is the basis of his true story about redemption
and the resiliency of the human spirit.
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"It is this story which we need most to hear. It is
clear and compelling."
"Your unflinching honesty helps
me a great deal in my own daily struggle with
depression. Your testimony allowed me to stare into the
face of my own worst nightmare, and realize how close I
came to the abyss. Your book is some of the best therapy
I've had in a while. I couldn't put it down, and
finished it within a day."
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In Jim Blackburn's Own Words: Flame-Out
"In a criminal courtroom, three
important chairs face the judge and witness stand ...one
for the prosecutor, one for the defense attorney, and
one for the defendant. I have sat in all three."
I wrote Flame-Out : From
Prosecuting Jeffrey MacDonald to Serving Time to Serving
Tables because I wanted to tell people what it was
like to spend your life climbing to the top, and then
suddenly losing it all completely ...and having to start
over. I had become a successful and respected lawyer in
North Carolina and then thrown it away in a binge of
wrongdoing that resulted in my turning in my law license
and spending several months in state prison. Afterwards,
I made money to support myself and my family by waiting
tables for tips, often waiting on the very people I had
once worked with in the legal profession.
I spent time in a psychiatric wing
of a major hospital and for years was treated weekly by
a highly respected psychiatrist. I was diagnosed with a
major depressive disorder, a personality disorder of
being too nice and wanting to please, a break with
reality and a walking around nervous breakdown.
But I never gave up. I never quit.
I had the unconditional love of my family and many
friends. And so, in time, a second chance at a
productive life came my way... different, to be sure,
but there it was for me. And so, I have learned, it can
be the same for all of us. We all experience change and
loss in our lives ...we all have to start over sometime,
some more than once.
I believe in hope and redemption
...I believe that God gives all of us second, and even
more, chances in life. My presentation, and I hope my
life, is about hope and survival and starting over, and
what I learned in that journey that began when I fell
from grace and continues even through today. I hope
someday to share it with you."
Order this book on the registration/order
page.
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