I was born in the city where I still live: Phoenix, Arizona. My father was
a contractor, my mother a schoolteacher. In 1969 I received a B.A. in history.
Six years later I received an M.S. in Justice Studies from Arizona State
University. For 15 years I worked for the criminal courts, performing a
wide range of duties, though working primarily as a presentencing investigator
and supervising probation officer. In total, I played a role in the lives
of some 3,000 felons.
In 1985, I was named an administrative law judge with the Arizona Department of Liquor and conducted hearings into alleged violations of liquor law. Six months later I was appointed Chief ALJ of the department, a position I held for eight years. I also served as the State Liquor Board's executive secretary. In 1993, I moved to the Arizona Department of Insurance and was appointed Assistant Director. I was charged by the state legislature with creating Arizona's first insurance fraud unit and for a time was the state's chief insurance fraud investigator. I left the department to become a full time writer and lived in Cascais, Portugal for eight months to write a novel. I have traveled throughout Mexico, visited Spain, France, Costa Rica, India, Vietnam and Thailand.
My first book was, High Crimes and Misdemeanors, an account of the Evan Mecham administration and impeachment published in 1990. Two years later I published Evil Intentions, the story of the murder which lead to my recommending the death penalty for one of the killers. The following year I published Birthright, the story of the family that founded and then owned U-Haul International and of the murder of Eva Shoen, wife of the company's former president. In1995, I published Against Her Will, an account of the Long Island murder of Kelly Ann Tinyes. I published a novel, A Suspicion of Guilt, based upon my experiences as a probation officer in 2001. In 2003 I published Unknown Seas , the story of the Portuguese discoveries and of the first voyage of Vasco da Gama to India.
My struggle to protect my sources as I wrote Birthright, received national media attention including an editorial in the Los Angeles Times, an appearance on NBC's PrimeTime! and was the subject of an episode of Under Scrutiny with Jane Wallace. Radio, television and newspapers across the country depicted and praised my steadfast refusal to name names.
In 1993 the United States Court of Appeals [Ninth Circuit] in Shoen v. Shoen, 5 Frd 1289 [9th Cir. 1993] issued a landmark decision on my behalf when the court held for the first time in United State's history that writers of non-fiction books have the same rights under the U.S. Constitution as newspaper reporters and can protect both confidential and non-confidential sources. When I refused to comply with the demands of a second subpoena in 1994 I was again found in contempt of court by a another Federal judge for refusing to disclose sources and this time was ordered imprisoned until I complied. A Federal arrest warrant was issued and U.S. Marshals searched my home looking for me. Twenty minutes prior to surrendering, and in a highly unusual ruling, the Ninth Circuit reversed itself and granted a stay. In Shoen v. Shoen, 48 F. 3d 412 [9th Cir.1995] the court subsequently ruled in the my favor, adopting the four point balancing test used in most other Circuits.
These two rulings have been used many times since to spare writers from jail when extending confidentiality to sources and have entered the lexicon of the handful of court cases which safeguard the First Amendment. I was nominated for the 1993 PEN American Newman's Own First Amendment Award.
PrimeTime!
with Tom Brokow and Katie Couric
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I have addressed many groups on my work and in particular on the nature of the First Amendment and the measures necessary in our society to protect it.
I am founder and principal writer of Watkins & Associates, a ghostwriting and book editing company.