Brighton Publishing releases “UNJUST: Conviction of Innocence”

MESA, Ariz. - May 3, 2015 - PRLog -- Brighton Publishing LLC is pleased to announce the eBook release of “UNJUST: Conviction of Innocence: Mathilde’s Story” from author and investigative journalist Elizabeth Brown. UNJUST is now available from Amazon, Barnes & Noble and other leading eBook retailers. Print release is scheduled for late-summer 2015 and will be distributed by Ingram, the world’s largest wholesale book distributor. In addition to availability at book stores nationwide, UNJUST will also be available worldwide through the Xerox Espresso Book Machine Network.

Synopsis: William and Mathilda were German immigrants who moved to the small rural community of Swan River Township, a rural farming community outside of Little Falls, Minnesota. The area was flooded with immigrants; mostly German and Polish families who spoke little English. There was a great deal of jealousy from local farmers at how prosperous the immigrants were becoming as farmers, and prejudice ran deep…

…even if unspoken in this small rural community.

In early August 1908—according to Mathilda Gollnik—two burglars entered their residence at night, and after arguing with her husband, struck him in the head causing a wound that would prove to be fatal. After surviving for three days, William Gollnik died without ever regaining consciousness. It was later determined he was probably struck with a heavy blunt instrument, probably a hatchet.

The murder weapon was never recovered.

After the attack on her husband, Mathilda ran to a neighbor’s house for help. They summoned the local sheriff and a local doctor who arrived at the scene. The local doctor being unable to communicate well with Mathilda, as she spoke little English, assumed she had committed the crime. The local sheriff who had virtually no law enforcement training and had two years earlier been a local farmer conducted virtually no substantive investigation, not taking so much as a single note, and also assumed Mathilda had killed her husband.

Two years after the murder he returned to farming.

Mathilda was ultimately arrested for the murder of her husband, was tried, and convicted. There was virtually no evidence presented at trial to show she had committed the crime, and her attorneys presented a defense so inept, they didn’t call a single witness in her behalf. The only evidence presented by the prosecution was that it was well known that their marriage was an unhappy one and Mathilda had previously attempted to obtain a divorce which was never finalized as they resolved their differences and continued living as man and wife.

The trial lasted about four days, and the jury consisting of local farmers, deliberated only hours before returning a guilty verdict. The prosecuting attorney within three hours of the verdict petitioned the court to impose an immediate sentence, which was granted, and Mathilda was sentenced to life imprisonment, and immediately transported to prison. After her conviction, it was literally a feeding frenzy to acquire her property and possessions, by neighbors, attorneys, other family members, and local farmers.

But what happened in the ensuing years was even more unthinkable.

“With a gift for investigative journalism, author Elizabeth Brown brings to light the worst of our judicial system in a highly detailed account of a woman wrongfully convicted” said Kathie McGuire, director of Brighton Publishing.

After leaving farm life and raising four children, Elizabeth Brown became widowed after 27 years of marriage. Reinventing herself, she went back to school and throughout the years, was fortunate enough to pursue any project that interested her. As an accomplished author, Elizabeth’s first book “Tales of our Youth: Generations of Love and Hope” was published in 2012. UNJUST is a continuation of her incredible talent as an author.