Episode 39: The Goldman Case (2023) (Guest: Fred Davis)

Episode 39: The Goldman Case (2023) (Guest: Fred Davis)

Jonathan Hafetz

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Description

The Goldman Case (Le Procès Goldman) (2023), is a French courtroom drama based on the real-life 1976 trial of Pierre Goldman, a far-left Jewish militant who was accused of multiple armed robberies and four murders during a holdup of a pharmacy in Paris. The film, which was directed by Cedric Kahn from screenplay by Kahn and Nathalie Hertzberg, stars Arieh Worthalter as Goldman and Arthur Harari as his lead lawyer, Georges Kiejiman. The film is not only a gripping account of this celebrated trial, but also explores larger themes around individual and collective responsibility, the way courtrooms can become the battleground for contested narratives about the past, and the swirling forces of race, class, and religion in 1970s France.

Guest: Fred Davis

Fred Davis is a former federal prosecutor with extensive trial experience in the United States and France. Mr. Davis’s practice focuses on multi-jurisdictional criminal investigations, building on his deep knowledge of procedural, practical, and cultural differences in national legal systems. Mr. Davis also teaches and writes extensively on comparative and cross-border criminal matters. He is the author of American Criminal Justice: An Introduction (Cambridge University Press 2019), which provides an overview and evaluation of U.S. criminal procedures, noting important ways in which those procedures differ from those applied in many other parts of the world. He is also the author or co-author of several book chapters, including “Financial Crime in France” in Practical Law (2020), and “France” in The International Investigations Review (2020), as well as a chapter in the same book on “Managing the Challenges of Multijurisdictional Criminal Investigations.” Mr. Davis previously served as advisor to the Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and participated as counsel for victims in the trial of Chadian ex-dictator Hissène Habré in Dakar, Senegal, for international human rights violations. He appears frequently on national TV in France to address issues related to American and international criminal justice. Mr. Davis is a member of the American College of Trial Lawyers.

Timestamps:

0:00 Introduction
2:34 Background for the Pierre Goldman case
5:15 Goldman’s lawyers, Georges Kiejiman and Francis Chouraqui
7:48 Breaking down a French courtroom
9:21 The lawyer for the victims
10:20 Procedural differences between French and American trials
14:47 A window into 1970s France
17:33 The backdrop of the treatment of Jews in Vichy France
23:05 How the Left rallied to Goldman’s side
27:10 Tensions around race and policing in France
29:58 The role of the investigating magistrate in France
32:22 The verdict and aftermath
38:55 French courtroom dramas
40:42 Evolving discussion about France’s history during World War II
43:40 Studying comparative criminal justice through film

Further Reading:

Goldman, Pierre, Dim Memories of a Polish Jew Born in France (1977)

Oltermann, Philip, “Tried for double murder and adored by the French left: the violent life and crimes of Pierre Goldman,” The Guardian (Sept. 16, 2024)

Paxton, Robert O., Vichy France: Old Guard and New Order, 1940-1944 (1972)

Marrus, Michael, R. & Paxton, Robert O., Vichy France and the Jews (1981)

Reid, Donald, “From Souvenirs obscurs to Lieu de mémorie,” French Politics, Culture & Society, vol. 26, no. 2 (Summer 2008)

Vincendeau, Ginette, “The Goldman Case: arresting courtroom drama holds its own outside a French context,” Sight and Sound (Sept. 20, 2024)

Publication Date

2-25-2025

Disciplines

Law

Episode 39: The Goldman Case (2023) (Guest: Fred Davis)

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