We live in a great country; a great country with horrible flaws. Racism and a flawed legal system and people who want it changed. The question is: Can we change it? Or is it as perfect as we can get it?
In The Perfect Shot by Elaine Marie Alphin, Brian Hammett tries to figure out the answer to this question as he attempts to figure out who really murdered his girlfriend Amanda Daine, her six year old brother Cory and her mother. The problem is that a suspect is already on trial, Former Police Officer and Amanda's father Michael Daine.
Brian doesn't believe that Mr. Daine could hurt Amanda or anyone else for that matter. He figures that the American system of law wouldn't make an innocent man go to prison for a crime he didn't commit.
Then in History class Brian is given an assignment (one that Amanda would have loved). His teacher tells the class to do a presentation about preventing mistakes in history from repeating. Some groups are given wars, but Brian who is paired with Todd Pollian, a nerd that his friends pick on, are given the 1913 case in Atlanta of Leo Frank.
Leo Frank was wrongly convicted for the murder of a thirteen year old girl.
Of course, this project makes Brian think of Amanda even more. He starts to realize that the system is flawed. Then his best friend gets arrested for making a wrong turn and ending up in an all white neighborhood. Now he knows that without a major change in Mr. Daine's case he will be sent to prison for the rest of his life.
On the day of Amanda's murder some cops came to Brian's door. Brian, who had been playing basketball on his driveway, had seen only three people pass Amanda's house, a neighbor, Mr. Daine coming home, and an unidentified jogger in a grey sweatshirt. He tells the police this and assumes that they follow up on the jogger.
One day Todd came to Brian and said that he needed to tell the court about the jogger, because Mr. Daine was convicted. But will telling the truth came at a price?