The Orchid Murder: Untangling a Web of Unsolved Murders and Legal Malpractice

Memorial Day Weekend - known in the wholesale floral industry as the Dead Holiday. May 24, 1973, boosted it to a new level: murder.

Twin Cities' press dubbed it "The Orchid Murder." Whispers of betrayal and greed escalated to accusations of adultery, police incompetence, even ties to organized crime. Millions of dollars changed hands -- and an innocent Norm Wartnick was caught in a vortex of recriminations and branded Murderer.

Jerry Snider and Joe Friedberg, two of Minnesota's top trial attorneys, were incensed by Wartnick's plight. Knowing they would battle enormous peer pressure and even greater odds, Snider and Friedberg placed their careers on the line in a six-year struggle against a judicial system determined to justify an attorney's betrayal of his client.