Thirty years after the arrest of Jeffrey Dahmer on July 22, 1991, the then-25-year-old attorney tasked with defending him breaks her silence about the confessed cannibalistic serial killer and the case that would forever define her life, unearthing the contents of her private interviews recorded with her notorious client One year out of law school, Wendy Patrickus, a young woman from rural Northern Wisconsin, found herself defending the most infamous, vile, and beastly man in the world--not just any serial murderer but a combination of cannibal, necrophiliac, and homophobic predator. Jeffrey Dahmer. Having given just one brief interview in the 30 years since she represented Dahmer, Patrickus is breaking her silence and telling all in Defending the Devil--which mines more than 20 hours of previously unreleased private recordings of her conversations with the infamous killer. Defending the Devil offers the most vivid, frightening, and revelatory account yet of how Dahmer chose his victims, his methods of attack, the why and how of his cannibalism, the shrines built of human remains in his apartment, and more. But Patrickus's story goes beyond the true crime account and conveys the tale of a principled young female attorney tasked with representing the world's most notorious criminal, her motivations, the uncomfortable bond she formed with her client, and why she still believes the conviction and sentence (rejecting his insanity plea) were wrong. She also captures in vivid detail the volatile trial backdrop--the national media spotlight shining on her in a way she never asked for; her family, friends, and fellow lawyers turning on her; and an entire community of law enforcement doing the bare minimum to protect her from the mobs of Milwaukeeans who routinely terrorized her for doing her job. The most intimate possible view of Jeffrey Dahmer, his crimes, and his trial, Defending the Devil is also a poignant memoir and insightful look at the criminal justice system.