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Larry Sells is Special Crimes Prosecutor for murder trials in Indianapolis, Indiana. He has been interviewed on Investigation Discovery, America’s Most Wanted, and Oxygen: Snapped. He has prosecuted more than 70 murderers and still cannot understand how a person can deliberately take the life of another.
What is your favorite book: At the risk of what might be perceived as self-promotion, I must say my favorite book is “Race to Justice.” Also, I really enjoy western novels written by Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey, particularly “Rider of Lost Creek” and “Arizona Ames,” respectively.
Who is your favorite author: Margie Porter, then Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey. Margie wrote most of “Race to Justice.” I told part of the story in the courtroom. The Western novels of Louis L’Amour and Zane Grey have provided me temporary respite from the very unpleasant aspects of dealing with murderers on a daily basis. And I have a gunfighter mentality, at least on the law and order side, more suitable to the era of those westerns.
Tell us five things about you that readers might find interesting or surprising:
My Grandpa Sells grew up in the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee near what is now Dale Hollow Reservoir. He was a spellbinding storyteller. I loved listening to him tell of moonshiners and other persons and their activities in the hills and hollows of Tennessee. Fortunately, I acquired some of his DNA.
The summer of 1964 I lived with my relatives in the Los Angeles area and worked in their furniture store. My cousin took me to the Hollywood Bowl to see the Beatles. Could not hear them for all the girls screaming. My cousin later married the lead guitar player for the Surfaris of “Wipe Out” fame. I had played collegiate athletics at Indiana University. Played sem-pro baseball for a team near LA. Had visions of playing in the Big Leagues. Ended up back at I.U. instead.
After graduating from law school and taking the Indiana State Bar Examination, a fellow law student and I embarked on a cross-country trek on motorcycles. I had never ridden one before. Nearly crashed and burned before escaping Indiana. Traveled west to the Rocky Mountain National Park, throwing snowballs in August, to Steamboat Springs to the Great Salt Lake, where I ran out of gas on the Salt Flats, to Lake Tahoe, to San Francisco then across the Golden Gate Bridge to a bar called 19 Main in Tiburon frequented by Steve McQueen, to the Sardine Factory in Monterey, where the year before Clint Eastwood had filmed “Play Misty for Me,” to Carmel, down the breathtaking drive on the Pacific Coast Highway to relatives who lived just a few miles inland from the coastal beaches near LA. After a brief stay, my friend and I found out we had passed the bar exam, sold the motorcycles and flew back to Indiana.
While practicing law, I kept ”California Dreamin” of those Southern California beaches and life as a movie star. Left my law practice and headed West again. Had photos taken, signed with an agent and decided to take acting lessons. My age was against me as was the fact I resembled Tom Selleck of “Magnum P.I.” Hollywood did not need another one. Back to Indiana and being a lawyer again.
In 2006 I retired from the Marion County Prosecutor’s Office in Indianapolis after Prosecuting mostly homicide cases, nearly 70. Decided I wanted to be a professional poker player. Two years before I had invested $100.00 in a no-limit hold’em poker tournament at the Ho Chunk Casino in the Wisconsin Dells. Got lucky and won the tournament and a seat in the World Poker Tournament at the Bellagio in Las Vegas. Did not win any money there. In 2006 I invested $6.00 at Party Poker online site and parlayed it into a $10,000.00 seat in the World Series of Poker Main Event at the Rio in Vegas. Did not win there either. Won some money online until the government passed the Internet Gaming law. That effectively outlawed internet poker. Could not afford the huge buy-in fees for the live tournaments. End of poker career. Eventually ended up back in the law business prosecuting killers.
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