David E. Geiger

David Geiger is a native of New Jersey where he still resides and is married with two grown children. He is an electrical engineer with a baccalaureate degree with honor as well as a master’s degree from Stevens Institute of Technology. He has a professional license from the State of New Jersey and worked in New York City for twenty years as an engineer with Con Edison, the local power company. He is also a member of Mensa where he started his writing interests in Imprint: The Newsletter of Northern New Jersey Mensa as of December 1990.

In 1979 he was 25 years old when he had his first battle with schizophrenia. He lost that battle. His wife died, and he severely injured his then-infant son. He went to trial, but the jury saw that he was suffering from an illness and acquitted him as Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity. He then spent four years in a psychiatric hospital and, a few decades later, spent another three years in another such facility, always under the jurisdiction of the court. Nevertheless, he struggled. In 2018, however, he won the Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award from Marquis Who’s Who.

In the Matter of Edwin Potter: Mental Illness and Criminal Justice Reform (IMOEP) is the true story of his struggle as Edwin Potter to overcome schizophrenia. Edwin Potter is a man with a serious mental illness (SMI) – schizophrenia. He had no treatment, and, as a result, he killed somebody. This is the story of his trial, his recovery, and his efforts to bring about changes in the criminal justice system for those with mental illness.

If you read nothing else, read chapter 104: “Reducing Recidivism.” Former New Jersey Governor Jim McGreevey used it while Executive Director at Martin’s Place in Jersey City, NJ, and the ideas work. Mr. Geiger was also asked to be on a panel addressing mental illness and criminal justice reform along with – among others – Judge Steve Leifman, Associate Administrative Judge, Miami-Dade County Court, 11th Judicial Circuit of Florida. The conference was held back in March 2020 by SARDAA (Schizophrenia And Related Disorders Alliance of America). He also remains in contact with and makes recommendations to Ann Jacobs, Executive Director of the John Jay College of Criminal Justice Institute of Justice and Opportunity in New York City.