David Freed (born December 4, 1954 in Albany, Georgia) is an American author, educator, journalist and screenwriter. Freed has written on criminal justice issues for Los Angeles Times. Freed shared the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Spot News Reporting with fellow writers at the newspaper for reportage on the Rodney King riots in 1992. Freed wrote a humorous collection of job application letters and rejections in 1997 called "Dear Ernest and Julio: The Ordinary Guy's Search for the Extraordinary Job." Freed is also the author of six novels in the Cordell Logan series.