The Autobiography of an Execution / David R. Dow. 4 stars

[LibraryCin]

The author is a lawyer for inmates on death row in Texas. In fact, at one point, this lawyer was in favour of the death penalty. The main part of this book is when he was fighting to save the life of a man convicted of killing his wife, then two kids. But it was all circumstantial evidence and his lawyer was completely inept. Another death row inmate talked to Dow to tell him he knew who killed the other man’s family and it was a mistaken identity. You can’t always believe these guys, but Dow and his staff looked further into it, and they were pretty convinced the man didn’t do it.

In the meantime, other cases came up with people looking for help. Like with our main case in this book, many were represented in their trials by inept lawyers who didn’t do their jobs. There are appeals after appeals for the people on death row, but they rarely help or change anything. There are so many rules, it’s almost impossible to overturn these sentences, despite the legal issues with some of the inmates even being on death row.

I already don’t agree with the death penalty. But the more I read about it, the more convinced I am (once upon a time I wasn’t convinced).