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Author
Summary
Welcome to Cold Mountain Penitentiary, home to the Depression-worn men of E Block. Convicted killers all, each awaits his turn to walk the Green Mile, keeping a date with "Old Sparky," Cold Mountain's electric chair. Prison guard Paul Edgecombe has seen his share of oddities in his years working the Mile. But he's never seen anyone like John Coffey, a man with the body of a giant and the mind of a child, condemned for a crime terrifying in its violence...
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In what is arguably his greatest book--written in 1979 and reissued here in trade paperback--America's most heroically ambitious writer follows the short, blighted career of Gary Gilmore, an intractably violent product of America's prisons who---after robbing two men and killing them in cold blood--insisted on dying for his crime.
Formats
Summary
This intense thriller follows one man's path to execution and the strong-minded doctor brought in to take a deeper look at the violent circumstances that have doomed him. Jackson Shea has lived a life of deceit, brutality and corruption. But when a series of chilling, violent events lands him on Death Row, Dr. Amanda Tyler must determine whether his violent behavior is inherent in his mental makeup, or if Jackson is able to be rehabilitated and should...
Author
Summary
All that stands between Lester Ray Barnes and the state of Florida's death chamber is a judge's signature. He is sentenced to die for the rape and murder of a young woman, his conviction hinging on two pieces of evidence: DNA testing and an eyewitness who placed him at the scene. But when the story breaks that the DNA testimony at trial had been fabricated and that the eyewitness was coerced by a cop, all hell breaks loose. In the absence of credible...
Author
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Summary
The enchanted place is an ancient stone prison, viewed through the eyes of a death row inmate who finds escape in his books and in re-imagining life around him. A female investigator searches for buried information from prisoners' pasts that can save those soon-to-be-executed. Digging into the background of a killer named York, she uncovers wrenching truths that challenge familiar notions of victim and criminal, innocence and guilt, and reveals shocking...
Author
Formats
Summary
"Welcome to Cold Mountain Penitentiary, home to the Depression-worn men of E Block. Convicted killers all, each awaits his turn to walk "the Green Mile," the lime-colored linoleum corridor leading to a final meeting with Old Sparky, Cold Mountain's electric chair. Prison guard Paul Edgecombe has seen his share of oddities over the years working the Mile, but he's never seen anything like John Coffey--a man with the body of a giant and the mind of...
Author
Summary
Falsely accused of murdering three eight-year-old boys in Arkansas, eighteen-year-old Echols, deemed the "ringleader" of the West Memphis Three, was sentenced to death. Then in August 2011 the WMT were released. In these pages, Echols describes the terrors he experienced every day and his outrage toward the American justice system, and offers a firsthand account of living on Death Row in heartbreaking, agonizing detail.
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Formats
Summary
Jack Tobin, a Florida trial lawyer, is dedicated to ending capital punishment one prisoner at a time. Jack is convinced that doomed convict Henry Wilson is innocent, but can he delay execution and get Henry a new trial in time?Benny Avrile is a small-time crook with his eye on an oilman's big billfold. But as he makes his move, a shot rings out and the oilman falls dead; Benny blacks out. Just when his fate is all but sealed, an old friend from Jack's...
10) Monster's ball
Series
Summary
Hank and Leticia inhabit stark, queasy realities of the contemporary South, he as a death row corrections officer and she as the soon-to-be widow of an inmate whose execution Hank helps conduct. In the aftermath of the execution, both lose their children to tragic deaths and they form an unlikely bond.
11) No man of God
Summary
In 1980, Ted Bundy was sentenced to death by electrocution. In the years that followed, he agreed to disclose the details of his crimes, but only to one man. During the early days of the agency's criminal profiling unit, FBI analyst Bill Hagmaier met with the incarcerated Ted Bundy in the hopes of understanding the psychology of the serial killer and providing closure for the victim's families. As Hagmaier delves into Bundy's dark and twisted mind,...
13) Into the abyss
Summary
In his fascinating exploration of a triple homicide case in Conroe, Texas, master filmmaker Werner Herzog probes the human psyche to explore why people kill, and why a state kills. As he's so often done before, Herzog's investigation unveils layers of humanity, making an enlightening trip out of ominous territory.
Summary
In 1983, Anthony Porter was sentenced to death for the murders of teenagers Jerry Hillard and Marilyn Green in Chicago's Washington Park. In 1998, a group of university students re-investigated the case, and seemingly found the real killer, Alstory Simon. Simon confessed to the crimes, and Porter was released and pardoned, his harrowing ordeal shook the public's confidence in the justice system and led the Governor to vacate the sentences of all Illinois...
Summary
After spending 19 years on Death Row for the rape and murder of his teenage girlfriend, Daniel Holden is going home. His conviction has been vacated due to new DNA evidence, thrusting him back into a world he no longer knows. As he struggles to adapt to his new life, his return will reignite the fears of a small town and threaten to shatter his family's fragile peace. Daniel's alleged crime divided a community. His freedom could tear it in half.
Author
Summary
In his first novel in ten years, Ernest Gaines, the highly acclaimed author of the best-selling The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman, brings us a wrenching story of death and identity in a small Cajun Louisiana community in the late 1940s. A young black named Jefferson is a reluctant party in a shoot-out in a liquor store in which the three other men involved are all killed, including the white store owner. Jefferson, the only survivor, is accused...
Author
Series
Kindle County novel volume 6
Summary
This suspenseful novel is about a vicious triple murder and the man condemned to die for it. Complicating the situation is that the judge who originally found the man guilty is only recently out of prison herself, having served time for taking bribes.
18) The Paperboy
Summary
It takes audiences deep into the backwaters of steamy 1960s South Florida, as investigative reporter Ward Jansen and his partner Yardley Acheman chase a sensational, career-making story. With the help of Ward's younger brother Jack and sultry death-row groupie Charlotte Bless, the pair tries to prove violent swamp-dweller Hillary Van Wetter was framed for the murder of a corrupt local sheriff.
19) The chamber
Summary
Adam Hall is an idealistic young attorney who takes on the death row clemency case of his one-time Klansman grandfather, Sam Cayhall. With just 28 days before the execution, Adam sets out to retrace the events leading to the crime for which Sam was convicted. As the impending death sentence looms closer, Adam works quickly to uncover the family's history for any hidden clues. In a white-knuckle series of twists and turns, Adam discovers deceptions...
20) The fear of 13
Summary
Nick, a death row inmate, petitions the court to be executed. As he goes on to tell his story, it gradually becomes clear that nothing is quite what it seems. Nick spins his tale with all the twists and turns of classic crime drama, with a final shocking twist that casts everything in a new light.