The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions

"The Death of Innocents" is Sister Helen Prejean's follow up to her bestseller, "Dead Man Walking." The book tells the story of Dobie Gillis Williams who was sentenced to death. There were numerous inaccuracies in his case and Sister Prejean goes over all of the evidence. She also discusses Joseph O'Dell who she felt was wrongly put to death. I wish the book would have included some pictures of these men that were detailed (no pictures were included in the book, except a small picture of the Sister on the inside jacket). You don't have to be for or against capital punishment to know that the men the Sister followed have been wrongly and unjustly treated. Some of the book was written like a text-book (The Machinery Of Death), however overall it was thought-provoking and interesting.

Sister Helen presents a persuasive case that both Louisiana and Virginia have recently executed innocent men. Dobie Gillis, executed in 1999 by Louisiana taxpayers , and Joseph O'Dell, executed in 1997 by Virginia taxpayers, were factually innocent and the legal machinery in those States ignored exculpatory evidence. If Sister Helen discovered that two innocent men have been executed, one has to wonder how many more innocent men may be lying in graves in the USA.

This is an extremely important book that documents in great detail the cases of Dobie Gillis (Executed 1999 in Louisiana) and Joseph O'Dell (1997 in Virginia). Sister Helen presents a persuasive case that both men were factually innocent and that the legal machinery in those States turned a blind eye to exculpatory evidence. The facts of the cases are presented impartially. Supporters of the death penalty who claim that the innocent are rarely if ever executed may wish to also read this book and consider the facts. A long section also examines changing attitudes in the Christian community and in the Catholic Chuch in particular, leading to an official change in Catholic teaching in 1997 that ended its tacit support of the death penalty. Sister Helen may have played no small part in helping bring about that change. The book may not convince everyone, but it presents a wealth of information that needs to be included in any debate on the death penalty. If Sister Helen stumbled across two cases of factually innocent who have been executed, how many are out there on various Death Rows and about to be executed?

I was fortunate enough to read an advanced copy of The Death of Innocents and it knocked my socks off. It's written in that down-home, inimitable style Sister Helen Prejean brings to both her writing and her speaking. The stories - especially the one of Dobie Gillis Williams - will ring your heart. But the book goes a lot farther than telling stories about innocent people executed. It takes on the Supreme Court, Justice Scalia in particular, and challenges a system of justice which is so caught up in process and procedure it appears to have left human beings out of the equation. Finally, it asks the question, when we let such a system continue unchecked, what part of our own humanity do we lose? Reading The Death of Innocents is an education; it's also a plain, good read.

From the first page, this is an impossible story to put down, and although the outcomes of these tales are dark, they pave the way to a hopeful place that Helen Prejean is so capable of championing: broadening the discourse on one of the things that divides America the most. While you may think you know where you stand on the death penalty in America, Sister Helen lays open the ambiguity in even the most hardened heart. Where "Dead Man Walking" attempted, with neither judgment nor justification, to take us inside of an experience that few will ever know, "Death of Innocence" puts a very human face on the realities of a flawed system of justice, and the price paid by those who it continues to fail. Ten years later, Prejean's call arrives with a prescription for repair: broaden the discourse. "The Death of Innocence" is a gateway to thinking critically about the death penalty in America, and to shaping a dialogue around the road back to justice. Read the book, then be sure to connect with Sister Helen through her website (www.deathofinnocents.com) and her blog, where she's inviting Americans of all ages to engage in a deeper exploration of the issues and begin cultivating solutions. Some surprising twists ahead. The story starts with Dobie Gillis Williams, but does not end there, as even now a new chapter unfolds in his tale outside the pages of the book, and the promise of a dying man is about to be kept. Don't let this nun fool you: the habit she wears best is one of sincere elevation.