Customer Reviews

Adams V. Texas

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This book gave you the real story of how the legal system can work for or against you. Randall Adams gives you a true account about what we all dream could or hope never happens to us. Its a real eye opener and a book you will never forget about and it will stick with you. A must read if you want to really know. Read it!

I can't count how many times I've watched "The Thin Blue Line" and how many times I've read this book. Like everything else I become interested in, I became OBSESSED with the Randall Adams case and wanted to know everything about it. Randall Dale Adams is - in my opinion - a living hero; I hope to meet him someday and shake his hand.

Adams' memoir (1976-1989) reads like a fictional suspense novel... it's hard to believe, but it's true! The book includes a lot of things that viewers of Errol Morris's documentary haven't seen... we see how improperly biased Judge Metcalf was, as he drives from the courthouse parking lot in the same car as the prosecutors, laughing at Adams' family as he passes them! That's appalling.

I highly recommend both this book and the documentary film "The Thin Blue Line."

Other reviewers have expressed curiousity about Randall's life after prison. Here's what I know:
At first, he was hounded by the press; they followed him everywhere. He traveled the college circuit, getting paid for telling his story. He co-wrote this book, and went on a publicity tour to support it (which took him, briefly, back to Texas). Eventually things quieted down and Randall tried to lead a normal life; he got a factory job in his native Ohio and had a brief marriage. Then a friend encouraged him to speak out against the death penalty, and he began again to publicly oppose capital punishment. During another trip to Texas to support a moratorium on the death penalty, he met an activist named Jill. Three weeks later, he moved from Ohio to (gulp!) Texas to be with her. They're now married and speaking out against the death penalty together...

This is an extremely interesting book, it's all the narrative background behind the documentary film "The Thin Blue Line." I hope Adams is doing okay now. I'm certainly glad the truth was brought out, and that he was properly cleared and freed.

One point I found most interesting was Adams' sideline exploration of the fact that someone who opposes the death penalty cannot be excluded (for that reason) from the jury in a capital murder case. It seems that juries are supposed to be representative of society, and a significant portion of society DOES oppose the death penalty -- thus it is appropriate for people who think that way to be allowed to serve on a death penalty jury.

great book and a must read! it really highlights how our justice system has become a big game of wins and losses at the expense of justice. unfortunate circumstances brought me to find this book and sadly i can say that even though the names and dates have changed our system has not heeded the warnings that were brought forth in this book. this book has offered some hope though and we thank randall adams for sharing his story with others.

The book persuaded me to abandon all arguments why the death penalty for murder is a good and effective idea. The celebrated case was not based on racial profiling but on status profiling. So a drifter (no fixed employment or residence) caught up in a criminal case is deemed "guilty until you prove otherwise". The book is not even about prejudice or narrow local interests it's about piss-poor police forensic investigation and a perverted one-eyed view by the DA to convict and punish before the trial begins.

See the movie, then read the book. This guy got rail-roaded. The guy who set him up looks like James Spader.

Passing through a law and order phase in my reading life I came across Adams vs. Texas and have to say it was amazing. Adams vs. Texas is the story of a semi-drifter who, a victim of circumstances, was charged with the murder he didn't do of a man he didn't know and as a result comes up against the State of Texas as a murderer and faces death in the electric chair. His contact with investigators, lawyers, judges, wardens, other convicts, the press, a painfully deluded prosecutor, and the real criminal of the case are combined to make a powerfully compelling story, spanning over twelve years of trial, imprisonment, hardship and finally; triumph. In the midst of this ugly line of events Adams believes that God has him where he is for a purpose and in the end that is true, but it's sad one man had to make such a sacrifice and wonderful that he was able to.
The fact that the events in this book really happened to a man is incredible, but they are presented in such and honest, down-to-earth manner that makes it a real tribute to the man who both went through this experience and survived, both physically and mentally to tell his story. Wherever you are, Randall Dale Adams, I'm sorry they did that to you and you deserve all the happiness in the world. As for the rest of you--go read Adams vs. Texas and remember another, much larger, sacrifice made for you over 2,000 years ago and accept and cherish His gift to you: Life--forever