Customer Reviews

The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions

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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.

For those of us who like to think that the justice system of the USA is the best in the world, the contents of this book will be nothing less than devastating. Sr. Helen details how two men, both probably innocent, were executed in spite of the purported "safeguards" in the death penalty process. Revealed for all to see is a "justice" system that has become corrupt, populated with judges and prosecutors whose passion for justice has been expropriated by a passion for the law, with The Law the end, instead of merely a servant of justice. As an example, an appeal submitted by one of these two men's attorneys was titled "Notice of Appeal" instead of "Petition for Appeal" and so the Virginia Supreme Court refused to review the case--then and forever, in spite of strong new DNA evidence that showed this man was probably innocent. This was a very powerful argument against the death penalty, and against the legalism that has almost entirely taken over our courts.

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?

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.

"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.

All those who support "lawful" executions must read this book. It should give even the most ardent supporters pause to think. This may be especially true for those public officials still in office today.

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.

If you're undecided about the death penalty, please read this book. If you haven't thought about it that much because you basically trust the justice system to be fair enough, please read this book. If you want to know why Europeans think the U.S. death penalty is so barbaric, again, please read this book.

This book is amazing. I am so glad that I randomly picked it up at a library a couple weeks ago. Although I had heard of Dead Man Walking, I had no idea who this author was. Sister Helen Prejean, as it turns out, is an amazingly impressive person and writer.
I was full of ambivalence about the death penalty when I first started reading this book. I knew the issue, and although I intellectually sided with the abolitionist case, I emotionally sided with the pro-death faction. However, after reading this book I now feel that there should, at least, be an immediate moratorium imposed on all executions in the United States (and the rest of the world...) Prejean uses her personal experiences combined with well-established research to present her case. And what a case it is!
The book discusses two cases where the defendant's guilt was seriously in question, but was nonetheless put to death. They were both denied justice because of technicalities, such as an ineffective public defender failing to object to serious biases presented by the prosecution during the original trial, and the Supreme Court issuing a new decision on a separate case, that had it been issued a couple months earlier, would have prevented the defendant from being put to death. Prejean then goes on to state her personal views on the death penalty and discusses the application of the death penalty in relation to the location of the trial and the race and economic class of the defendant. I have really learned so much from this sister.
In addition to the amazing substance of the book, it is also extremely well written. I love the non-fiction genre as a whole, but I realize that although a book might cover a fascinating topic, it may read dry. This is not the case with The Death of Innocents. It is an emotionally compelling book, and one that is powerfully written. There have been countless places in the book where I have either flat-out cried at the injustice that was served or had to wipe tears from my eyes.
This is an emotionally compelling look at one of the most important civil rights issues of our times. I recommend this book to anyone who wants to delve further into the complex issues of sanctioned government killing. And although I cannot claim one side or another in the death penalty debate--I don't think reading a single book would ever determine such an imporant issue for me--- I have gained an immense amount of knowledge from the reading of this book. I cannot wait to pass this book along to everyone that I know

The world-at-large first met Sister Helen Prejean in 1993 when her bestselling book DEAD MAN WALKING was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and then produced as an Oscar-winning movie by the same title. But Sister Prejean's work with men on death row began more than a decade before her celebrity was born.

As a spiritual adviser, Sister Prejean has accompanied five men to their deaths. Two, she believes, were innocent: Dobie Gillis Williams and Joseph Roger O'Dell. In her own words about THE DEATH OF INNOCENTS: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, she warns, "Brace yourself. These stories are going to break your heart."

Dobie Gillis Williams had an IQ of 65 and severe arthritis. Home on a weekend furlough in July 1984 from a minimum-security detention facility (where he was serving for burglary), Dobie was one of three men --- three black men --- rounded up for questioning in the murder of Sonja Knipper. Mrs. Knipper, her husband claimed, was murdered in her home by a black man; he knows this because she shouted from the bathroom, "A black man is killing me." Dobie was accused of squeezing through a tiny window and stabbing Mrs. Knipper multiple times. He was tried and within a week was sentenced to death, despite monumental problems in forensic findings.

Joseph O'Dell was arrested for the murder and rape of Helen Schartner in 1985. Prosecuters convinced the jury that O'Dell, a Caucasian male with a checkered past, abducted Helen outside a lounge, raped her, bludgeoned her to death, and then dumped her in an empty field. Again, evidence aside, O'Dell was sentenced in six quick weeks to death.

Sister Prejean writes of these two cases, "The tragic truth is that you as a reader of this book have access to truths about forensic evidence, eyewitnesses, and prosecutorial maneuvers that Dobie's and Joseph's jurors never heard." According to the good nun, scant circumstantial evidence unveiled in the courtrooms didn't hold a candle to the facts uncovered after the trials (and some before the trials!), while the men waited on death row for their ultimate demise. Sister Prejean spells out in no uncertain terms the evidence that would have saved Dobie and Joseph. But attempts to bring new evidence to light failed, and both men were wrongfully executed.

As in DEAD MAN WALKING, THE DEATH OF INNOCENTS puts the death penalty issue under a magnifying glass. Prejean reminds us that "Recently we have been witness to astounding admissions of error by state and federal courts forced to free 116 wrongly convicted people from death row since 1973, and the numbers keep growing." She reminds us that the law is fallible, and so are the humans who regulate it. THE DEATH OF INNOCENTS is thought-provoking and thoughtfully written. I'd expect nothing less from Sister Prejean, who has not only devoted the last 20 years to inmates on death row but also to educating proponents of both sides of the death penalty debate.

--- Reviewed by Roberta O'Hara