Customer Reviews

A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I knew this would be a wrenching story, but also expected it to be worthwhile judging from the endorsements by Sister Helen Prejean, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and Jonathon Kozol. Of course I'm already opposed to the death penalty, but this tragic story strengthened my conviction and also provided a terrific example of the travesty of justice that the state of Texas is infamous for. Just when you think such injustice must certainly come to an end once the details of it get out, you learn that in fact it hasn't stopped: poor minorities still comprise the overwhelming percentage of state executions, and they don't get fair trials if they have the misfortune to be in Texas, Oklahoma, or the other states that so strongly favor capital punishment but shortchange the public defender requirements. The image of the "sleeping defense attorney" is by now a cliche, but indeed, courts still make use of these incompetent and disengaged law practitioners. Furthermore, once they're assigned to a capital case, it's impossible to replace them with competent counsel--one of those legal technicalities.
Well, as for the story, of course Dominique Green is indeed a saintly person, who in spite of an almost unbelievably brutal upbringing, grows to sweetly forgive those who abused and condemned him and possibly those who wrongly accused him, as well as forging bonds of love with the victim's family (also black), who realized that he did not receive a fair trial and that he had no one to look out for him. His own mother, who was known to be mentally ill, even called for his execution during his trial!--which elicited the pity of the victim's wife, herself also a mother. But Green forgave the people who wronged him and used his years in prison to teach himself to write and think eloquently. Even within the confines of solitary confinement, he managed to reach out to other prisoners and befriend and help them. One of his projects was a collective manuscript, co-written by the men on death row.
The story is overwhelmingly sad, but the book contains many pages of references at the end, listing organizations that oppose the death penalty and some that assist broken families to prevent children growing up as Dominique did. Cahill occasionally loses his objectivity, but I can't imagine how anyone could do otherwise in the face of this remarkable young prisoner.

The story of African pain, particulary African American pain is seldom recognized by the greater society here in North America. Sometimes it is best told to them, as Malcolm X indirectly stated at his Oxford address, by "one of their own" and though you will find those individuals that are blinded by the notion that color or ethnicity does not matter, in this "age of Obama" as my mother a South Carolina native would declare, "the truth will come out in the wash" hence, the book "A Saint on Death Row."

Thomas Cahill does an excellent job in detailing the short but progressive life of Dominique Green, a 30 year old African American executed by lethal injection in Huntsville Texas, a death row factory in Harris County.

The question is asked in the latter part of the book should not be "did he do it?" but "did he receive a fair trial?" and the second question is like it: "Were his subsequent encounters with the law fair?"

A very interesting read.

This book is an excellent resource for those of us who are against the death penalty because it shows some of the many existing flaws in our criminal justice system, flaws that are especially cruel towards indigent defendants. It is obvious from reading this book that Dominique Green did not get a fair trial, and even though the family of the victim (Andrew Lastrapes Jr. was shot in October 1992) did not want Dominique killed, he was still executed in October of 2004. As far as the criminal justice system was concerned, in this case justice was served, because Dominique was poor, black, and unimformed about the particulars of his case. To make matters worse, he was appointed a nonchalant court appointed defense attorney and the psychologist who testified in court was known to have a biased view of the propensity of minorities to commit certain crimes.

I was against the death penalty way before reading this book, but now I am even more convinced that we must do away with this practice, not only because of the probability of killing someone who is not guilty, but also because from my understanding of Jesus' teachings, you cannot redeem society with the doctrine of an-eye-for-an-eye.

Great book, I highly recommend it!!!

A book that will be a classic. Can help anyone one of us see that we can learn and flourish in the most important ways, wherever we find ourselves. A wonderfully uplifting,
realistic account of the short life of a remarkable young man.

Thomas Cahill is obviously against capital punishment and that is clear from the beginning of the book right to the end. Having said that he does a very good job of demonstrating how the system in Texas is so deeply flawed that it raises the possibility of executing an innocent person. I speak as a supporter of capital punishment. As such for every person like this I can argue for John Wayne Gacey and Tim McVeigh and many other evil people who received justice thanks to capital punishment. Furthermore the American public agrees with me.

While I do agree with his assertion that Texas goes about capital punishment all wrong. They are fixated on execution, not justice. If the family of the man Dominique Green killed asked for his release, that should have been it. Capital punishment should be used in extraordinary cases not like Texas does with every third rate poor person who couldn't afford a good lawyer.

Dominique Green was no saint and what he did was terrible and in some essence prison saved him. Still the manner by which Texas does its criminal justice system is an embarrassment and while I don't agree with Cahill's assertion that the death penalty is always wrong, it is not! I found this book moving.

Such a good book, I had to finish it as soon as I started. A story to make you think there is hope for humanity, even in an inhumane world.

It broke my heart to read this book. It will make one dig deeply into one's soul to try and understand how one human being gets so lost through the ill-doings of so many.

This book is about the events leading up to the 2004 execution of Dominique Green, formerly of Houston. Dominique was convicted of shooting a gas station attendant although there were no witnesses; the only person who claimed to see the crime never claimed to see Dominique actually shoot the victim. He was convicted by virtue of being poor and having a horrible lawyer in a trial so buffoonish that the victim's family actually protested it. (They later befriended him and refused to attend his execution.)

Dominique, who was 30 when he died after 12 years in Death Row, seems to have been a good kid gone bad after a history of tragic abuse. In prison he turned his life around as sometimes happens and attracted the attention of the San'Egidio religious community in Italy, where his example and increasingly literate writing style won hearts and minds, especially after his essay about the rosary he'd made for himself was published in the National Catholic Reporter.

Although I'd had this book highly recommended to me, I was disappointed. Dominique was black, and I felt that this book was less his biography than the white author's ploy to turn Dominique's story into a anti-death penalty essay. While I fully expected the book to be partly that, I still had the uncomfortable feeling that Dominque was a means to an end although I do not doubt Cahill's genuine fondness for him.

The book talks only briefly about his prayer life. It mentions particularly his use of An African Prayer Book given to him by +Archbishop Desmond Tutu who visited him once, and of course his famous rosary. However that's all Cahill gives us. I wanted to read about his return to the Church, because that had to have been an epic journey--Dominique had been raped by a priest as a child. I can get facts and figures and anecdotes about executions anywhere on the internet. Biographies of souls that become beautiful despite all odds, not so much.

Thomas Cahill has a way of choosing topics that make us go deep in thought and help us question our long held beliefs which create a more balanced view of life. What a story! Heart wrenching and gorgeous at the same time.

Excellent book that brings up some important issues and encourages a more thorough analysis of capital punishment that brings up systemic issues that limit justice for some citizens