The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row [Hardcover]

Michael Mello (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 2001

Law/Current Events

The frightening in-the-trenches story of an attorney's fight to save his client from the death penalty.

In 1976, "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, a member of a widely feared motorcycle gang, was sentenced to death for the murder of Laura Lynn Harberts, whose body was found in a trash dump near Spaziano's trailer. Nine years after his conviction by a Florida jury, a set of audiotapes was discovered in which police hypnotized and coached the primary witness against Spaziano, a witness who later recanted his testimony. Despite this exculpatory evidence, Spaziano's case continued to move steadily toward the electric chair.

The Wrong Man is the dramatic story of Michael Mello's twenty-year-long fight to save Spaziano from being executed for crimes he didn't commit. In a gripping personal account Mello, a well-known author, activist, and legal commentator, describes the in and outs of this case and the extremes to which he was driven by it. In his desperation to halt this miscarriage of justice, Mello broke ethical and procedural rules, faced possible contempt charges and disbarment proceedings, and gave up hope of ever practicing law in Florida again. Among his unconventional measures was to involve the Miami Herald, which eventually published an investigative piece exposing the fundamental unfairness of Spaziano's sentence, an article that was instrumental in turning the tide of public opinion and bringing the case to the attention of the national media.

More than an account of a single, notorious death penalty case, The Wrong Man is an indictment of capital punishment and the criminal justice system-a fascinating first-person narrative about death penalty legal work and a detailed account of how the justice system often fails to deliver justice. Ultimately Mello offers compelling proof of the following sad reality: wrongful convictions can easily occur, and innocent people are sentenced to death and executed in America.

Michael Mello is the author of The United States of America vs. Theodore Kaczynski (1999), Dead Wrong (1997), and Against the Death Penalty (1996). Currently a professor of law at the Vermont Law School, he has worked on several high-profile cases, including those of Ted Bundy, Theodore Kaczynski, and Elizabeth Morgan.

Mike Farrell is a celebrated actor and president of California Death Penalty Focus.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Law professor Mello (The United States of America versus Theodore John Kaczynski) shows how even the most carefully administered system of capital punishment can result in the execution of innocent people. Mello's former client "Crazy Joe" Spaziano spent years on Florida's death row before his sentence was overturned after a prosecution witness recanted his testimony. Rather than risk a new death sentence in retrial, Spaziano pleaded no contest to a murder charge while maintaining his innocence. He remains in prison. While Spaziano has both supporters and detractors, ambiguity regarding his culpability is almost secondary to Mello's multifaceted indictment of capital punishment: "the legal machinery that exists for the purpose of executions diminishes all of us and warps our law." The author, who became involved during Spaziano's labyrinthine appeals process, deftly traces the unfurling of the various levels of appeal, with particular clarity given to defense counsel's tactical dilemmas. Spaziano represents a typical death row prisoner, and in that sense readers gain a good understanding of how a death penalty case unfolds. But while innocent people have undeniably been executed, Mello tends to gloss over opposing legal positions, undermining his argument. His thin explanation of procedural default, for instance, could mislead lay readers into thinking that innocent men are killed because of technicalities. Moreover, he romanticizes Spaziano. Paired with childlike letters from Spaziano, this and other character sketches come into question. While Spaziano's story deserves careful attention, Mello's biased presentation wastes the opportunity to change minds about the death penalty.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

A sharp criticism of the capital punishment system. -- St. Petersburg Times

Mello’s book is most significant for its detailed account of how difficult it was to get the death sentence overturned. -- Washington Post Book World

The Wrong Man is an important work on a critical subject. Mello exposes a system rotten to the core. -- Jack Lemmon

The story told in The Wrong Man is a most effective weapon to help conquer the disease of capital punishment. -- Edward Asner

Works not just as compelling social commentary, but also as high drama. Riveting. -- Trial Magazine

Product Details

• Hardcover: 616 pages
• Publisher: Univ Of Minnesota Press; 1 edition (April 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0816637830
• ISBN-13: 978-0816637836
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 1.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,493,074 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars What's all the fuss about?, December 21, 2004

By 

FreeBird (At Home Anywhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row (Hardcover)

I agree with half of the other reviews: the author is ego-centric and self-righteous in his bent and erroneous position. The zealousness at which he seems to embrace Joseph Spaziano's innocense is nothing less than mind boggling. Therefore one must question whether his agenda is to prove this person, Joe "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, as an innocent victim or is it more accurate to conclude that the author is fervent in his quest only to prove himself correct.

If you have a heart towards assisting the truly innocent and often overlook victims, your valuable time would be greater served elsewhere. Find some worthwhile publications that can help you minister to the truly needy instead of spending money to promote such outlandish writings.

6 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Michael Mello has " I " trouble and I want a refund!!!!!!, July 20, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row (Hardcover)

The story of Joe Spaziano sounds like an interesting read. Outlaw biker convited of two heinous crimes and there's doubt about the crime for which he is sentenced to death. What SHOULD be a gripping account of the twists and turns of Capital Murder disintergrates into a lovefest--Michael Mello' Self Love and Admiration Society. The book is over 500 pages. If the word "I" were removed, the book would be about 25 pages. This reader wanted to know more about the facts; for instance what was the reason his FAMILY testified against him, why was he a suspect in an out-of state crime. The book is woefully short on facts on the case, and written in a breathless,"Aren't I wonderful and isn't Joe the second most fabulous human being on the earth (next to me, of course" style. Long on pages, short on facts about the crime. No wonders lawyers get no respect.

5 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Sad, sad, sad....and Wrong, wrong, wrong !!!, April 1, 2004

By 

Truth~n~Honesty (FLORIDA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row (Hardcover)

This book is coming from a positon of proving capital punishment unjust because *innocent* people are wrongly punished. BUT...what if Spaziano is GUILTY ??? Does that then make the authors argument null and void ?

Interestingly enough, I oppose the Death Penalty because of my strong scriptually based spiritual beliefs. But I DO agree with punishment for crimes committed....and Joe Spaziano is as guilty as they come. I met him personally and just prior to his murder of an innocent young girl, when he was still self proclaiming himself as *Crazy Joe*...and justifiably so.

Where are the droves of testimony from the woman, one of my closest friends at the time of the murder, who innocently went for a ride with her then boyfriend Spaziano and his cohort,DiLisio, while never realizing that they were heading for the Florida Seminole County dump to discard of Spaziano's lifeless victim's body ??? Where are the droves of documented commentary from questioning this key eye witness about when parked at the dump that night, Joe Spaziano told his then girlfriend that if she dared to turn around and look at what they were doing...that he would KILL her ??? But she DID turn around...and she knew what she saw...and she went into Wintness Protection in order for the TRUTH to be told...and voluntarily became yet another innocent victim, but this one sentenced to a life of hiding and fear because of threats for retribution from the unjailed *Outlaw* motorcycle gang which *Crazy Joe* Spaziano belonged to.

Details, details, details of Joe Spaziano's guilt are so undeniably missing that it is no wonder *READERS* would easily be led down the path of thinking this heinous killer is innocent rather than guilty for what he indeed did do !!!

Using THIS CASE to make the authors cry for unjustice against *the innocent* concerning capital punishment is...TOTALLY ABSURB and even HARMFUL.

The author appears to have written this book from one other perspective...that of making a lot of money from the sales of his book. The key eye witness, Joe Spaziano's then girlfriend, testified for only ONE reason...so that the truth would be known and justice would be fulfilled. She never wrote a book about her story with this crazy man...one that has many, many, many more filthy and demeaning details of the unspeakable acts Spaziano and other Outlaw bikers did to their rival motorcycle gangs as well as other innocent people or even their very own members if that member did not comply to their *rules*.

Think about it...surely you, the reader of this book, must conclude that you're being fleeced.