Executed on a Technicality

When David Dow took his first capital case, he supported the death penalty. He changed his position as the men on death row became real people to him, as he came to witness the profound injustices they endured: from coerced confessions to disconcertingly incompetent lawyers; from racist juries and backward judges to a highly arbitrary death penalty system. Dow"s eye-opening book is captivating because he allows the men, and their cases, to speak for themselves. For instance, one inmate"s lawyer literally slept through his trial; another inmate was executed because the jury never heard from…