Death and justice : an exposé of Oklahoma's death row machine / Mark Fuhrman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fuhrman, Mark.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Criminal justice, Administration of--Oklahoma.

Criminal justice, Administration of.

Capital punishment--Oklahoma.

Capital punishment.

Prosecution--Oklahoma.

Prosecution.

Evidence, Criminal--Oklahoma.

Evidence, Criminal.

Oklahoma.

Physical Description:

xii, 276 pages ; 24 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

New York : Morrow, [2003]

Summary:

Controversy rages about capital punishment as innocent men and women are being released from death rows all over the country. Into the debate steps Mark Fuhrman, America's most famous detective, and no stranger to controversy himself.

Are innocent people being executed? Are death penalty cases being investigated and tried as if someone's life depended on it? Is capital punishment justice or revenge?

Fuhrman seeks to answer these questions by investigating the death penalty in Oklahoma, a place where a "hang 'em high" attitude of cowboy justice resulted in twenty-one executions in 2001, more than in any other state in the nation. The majority of these death penalty cases came from one jurisdiction, Oklahoma County, where legendary district attorney Bob Macy bragged about sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor, and police chemist Joyce Gilchrist was eventually fired for mismanaging the crime lab. These two figures loom large in Fuhrman's investigation.

Examining police records, trial transcripts, and appellate decisions, and conducting hundreds of interviews, Fuhrman focuses his considerable investigative skills on more than a dozen of the most controversial Oklahoma death penalty cases, including two in which innocent men nearly lost their lives.

When he began Death and Justice, Mark Fuhrman was a firm believer in the death penalty. What he saw in Oklahoma changed his mind. It may change yours.

Contents:

Introduction: Welcome to Death Row 1

1 Frontier Justice 17

2 The Guest House Murders 35

3 Lingering Doubt 54

4 Catfight in the Crime Lab 70

5 Reversed Conviction 89

6 Blindsided by Science 106

7 DNA Doesn't Lie 123

8 A Robbery Gone Wrong 137

9 Helpless Victims 156

10 The Wrong Man 175

11 Over a Barrel 191

12 The Factory Breaks Down 211

13 The Impact of Violence 231

Epilogue: "Heinous, Atrocious and Cruel" 244

Appendix Macy's Death Penalty Cases 253.

Notes:

Includes index.

ISBN:

0060009179

OCLC:

50958896