The murder of Penny Deans -- The birth of an abolitionist -- Marie and the men of the South Carolina death row -- Transitions -- The Virginia coalition for jails and prisons -- Inside the vortex of evil -- Marie and Russ -- Standing watch in the death house -- Marie and Joe -- The fight to save Joe Giarratano -- Roger, Earl, and the death of the coalition -- The final years.
Summary:
"There have been many heroes and victims in the battle to abolish the death penalty, and Marie Deans fits into both of those categories. A South Carolina native who yearned to be a fiction writer, Marie was thrust by a combination of circumstances, including the murder of her beloved mother-in-law, into a world much stranger than fiction, a world in which minorities and the poor were selected to be sacrificed to what Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun called the "machinery of death." Marie found herself fighting to bring justice to the legal process and to bring humanity not only to prisoners on death row but to the guards and wardens as well. During Marie's time as a death penalty opponent in South Carolina and Virginia, she experienced the highs of helping exonerate the innocent and the lows of standing death watch in the death house with thirty-four condemned men. "-- Provided by publisher. "The story of death penalty opponent Marie Deans"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.