Book Review - Conviction
Richard North Patterson's latest book, Conviction, is an intense look at capital punishment. The protagonist, lawyer Terri Paget, takes on the death row case of Rennell Price. Price is a young black man who was convicted, along with his brother, of killing a 9 year old girl during a sexual assault.
As Paget reviews the evidence, she comes to believe that not only is Rennell innocent, he's also retarded and that fact kept him from ever receiving proper counsel or effectively defending himself.
The case goes to the Ninth Circuit (those liberal types in California) then on to the Supreme Court while Paget and her crew try desperately to get the evidence to prove Price's innocence.
Patterson gives a lot of insight into how the death penalty process in California and the Federal courts plays out. Regardless of your beliefs, this book will make you think long and hard about the death penalty.
On a personal note, I used to be in favor of the death penalty but now I'm not so sure. There are some truly heinous crimes and I have no compunction about ending the lives of the perpetrators when the evidence is overwhelmingly clear. But, there are too many cases where it's just not cut and dried and the possibility exists that the state could kill an innocent person. I think I now subscribe to the belief that it's better to keep them all alive on the state's dime than to kill even one innocent.
As Paget reviews the evidence, she comes to believe that not only is Rennell innocent, he's also retarded and that fact kept him from ever receiving proper counsel or effectively defending himself.
The case goes to the Ninth Circuit (those liberal types in California) then on to the Supreme Court while Paget and her crew try desperately to get the evidence to prove Price's innocence.
Patterson gives a lot of insight into how the death penalty process in California and the Federal courts plays out. Regardless of your beliefs, this book will make you think long and hard about the death penalty.
On a personal note, I used to be in favor of the death penalty but now I'm not so sure. There are some truly heinous crimes and I have no compunction about ending the lives of the perpetrators when the evidence is overwhelmingly clear. But, there are too many cases where it's just not cut and dried and the possibility exists that the state could kill an innocent person. I think I now subscribe to the belief that it's better to keep them all alive on the state's dime than to kill even one innocent.
