Monday, November 20, 2006

LAWYER’S BOOKSHELF: Back From the Dead: One Woman’s Search for the Men Who Walked Off America’s Death Row

Reviewed by Eleanor J. Bader

By Joan M. Cheever, John Wiley and Sons Inc., New York, N.Y. 308 pages,
$24.95

Most of us believe in second chances, a way to rectify errors and try again. But for people on Death Row, the door is usually tightly shut, as if it is too late for anything but the executioner’s call.

That call came for Walter Williams, a 32-year-old African-American convicted of murdering a young, white convenience store clerk, in 1994. After Williams’ execution, his lawyer, writer and editor Joan M. Cheever, was haunted by several things. What, she wondered, might Williams have done had his life been spared, with a second chance to do things differently?

Her thoughts harkened back to 1972 when the Supreme Court decided Furman v. Georgia, the case that temporarily abolished the death penalty. Although the penalty was reinstated in 1976 -- 38 states currently impose it although five have not executed anyone in more than 30 years -- Cheever wanted to know what happened to the 587 men and two women whose lives were saved by the decision.

The result of Cheever’s six-year inquiry, Back From the Dead, is a riveting, if emotionally unsettling, book. ‘This group of 589 former Death Row inmates, many of whom are living and working in communities across the United States, represents the largest unexamined social experiment in U.S. criminal justice history,’ she writes. ‘They have the answer to one of the most troubling and controversial questions in the debate on the death penalty: Can convicted killers be rehabilitated? Will they kill again?’

What’s more, can we know the material and psychological conditions that presage a successful outcome?

Cheever interviewed more than 125 former Death Row prisoners -- most now in their mid-60s -- who were given their lives back by Furman. Seven were eventually exonerated but, she writes, the remaining 582 are likely guilty of the crimes for which they were convicted. Some, including both women and 162 of the men, have never been released; more than 100 of the original 589 are dead. Of the remainder, 34 percent -- 107 -- have returned to prison, 75 for nonviolent offenses or parole violations and 32 for crimes ranging from robbery to involuntary manslaughter to murder.

Individual stories are central to ‘Back From the Dead’ and make for powerfully compelling reading. Take Chuck Culhane, a now 55-year-old published poet, college professor, and handyman. Culhane teaches a course, ‘Criminal Justice in America,’ at an upstate New York college and is upfront about his 26 years in Sing Sing, three of them on Death Row. His pedagogical plan is transparent: He hopes to convince his students that the death penalty is government-sponsored killing.

Although the message resounds, Culhane’s life remains difficult. ‘Like almost every former Death Row inmate I’ve interviewed, Chuck is struggling financially,’ Cheever writes. ‘It isn’t easy getting a job when you are a parolee.’ On top of this, systemic inanities make his life harder than it should be. For example, when Culhane was paroled in 1992, his parole officer barred him from driving. Without a vehicle, he has trouble getting to work because his town lacks reliable mass transit. Still, Cheever reports, he does what he has to, taking the bus or walking the five miles from his home to campus.

Calvin Sellars is another success story. Incarcerated for 23 years and on Death Row for 10, Sellars used his time in lock-up to study. According to Cheever, Sellars spent 18 hours a day reading law books, and eventually earned a reputation as an ace jailhouse lawyer. Once released, he found work as a private investigator/paralegal and from 1978-1986 assisted a prominent Houston lawyer. Then, abruptly, his life began to unravel. His brother died and Sellars fell off the sobriety wagon. Within short order, he landed in jail on aggravated assault charges. During this imprisonment, Sellars read the Bible and, shortly thereafter, became born again. He returned to Houston after he got out, married, and now runs a thriving business, earning between $75 and $125 an hour. He is also a committed, proselytizing, Christian.

Freddie Pitts and Wilbert Lee -- unlike the other men Cheever zeroes in on -- spent 12 years on Death Row before being exonerated. Each received $500,000 from the state for his wrongful imprisonment. Although they are both currently employed -- Pitts as a trucker and Lee as a corrections counselor -- they spend considerable time lecturing against the death penalty.

Like them, Cheever’s advocacy agenda is clear; she wants to convince readers that the death penalty is wrong. On the other hand, she does not shy away from hard questions about either retribution or personal responsibility. Indeed, Cheever takes the reader full circle, bringing us face-to-face with the parents of Daniel Liepold, the man killed by her client, Walter Williams. The result is an impassioned, heartfelt, and moving look at what it means to grieve and ultimately forgive.

Cheever also clearly articulates the things that predict an ex-offender’s success: faith in oneself, strong friendships, familial support, and enough education to make earning an honest living possible.

‘Back From the Dead focuses on what Cheever calls ‘the class of 1972,’ but she reminds us that many others have not been given a second chance. In fact, since 1976, 1,047 people have been executed. This year, 43 people will die at the hands of the state, 22 of them in Texas.

Their stories are dramatic, and Cheever’s confessional tone -- she openly addresses her fears about conducting in-person interviews with men once deemed a danger to society -- makes ‘Back From the Dead’ an incredibly honest chronicle. Well-written and lively, it should be essential reading for everyone interested in crime and punishment.

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Eleanor J. Bader is a teacher, activist and freelance writer who contributes to The Brooklyn Rail, Lilith, Library Journal, The Public Eye and Z Magazine.