A new book by Lori St John, The Corruption of Innocence: A Journey to Justice, recounts the author’s quest to save the life of Joseph O’Dell because of her strong belief in his innocence. St John describes the resistance she experienced in trying to have crime-related items tested for DNA evidence, and the international support that O’Dell attracted while on death row. O’Dell was executed in Virginia in 1997. Among those who had expressed doubts about O’Dell’s guilt were three Justices of the Supreme Court. Sister Helen Prejean, author of Dead Man Walking, who attended O’Dell’s execution, praised the book, “This amazing story of a woman’s valiant attempts to save an innocent man from execution might seem like a hyped-up, overwrought suspense novel. But everything told in these pages actually happened. Fasten your seat belt. It’s going to take you for quite a ride.”
Lori St John is an attorney and the founder of the Innocence Project at Rutgers Law School in New Jersey.
