---
title: 'BOOKS: "The Corruption of Innocence" - the Joseph O''Dell Story'
description: '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…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/books-the-corruption-of-innocence-the-joseph-o-dell-story'
section: news
date: '2013-08-20T16:44:16-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:35:51-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

! 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**](https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/policy-issues/policy/innocence/executed-but-possibly-innocent#joseph) 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.

(L. St John, "[The Corruption of Innocence: A Journey to Justice](https://www.amazon.com/Corruption-Innocence-Journey-Justice/dp/0989040127/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1377011141&sr=1-1&keywords=Lori+St.+John)," Creative Production Service, forthcoming September 2013; DPIC posted, August 20, 2013). See **[Innocence](/innocence-and-death-penalty?did=412&scid=6)**. Read more [**Books**](/books-death-penalty?did=130&scid=20) on the death penalty.