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.

(L. St John, ​“The Corruption of Innocence: A Journey to Justice,” Creative Production Service, forth­com­ing September 2013; DPIC post­ed, August 20, 2013). See Innocence. Read more Books on the death penalty.

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