A new book by Margaret Edds, an award-winning editorial writer with the Virginian-Pilot, explores the wrongful conviction of former Virginia death row inmate Earl Washington. “An Expendable Man: The Near-Execution of Earl Washington, Jr.” provides detailed analysis of the state’s prosecution of Washington, a mentally retarded man who spent almost 18 years in prison — nearly 10 of those on death row — for a murder he did not commit. The book reveals the relative ease with which individuals who live at society’s margins can be wrongfully convicted and the extraordinary difficulty of correcting such a wrong once it occurs. (New York University Press, 2003) See Resources.
Citation Guide
- Death Penalty Information Center (2025, March 14). NEW RESOURCE: An Expendable Man. Retrieved October 4, 2026, from https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-resource-an-expendable-man
- Death Penalty Information Center. “NEW RESOURCE: An Expendable Man.” Last modified March 14, 2025. Accessed October 4, 2026. https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-resource-an-expendable-man.
- Death Penalty Information Center. “NEW RESOURCE: An Expendable Man.” Death Penalty Information Center, 14 Mar. 2025, https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-resource-an-expendable-man. Accessed 4 Oct. 2026.