---
title: 'NEW RESOURCE: An Expendable Man'
description: 'A new book by Margaret Edds, an award-winning editorial writer with the Virginian-Pilot, explores the wrongful conviction of former Virginia death row…'
canonical: 'https://deathpenaltyinfo.org/new-resource-an-expendable-man'
section: news
date: '2003-10-22T18:02:03-04:00'
updated: '2025-03-14T14:22:16-04:00'
source: 'Death Penalty Information Center'
---

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](/getcat.php?cid=5).