In her new book, The Death of Innocents: An Eyewitness Account of Wrongful Executions, Sister Helen Prejean uses her personal experiences as a counselor to those on death row to explore the issue of innocence and the likelihood of executing a wrongly convicted person. The book also traces the historical and legal underpinnings of the death penalty in the U.S. Prejean, who authored the #1 New York Times bestseller “Dead Man Walking,” begins her new book by focusing on the cases of Joseph Roger O’Dell and Dobie Gillis Williams, both of whom she believes received unfair trials and probably were innocent. O’Dell was executed in Virginia in 1997 and Gillis was executed in Louisiana in 1999. Prejean was closely involved with each of their cases and accompanied both men to the death chamber. Their cases sparked “The Death of Innocents” and Prejean’s closer look at wrongful convictions, inadequate defense, the capital appeals process, race, poverty, and the politics of capital punishment.
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