Victims of Justice Revisited, a new book by Thomas Frisbie and Randy Garrett, details the innocence case of Rolando Cruz, an Illinois man who was wrongly convicted and sent to death row for the 1983 murder of 10-year-old Jeanine Nicarico. The book tells the story of Cruz and his two co-defendants, Alejandro Hernandez and Stephen Buckley, from the day of the crime to the groundbreaking trial of seven law enforcement officers accused of conspiring to deny Cruz a fair trial. Cruz’s case was one of several innocence cases that led then-Governor George Ryan to declare a moratorium on executions in Illinois. In this book, the authors use Cruz’s case to provide readers with a detailed study of the death penalty in the United States. Author Scott Turow notes, “This is the first comprehensive account of the most extraordinary criminal case I know - the infamous Nicarico murder -and the 12-year crusade for justice which it inspired. The two men who were on the scene the longest, and who probably know more about this case than anyone else, have written a gripping, provocative, often moving account of how great evil -and good-came to take place.” (Northwestern University Press, May 2005). See Innocence and Books.
