PUBLIC JUSTICE, PRIVATE MERCY. A Governor's Education on Death Row

Hardback. "During the 8yrs. I spent in the governor's mansion in Sacramento, there were 36 Thursday nights I'll never forget - the nights before an execution was scheduled at San Quentin." As the governor of the state of California, Pat Brown's responsibilities included the life or death decision for those convicts seeking clemency from their death sentence. During Brown's tenure, he commuted 23 individuals, more than any governor before or since, but also let 36 others go to the gas chamber. These are the stories of those cases, including that of the rapist Caryl Chessman, Erwin "Machine Gun" Walker, the World War II hero who became a cop killer, and Elizabeth "Ma" Duncan, who was the only woman to die in the gas chamber during Brown's term. Governor Pat Brown entered office believing the death penalty was a necessary evil and left office believing it was wrong. With Index. 171pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in sunned vg+ dw.