BLOODSWORTH The True Story of the First Death Row Inmate Exonerated by DNA

Hardback. The story of unsurpassed courage and character, of relentless struggle, of abiding hope, and of a modern-day miracle. Charged in 1984 with the rape and murder of a 9yr old girl, Kirk Bloodsworth was tried, convicted and sentenced to die in Maryland's gas chamber. From the beginning, he proclaimed his innocence, but when he was granted a new trial because his prosecutors had improperly withheld evidence, the second trial also resulted in conviction. Bloodsworth did not give up. He wrote hundreds of letters from prison. He read everything he could find in the prison library about murder investigations. In 'The Blooding' by Joseph Wambaugh, he found what he needed to save himself - an account of the new DNA "fingerprinting" used to solve a case in England. Then he found a lawyer willing to fight for the innovative testing. After 9yrs in one of the harshest prisons in America, Kirk Bloodsworth was vindicated by DNA evidence. He was pardoned by the governor of Maryland and has gone on to become a tireless spokesman for criminal justice reform. The book exposes details of inevitable human error in a capital murder case and in a legal system gone awry. It tells how one man, through dogged tenacity, saved his own life and the lives of many others on death row. With 1 Illus., Author's Note + Bibliog. 294pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. F. in F. dw.