An Expendable Man

The Near-Execution of Earl Washington, Jr.

Nonfiction, Reference & Language, Law, Civil Law, Social & Cultural Studies, Social Science, Crimes & Criminals, Criminology
Cover of the book An Expendable Man by Margaret Edds, NYU Press
View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart
Author: Margaret Edds ISBN: 9780814722442
Publisher: NYU Press Publication: August 1, 2003
Imprint: NYU Press Language: English
Author: Margaret Edds
ISBN: 9780814722442
Publisher: NYU Press
Publication: August 1, 2003
Imprint: NYU Press
Language: English

How is it possible for an innocent man to come within nine days of execution? An Expendable Man answers that question through detailed analysis of the case of Earl Washington Jr., a mentally retarded, black farm hand who was convicted of the 1983 rape and murder of a 19-year-old mother of three in Culpeper, Virginia. He spent almost 18 years in Virginia prisons—9 1/2 of them on death row—for a murder he did not commit.
This 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.
Washington was eventually freed in February 2001 not because of the legal and judicial systems, but in spite of them. While DNA testing was central to his eventual pardon, such tests would never have occurred without an unusually talented and committed legal team and without a series of incidents that are best described as pure luck.
Margaret Edds makes the chilling argument that some other “expendable men” almost certainly have been less fortunate than Washington. This, she writes, is “the secret, shameful underbelly” of America's retention of capital punishment. Such wrongful executions may not happen often, but anyone who doubts that innocent people have been executed in the United States should remember the remarkable series of events necessary to save Earl Washington Jr. from such a fate.

View on Amazon View on AbeBooks View on Kobo View on B.Depository View on eBay View on Walmart

How is it possible for an innocent man to come within nine days of execution? An Expendable Man answers that question through detailed analysis of the case of Earl Washington Jr., a mentally retarded, black farm hand who was convicted of the 1983 rape and murder of a 19-year-old mother of three in Culpeper, Virginia. He spent almost 18 years in Virginia prisons—9 1/2 of them on death row—for a murder he did not commit.
This 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.
Washington was eventually freed in February 2001 not because of the legal and judicial systems, but in spite of them. While DNA testing was central to his eventual pardon, such tests would never have occurred without an unusually talented and committed legal team and without a series of incidents that are best described as pure luck.
Margaret Edds makes the chilling argument that some other “expendable men” almost certainly have been less fortunate than Washington. This, she writes, is “the secret, shameful underbelly” of America's retention of capital punishment. Such wrongful executions may not happen often, but anyone who doubts that innocent people have been executed in the United States should remember the remarkable series of events necessary to save Earl Washington Jr. from such a fate.

More books from NYU Press

Cover of the book The Study of Children in Religions by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Let Them Eat Prozac by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Medicating Modern America by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book A Race So Different by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Another Country by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Weathering Change by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Of Little Comfort by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book The Art of Confession by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book The Next Generation by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book The Constitution Goes to College by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Clean and White by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Black and Multiracial Politics in America by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Black and Brown by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Leg over Leg by Margaret Edds
Cover of the book Children of Alcoholism by Margaret Edds
We use our own "cookies" and third party cookies to improve services and to see statistical information. By using this website, you agree to our Privacy Policy