Finished Fr 9/16/11
CONVICTION examines the legal nightmare of the California appeals procedure. In 1987 two brothers were convicted of the brutal rape and murder of a nine year old girl. Their lawyer was cross-addicted to booze and cocaine, but he did offer a defense which was legally adequate. although it was really just good enough to get them executed. Fifteen years later, one brother is executed, and now there is a slim chance that the appeals process can save the other brother.
The brother who remains on death row suffers a significant degree of retardation, and this was not properly addresed in the original trial. To the court, he was perceived as an unrepentant, angry black male, and the state of California will not execute anyone with an IQ under 70, and Renell scored a 72, so he was good to go.
The important fact to remember is that the appeals process only seeks to determine if the defendants were treated fairly in the original trial. The question of 'guilt or innocence' is not an issue for the appeals court, and in this particular case, the fact that one of the defendants had such a low IQ implied that he had not been treated fairly. This is the basis for his right to an appeal, even though new evidence points to the fact that he was not even involved, this is largely irrelevant.
I read three quarters of the novel, and then skimmed to the end, because I got bogged down by the endless minutia of the appeals process. You will learn a lot, but I don't even think many lawyers fully understand this procedure.
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