The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row - Hardcover

Mike Farrell grew up in eastern Los Angeles. After a stint in the Marine Corps, he embarked on a career as an actor, eventually securing roles as the affable and eminently moral B. J. Hunnicut in the popular television series M*A*S*H and later Providence, as well as working as a writer, director and producer.

Law professor Mello (The United States of America versus Theodore John Kaczynski) shows how even the most carefully administered system of capital punishment can result in the execution of innocent people. Mello's former client "Crazy Joe" Spaziano spent years on Florida's death row before his sentence was overturned after a prosecution witness recanted his testimony. Rather than risk a new death sentence in retrial, Spaziano pleaded no contest to a murder charge while maintaining his innocence. He remains in prison. While Spaziano has both supporters and detractors, ambiguity regarding his culpability is almost secondary to Mello's multifaceted indictment of capital punishment: "the legal machinery that exists for the purpose of executions diminishes all of us and warps our law." The author, who became involved during Spaziano's labyrinthine appeals process, deftly traces the unfurling of the various levels of appeal, with particular clarity given to defense counsel's tactical dilemmas. Spaziano represents a typical death row prisoner, and in that sense readers gain a good understanding of how a death penalty case unfolds. But while innocent people have undeniably been executed, Mello tends to gloss over opposing legal positions, undermining his argument. His thin explanation of procedural default, for instance, could mislead lay readers into thinking that innocent men are killed because of technicalities. Moreover, he romanticizes Spaziano. Paired with childlike letters from Spaziano, this and other character sketches come into question. While Spaziano's story deserves careful attention, Mello's biased presentation wastes the opportunity to change minds about the death penalty.

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