It's obvious that David Dow is one of those death-row attorneys who he classifies as caring too much. But, that kind of excess, while hard on his family, is exactly what the legal system and his clients need. In his 2010 book THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF AN EXECUTION, Dow captures the drama and heartbreak involved in the death penalty.
Most of the cases he describes in the book, his team at the Texas Defender Service loses. The most poignant, and unexpected, is that of a man he calls Henry Quaker. His estranged wife and two children had been murdered. Of course, he was the prime suspect. Poor, his legal representation was dismal. Even the guards in the prison are rooting for at least a stay of execution. It's not to be.
How Dow, who is also a professor at the Houston Law Center, manages to continue his work at the Texas Defender Service is one of those great unknowns - except to those dedicated to a craft. Writers like myself keep at despite all the rejection and the reality that we could be earning a lot of money doing something else. Call it compulsion, the kind that keeps us whole, although off-center.
My hunch is that part of Dow's agenda in publishing this book is to provide a sophisticated and emotionally riveting entreaty against the death penalty. As protesters outside the prison on an execution night contend, it makes no sense to kill a human being even if that person has killed.
For those contemplating criminal law, this is a must-read.
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