Walter was on the death row for the killing of a young woman in Alabama. Walter had an affair with a white woman, and that seemed to be the same cause of why he was accused. Walter had numerous eye-witnesses who were with him at a church fund-raiser at his home when the murder took place. The Jury was nearly all white and implemented his life sentence, but the judge fought to make it the death penalty.
Walter had reached out to many lawyers, and the only one to take on the uphill battle was Bryan Stevenson. Bryan brought comfort to his family and worked through the long process of trying to free him. Bryan worked and proved that the State's witness had lied on the stand. Walter was locked up on death row before he was tried, but after 6 years and countless hours of work recounted by Bryan Stevenson, Walter was a free man.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/1993/03/03/us/alabama-releases-man-held-on-death-row-for-six-years.html
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ReplyDeleteWhile Walter is eventually released from death row, the 6 years he spent there illustrated how painstaking and difficult it was to attain justice for black people in the South during the late 1980's. The racism that persisted long past the Civil Rights movement continued to keep black people unnecessarily locked up and under the control of others. Although Walter eventually became free, the chapters in the book that detailed other people's stories and trials showed that many people did not attain justice. I believe Stevenson alternated every chapter between Walter's story and other stories to contrast the different messages seen throughout the book.
ReplyDeleteI also read this book last year, and it was so inspiring to see the lengths some people will go to in order to help others. Despite the whole town and his friends and colleagues, Stevenson persevered and did everything he possibly could to help Walter. In my opinion, I think that good lawyers are ones who will go the distance, no matter the obstacles they face. Anyone can be a lawyer, but many people would give up after one attempt of trying to help Walter.
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