Shortlisted for the 2013 Orwell Prize.THE STORY CONTINUES: TWO NEW CHAPTERS FOR THE PAPERBACK EDITIONIn 1986, Kris Maharaj, a British businessman living in Miami, was arrested for the brutal murder of two ex-business associates. His lawyer did not present a strong alibi; Kris was found guilty and sentenced to death in the electric chair. It wasn't until a young lawyer working for nothing, Clive Stafford Smith, took on his case that strong evidence began to emerge that the state of Florida had got the wrong man on Death Row. So far, so good - except that, as Stafford Smith argues here so compellingly, the American justice system is actually designed to ignore innocence. Twenty-six years later, Maharaj is still in jail. Step by step, Stafford Smith untangles the Maharaj case and the system that makes disasters like this inevitable. His conclusions will act as a wake-up call for those who condone legislation which threatens basic human rights and, at the same time, the personal story he tells demonstrates that determination can challenge the institutions that surreptitiously threaten our freedom.
SHORTLISTED FOR THE 2013 ORWELL PRIZE
THE STORY CONTINUES: TWO NEW CHAPTERS FOR THE PAPERBACK EDITION
Two businessmen are killed in a hail of gunfire in a Miami hotel room. A man is charged. He had weapon, the motive, the opportunity. There is an eyewitness. A jury finds the man guilty and a judge sentences him to death.
Case closed.
Except the eyewitness lied. The judge offered a bribe. The defence lawyer was threatened. The jury was misled. The condemned man didn't pull the trigger. He wasn't even in the hotel room. He is innocent.
It doesn't matter.
In the state of Florida, justice has been served.
