Confessions of a innocent man: David R. Dow

Confessions of an Innocent Man

Can someone face death and not endure the pain? Can someone tell his story so that you, the reader will understand what this man endured for so many years? What happens when an innocent man is accused of murdering his wife even though he was with another woman at the time she was killed? Hear to first hand narrative of Rafael Zhettah as he relates his story to you the reader first hand. He is not one that warrants riches or extravagance. He loves to cook and owns his own restaurant and likes his solidarity at times. But fate plays a hand in his destiny when a beautiful billionaire enters his life and things take a deadly turn.

How do you survive when you know that you are innocent and yet no one believes you? What about those that sentenced him as you enter the prison walls, get to know the cellmates and those that Rafael feels are what you might call his new family. Written in the form of a novel-memoir recounting his time on death row you get to know his innermost thoughts, frustrations and the abuse taken and given to the prisoners by the guards, their cavalier attitudes and the lawyers that did not properly defend him in the beginning. When you read about his time in jail and then the revelations found by a wife whose husband was the detective on the case, evidence is found, is new lawyers jump on it and then things take on a different turn as hope is in the air, and strategies are planned and at the last minute he is given a stay of execution but how long before the DNA results would show that someone already serving time for murder without a chance of parole killed his wife. When questioning him the murder was supposed to be a simple robbery and Tieresse got in the way. When things finally fall into place and he is going to be freed instead of living his life on the outside he plans to take away the freedom of those that placed him on the inside as two judges would learn just how it feels to be locked away for the length of time that he had served. A well-developed plan and making sure that he befriended people where he decided to live, frequented a diner and showed pictures of places he traveled over weekends, he developed a routine. Then a plan of revenge was hatched as two judges would pay dearly as he bought a missile silo, two planes, a parachute, learned how to hack computers, and then you hear and see the victims that he takes and the end result will shock readers as you learn from the chilling prologue where you hear his voice as the victims or cellmates celebrate their first anniversary of incarceration. How do you define justice when a serious miscarriage has been carried out? Author David R, Dow is a death penalty lawyer against the death penalty and the research and authenticity of the novel is apparent as you understand the anger and hate within this man but you wonder why he does not appreciate his freedom.

As the plan comes into place and the two judges are inside the silo which would be their prison for the same length of time that he was incarcerated, you begin to see another side of Rafael that is more compassionate and more humane than what he received from the guards and the judges during his trial. The documents that he shows, the intricate plan so well devised by the author and each detail done to perfection you realize that sometimes a person’s mind snaps and he justified his actions. Yet, asking about their lives, claiming to contact Sarah Moss’s husband, and Judge Stream’s son, did he really and why so interest in their lives. Yet, food was plentiful, their sessions enlightening as he brings to light what they refused to acknowledge the reasons for his actions. You can tell they did not show any remorse and yet the ending just might justify the means as the author throws in a curve ball and a twist that take the main character by surprise but what will the conclusion and confession yield? Will the police realize what he had done? His friendship with Sargent who called him Inocente kept him centered and on point. The people at the diners, the travelers he met and even his wife’s son became part of his life or the fantasy he created for himself to justify his actions. Getting to know Stream and Moss you the reader will have to decide if they got what they truly deserved. You the reader when you read the ending that is both tragic and yet in a sense does justify the means, whether Rafael got what he deserved in the end and did the judges ever repent and realize how they destroyed more than his life? Told in narrative form by author David R. Dow, the Founder and director of the Texas Innocence Network and the Juvenile and Advocacy Project, he and his team have represented well over 100 death row inmates during their state and federal appeals making this novel well researched, well documented and giving every reader pause for much thought about the necessity and the need for the death penalty and that jurists need to be more vigilant before casting that final vote for death. A character that is strong, well defined, well developed and yet emotionally charged and at times the reader is quite empathetic and realizes that he was wrongly accused as were so many that the author presents in this novel. Added in you get to know more about the judges, their lives and you begin to see Moss change in some respects and Stream harden in others. Yet, Rafael takes an interest in both allowing the reader to get to know both judges and decide if you agree with what he did. The ending is a surprise and the author allows readers to come to their own conclusions about the fate of the prisoners. Powerful, explosive, great for discussion groups and debates as the author poses many moral and ethical issues within this novel as to whether you the reader are an advocate of the death penalty, or not and whether judges and juries need to be more educated in the ramifications of their final decisions and really hear the evidence and understand that a life is in their hands.

What happens what no one really wants to hear and really listens to THE CONFESSIONS OF AN INNOCENT MAN?
Fran Lewis: Just reviews