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The empty man
Is lots and lots of money all there is to George W. Bush? Molly Ivins says yes, Elizabeth Mitchell says no.
By Chris Lehmann
[03/01/00]

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"Scandalmonger" by William Safire
The pundit and language columnist crafts a potboiler of sleaze and slander in the republic's infancy.
By Katharine Whittemore
[03/01/00]

Bridget Jones at 80
Calorie counting and man chasing in the golden years.
By Lucinda Rosenfeld
[02/29/00]

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"Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason" by Helen Fielding
She's back, she's got her weight down, she's got Mark Darcy and she's in a Thai jail on drug charges.
By Maria Russo
[02/29/00]

Dear Mr. Blue
Strangers on a train
We met in Scotland and fell in love. He never told me he lived with his mother.
By Garrison Keillor
[02/29/00]

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Gripping stories of men imprisoned for many years and barely escaping execution for crimes they didn't commit raise doubt even among death penalty advocates. "Telling a story is worth a hundred studies," said Lawrence Marshall, a professor at the Northwestern University School of Law in Chicago and legal director of its Center on Wrongful Convictions. "What has driven public opinion is the amazing drama of some of these stories -- and the way they show the system did not work and that people were saved by complete fortuities."

Marshall has worked on some high-profile cases that led to freeing death row prisoners, often with Northwestern University journalism professor David Protess. In 1998, Protess, along with students from his class and a private investigator, uncovered evidence that freed Anthony Porter, who was condemned to death for a double murder. Marshall, who had much experience in evaluating death row cases, had concluded that Porter's only hope was showing that he was not mentally fit to be executed. "We looked and said, 'It seems there's a strong case [against Porter].'" Marshall said. "We were ready to dismiss the case out of hand."

Protess had decided not to take the case because Porter was scheduled to die before the professor's fall class started. But two days before he was supposed to be killed, Porter's attorneys won a stay of execution to consider their claim that Porter was not mentally fit to be executed. At that point, Protess and his pupils plunged into a frenzied investigation. Student Tom McCann, now 22 years old and an intern at the Chicago Tribune, had barely thought about the death penalty before he began investigating Porter's case. But he was intrigued with exposing prosecutorial mistakes.

McCann pored over the testimony several times and mapped out the murder scene, showing where each witness or participant would have stood. "That uncovered loads of mistakes," he recalled. "Witnesses saying they're in one place, then jumping to another location without explaining how they got there. Witnesses said Porter was shooting with his left hand, but Porter was right-handed. After a lifetime of watching 'Perry Mason' and 'Matlock,' [refuting the evidence] was easy."

Next page | Whether people are taken off death row shouldn't depend on students