Violation: Justice, Race and Serial Murder in the Deep South - Hardcover

Rose, David

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0007118104 ISBN 13: 9780007118106

Publisher: HarperPress, 2007

Synopsis

A gripping exposé of an appalling miscarriage of justice that unpicks a city's bloodstained history of racism.

Over eight terrifying months in the 1970s, seven elderly women were raped and murdered in Columbus, Georgia, a city of 200,000 people whose history and conservative values are typical of America's Deep South. The victims, who were strangled in their beds with their own stockings, were affluent and white, while the police believed from an early stage that the killer was black. In 1986, eight years after the last murder, an African-American, Carlton Gary, was convicted and sentenced to death. Though many in Columbus doubt his guilt, he is still on death row.

Award-winning reporter David Rose has followed this case for almost a decade, while Gary and his lawyers have fought his legal appeals. He has uncovered important fresh evidence that was hidden from Gary's trial and that suggests that he is innocent, including a cast of the killer's teeth, made from a savage bite wound in the last victim's breast. However, as Rose's investigation proceeded, he came to realise that the dark saga of the Columbus stocking stranglings only makes sense against the background of the city's bloodstained history of racism, lynching and unsolved, politically motivated murder. For example, Rose discovered that a black teenager was brutally lynched in 1912 after he was tried and acquitted of murdering a white boy who had died in an accident. The judge to whom the Gary case was first assigned in 1984 was the son of the man who led that lynch mob; later, in 2002, his great-nephew took charge of Gary's appeal.

Violation is a tense and gripping drama, its pages filled with evocatively drawn characters, insidious institutions and the extraordinary connections that bind the past and present. A unique mélange of investigative journalism, true crime mystery, personal travelogue and historical scoop, the book is also a compelling, accessible and timely exploration of America's approach to race and criminal justice, addressing the corruption of legal due process as a tool of racial oppression.

About this title

Review:

‘Rose writes eloquently...expertly unpicks the prosecution's line...stunning...this is a dazzlingly reported, supremely elegant book of scholarly confidence.’ The Observer

‘Rose has fashioned a persuasive narrative of the iniquities of the American criminal justice system as well as a vivid account of the social and racial backdrop to the legal saga.’ The Times

‘A gripping and brilliant piece of reporting that both lays bare an appalling miscarriage of justice and exposes its origins in the tortured history of the South. I could not put it down.’ Sister Helen Prejean, author of ‘Dead Man Walking’

‘Excellent...Columbus has an intricate history of racism that Rose weaves expertly throughout his narrative...Rose could have opted merely to observe injustice but in undertaking this investigation, he may succeed in saving the life of an innocent man.’ Daily Mail

‘David Rose, one of the few serious investigative journalists left, makes a potent case that the past and the present are inextricable in Georgia...this is a passionate, intelligent and articulate book.’ Daily Telegraph

‘While Rose never loses focus on Gary's case, he melds the story brilliantly with the bigger historical picture of Southern society...this book flows like a thriller and hits with righteous force of a great novel.’ The Spectator

‘A comprehensive and unsettling account of long-miscarried justice idling on the brink of tragedy.’ New Statesman

‘“Violation” is about as good a piece of investigative reporting as you're ever likely to get...It is also beautifully written...a fine and gripping murder investigation, but it is better still as a warning about the endlessly corrosive nature of racism.’ Sunday Times

‘Rose is a remarkable journalist, shrewd and hard-working...(he) brings fresh forensic evidence to bear on Gary's case that suggests that the wrong man may have been put on death row...At the end of this riveting book, readers are left to judge for themselves.’ The Guardian

From the Back Cover:

Over eight terrifying months in the 1970s, seven elderly women were raped and murdered in Columbus, Georgia, a city of 200,000 people whose history and conservative values are typical of America's Deep South. The victims, who were strangled in their beds with their own stockings, were affluent and white, while the police believed from an early stage that the killer was black. In 1986, eight years after the last murder, an African-American, Carlton Gary, was convicted and sentenced to death. Though many in Columbus doubt his guilt, he is still on death row.

Award-winning reporter David Rose has followed this case for almost a decade, while Gary and his lawyers have fought his legal appeals. He has uncovered important fresh evidence that was hidden from Gary's trial and that suggests that he is innocent, including a cast of the killer's teeth, made from a savage bite wound in the last victim's breast. However, as Rose's investigation proceeded, he came to realise that the dark saga of the Columbus stocking stranglings only makes sense against the background of the city's bloodstained history of racism, lynching and unsolved, politically motivated murder. For example, Rose discovered that a black teenager was brutally lynched in 1912 after he was tried and acquitted of murdering a white boy who had died in an accident. The judge to whom the Gary case was first assigned in 1984 was the son of the man who led that lynch mob; later, in 2002, his great-nephew took charge of Gary's appeal.

Violation is a tense and gripping drama, its pages filled with evocatively drawn characters, insidious institutions and the extraordinary connections that bind the past and present. A unique mélange of investigative journalism, true crime mystery, personal travelogue and historical scoop, the book is also a compelling, accessible and timely exploration of America's approach to race and criminal justice, addressing the corruption of legal due process as a tool of racial oppression.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperPress
• Publication date: 2007
• ISBN 10: 0007118104
• ISBN 13: 9780007118106
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 350