Bloodsworth: The True Story of the First Death Row
Inmate Exonerated by DNA Evidence, by
Tim Junkin (Workman Publishing, 2004, 294 pages, $16.95 paperback), the “One Maryland One Book” for 2018 and the Howard County Book Connection (Maryland) selection for 2019-20!
(Yes, this is a spoiler but since the
story was splashed across all the front pages almost-always and forever
beginning in 1984 Baltimore, you probably already know the details and the ending.)
You fall in love quickly and
marry her, move to Baltimore from the Eastern Shore, but she turns out to be a
junkie. You still love her so you try - but it doesn’t work out so you leave
for home, Cambridge, Maryland, and almost immediately, the police show up to arrest
you for a rape and murder of a young girl in the sultry summer of 1984
Baltimore.
A horrible crime (watch the
PBS episode here),
the entire city pressures its detectives to wrap it up in a hurry – and so you
are convicted, sentenced to be executed.
Mistaken Identity. . . .
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| Kirk Bloodsworth Today |
How can that be? You are
innocent but the city wants to solve the case fast, and you’ll do.
But how can you prove your
innocence against the sightings by two young boys and five adults – and was the
investigation done according to Hoyle? How eyes lie. . . .
How to Survive Prison. . . .
Incarceration in Baltimore
is no cake walk. Somehow, you survive and pass on helpful hints such as ‘never
borrow,’ and you work out lifting weights in the gym so you appear indestructible.
But, alone, the tears come:
ah, the injustice of it all.
An appeal, a second trial
which you also lose.
An Innocent Man. . . .
You write letters daily for
several years, telling and re-telling judges and politicians that you are
innocent – signing them AIM, An Innocent Man. You finally find an attorney to
review the case from scratch and eventually evidence from the scene is discovered
that the FBI missed and now, in a long shot, undergoes DNA analysis.
Breathless months follow
until, nine years after the 1984 murder, the DNA is found to be not a match for you. Voila! And suddenly
you are a free man – free to speak out against the death penalty, free to work
for the Innocence Project, free to fall in love and finally make something of
yourself.
All thanks to the new
forensic tool of DNA fingerprinting which also identified the actual perpetrator. Eventually. After 20 years!
Was it just all a bad dream?
Local Story Becomes National News
The reader will come across
the names of Maryland governors that are familiar: judges and prosecutors and
defenders, not so well known. Places names, maybe.
How to Read Bloodsworth
First, set aside plenty of time (294
pages) in big chunks or be prepared to take the book with you wherever you go
(stash it in your purse or bookbag) to read when you have a minute waiting in
line or longer at the dentist’s office.
Bloodsworth is riveting. It is a book you can’t wait
to get back to, to find out what happened in your absence.
Secondly, know that you may get bogged
down in the legal proceedings that are detailed and seemingly repetitive (but only
seemingly).
And, never fear – the science behind DNA
fingerprinting* will not bog you down. As a matter of fact, it may be too
cursory.
On the other hand, Bloodsworth is immensely readable, not put-downable, and exciting
even if you know the ending in advance, as we all do who have read the words on
the front cover - even with the repetition of the investigation and two trials
(you can probably skip some of that part)
Why
Read Bloodsworth
Oh, and by the way, the preface is
written by Sir Alec Jeffries, long overdue for the Nobel Prize and cousin of a
resident of our town!
Bloodsworth has also been made into a documentary!
Bloodsworth has also been made into a documentary!
*If you are interested
in DNA fingerprinting, read the very readable
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