Illinois Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty

Author describes pressure on defender in capital cases

By Theresa Churchill

Herald & Review Senior Writer

May 11, 2007

DECATUR - Kevin Davis vividly described the tension in a Cook County courtroom, right down to the row of police officers who threatened to erupt if they did not hear the verdict they wanted. In this way he not only introduced his audience to his new book, "Defending the Damned," about the murder task force of the Cook County Public Defenders Office, but also to "a world many of us have never seen before."

"Public defenders are often dismissed as bleeding-heart liberals working in the shadows of the criminal justice system," Davis said during his talk Thursday evening in Decatur Public Library. "But they play a vital role in making sure the criminal justice system stays honest."

Davis admitted that he, like most journalists, tended to see things from law enforcement’s point of view during his early years as a crime reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. Then his experience writing "The Wrong Man," his first book in 1996 about a wrongful murder conviction, opened his eyes and inspired him to examine the criminal justice system more closely.

He said public defenders assigned to murder cases usually see their first duty as saving their client’s life and face enormous guilt if they fail.

"They find themselves sitting next to a human being other people are demonizing," Davis said. "Their every word could be a matter of life or death."

About 30 people attended the presentation, sponsored by Macon County Citizens Opposing Capital Punishment and the Millikin University Chapter of Amnesty International.

Among them was Colleen Cunningham, who founded the amnesty chapter as a freshman and after her graduation from Millikin later this month will start work in St. Louis as state coordinator for Missourians to Abolish the Death Penalty.

The lone chapter member at the event because of finals week, Cunningham said she found what Davis had to say interesting. "It was nice to hear about a different aspect of the criminal justice system," she said.

Sister JoAn Schullian, founder of the Macon County Citizens group, had to agree.

"I admire your determination to tell this story," she told Davis. "I think we’ve been enlightened in a new way."

Theresa Churchill can be reached at tchurchill@herald-review.com or 421-7978.