To: E who wrote (3565 ) 3/19/2002 11:48:59 PM From: J. C. Dithers Read Replies (2) | Respond to An innocent man executed for murder?May God Have Mercy by John C. Tucker. The author was involved in the case (I forget just how) and very clearly was of the firm belief that an innocent man had been executed. Reading this book at the time, I was amazed at how non-objective the author was in this non-fiction tale. When talking about the police and the prosecution, every conflicting statement, or incident of forgetfulness, no matter how minor and trivial, was characterized in purple prose as dramatic evidence of misconduct and vendetta. When talking about Coleman, every lapse of memory (such as an important confrontation on the night of the murder that no one would forget), or inconsistent statement, or missing times in his alibi, or obvious lies, were dismissed as the most natural result of nervousness. Despite the author's continually haranguing the reader that this was an innocent man, I ended up believing that, yes, this guy was guilty. I passed the book on to my attorney-daughter, who came to the same conclusion. And this, despite that the author's telling of the crime and the evidence was shamelessly distorted to favor the accused.
