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How did the wife of a prominent surgeon find herself at the death chamber battling the American justice system with the Pope and Mother Teresa in her corner?

Lori St John’s firebrand, fearless personality is behind this true story of a woman’s unwavering determination to expose the truth in a dangerous game of judicial power. In a volunteer position reviewing cases of wrongful conviction, Lori’s world is turned upside down when she is assigned the death row case of Joseph O’Dell. Joe is scheduled to die for the brutal rape and murder of a Virginia Beach secretary. But Lori’s investigation uncovers lies, the intimidation of witnesses and a trial by ambush in a system so corrupt she begins to fear for her own life. Her story of turmoil and dangerous choices brings her face-to-face with the jailhouse snitch and Joe’s alibi witness. She’s determined to find the real killer. Undeterred by the government, Lori brings the world to stand witness to the injustice she’s unearthed, and drives her mission to become a cause célèbre when she recruits the Italian and European Parliaments, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, who champion her cause to prevent an egregious miscarriage of justice.

A rare chance to see the criminal justice system behind closed doors and learn the untold backstory of a real murder conviction.

 

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“This amazing story of a woman’s valiant attempts to save an innocent man from execution
might seem like a hyped-up, overwrought suspense novel.  But everything told in these pages actually happened. Fasten your seat belt. It’s going to take you for quite a ride.”

— Sister Helen Prejean, csj, Author of Dead Man Walking

“I really can’t remember another story like this. I mean Joe O’Dell got a standing ovation in the Italian Parliament…the last time that happened was when we won the World Cup in 1982.”

—Vittorio Zucconi, la Repubblica, one of Italy's largest circulating newspapers.

“There can’t be many people left in Italy who have never heard of Joseph Roger O’Dell III, an inmate in Virginia’s death row who, but for an eleventh-hour stay of execution issued by the Supreme Court, would have been put to death…by lethal injection.”

— New York Times, World Section .

How did the wife of a prominent surgeon find herself at the death chamber battling the American justice system with the Pope and Mother Teresa in her corner?

Lori St John’s firebrand, fearless personality is behind this true story of a woman’s unwavering determination to expose the truth in a dangerous game of judicial power. In a volunteer position reviewing cases of wrongful conviction, Lori’s world is turned upside down when she is assigned the death row case of Joseph O’Dell. Joe is scheduled to die for the brutal rape and murder of a Virginia Beach secretary. But Lori’s investigation uncovers lies, the intimidation of witnesses and a trial by ambush in a system so corrupt she begins to fear for her own life. Her story of turmoil and dangerous choices brings her face-to-face with the jailhouse snitch and Joe’s alibi witness. She’s determined to find the real killer. Undeterred by the government, Lori brings the world to stand witness to the injustice she’s unearthed, and drives her mission to become a cause célèbre when she recruits the Italian and European Parliaments, Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, who champion her cause to prevent an egregious miscarriage of justice.

A rare chance to see the criminal justice system behind closed doors and learn the untold backstory of a real murder conviction.