| Summary |
"In the fall of 1984, Delores Dye, a housewife and grandmother, was shot and killed in a grocery store parking lot in New Orleans. Four days later, Curtis Kyles was arrested and charged with the crime. Horne (city editor, the Times-Picayune) traces the case in detail as Kyles is tried five times for the murder and ends up on death row for 14 years, maintaining his innocence throughout. His first trial ended in a deadlock, which resulted in a mistrial. In the second, he was convicted of first-degree murder and sentenced to death. Eleven years later, his appeal case went before the U.S. Supreme Court, and he was granted a reversal. In both the third and the fourth trials, the jury was deadlocked and the case declared a mistrial. In 1998, after a fifth jury failed to reach a verdict, District Attorney Harry Connick Sr. conceded defeat, and Kyles was set free. Over the course of the five trials, it came out that Kyles had been framed by an acquaintance and that police and prosecutors may have been complicit. This interesting and well-written book is a worthy purchase for large public libraries, especially where there is local interest.-Sarah Jent, Univ. of Louisville Lib., KY Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information." |