Word: convicted
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...wanted to, virtually disappear. Earlier this year, Norman Mailer had led a campaign to secure parole for Abbott, largely on the basis of his writing talent. His letters from prison, collected under the title In the Belly of the Beast, were released to fair critical acclaim. But the ex-convict seemed unable to handle his lionization or his freedom. Two months ago, Abbott got into an argument with a waiter in a New York City restaurant. The two men went outside, and moments later the young waiter was lying on the ground, stabbed to death. Abbott was gone. He fled...
...cold steel blade, sandwiched between two upright wooden shafts, is quietly carted into the prison's exercise yard before dawn. The convict is aroused at 5:30 and offered a cigarette and a glass of rum. Then, bound and blindfolded, he is strapped, face down, neck bared, to the shoulder-high plank. A switch trips and the heavy, razor-sharp blade falls...
After an hour of arguing, the jurors took their first vote by a show of hands: four to acquit, two to convict, six undecided. The store manager suggested that they all write out their reasons on a blackboard. One by one, they stood up and explained their votes. "I kept hearing 'Beyond a reasonable doubt, beyond a reasonable doubt,' " said Suzanne Sheldon, the writer, who had originally voted for conviction. "And I kept seeing that kid Charles looking up at me from the defendant's table with his big blue eyes. It tore me apart." The jurors...
...personal 3,000-volume library.) Charging $7.50 an hour, Owen easily undercuts the $22 to $25 fees asked by law students and young lawyers, who are often hired for such chores. Yet Owen's output is anything but cut-rate. Indianapolis Lawyer J. Richard Kiefer calls the convict's research "incredibly good.'' Once Kiefer gave the same project to Owen and several law students; Owen was the first to uncover the three precedents that Kiefer needed. Says John Gubbins, senior staff attorney for the Seventh Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in Chicago: "In the area...
Owen occasionally has been allowed, at the judges' discretion, to appear in court on behalf of his prisoner clients. He usually shows up wearing handcuffs and a yellow leisure suit, his papers in a briefcase made by a fellow convict. In 1978, he won freedom for Elisar Yzaguirre, who was serving a life sentence for kidnaping, when he persuaded the judge to downgrade his client's offense to unlawful confinement. Such victories have helped Owen compile a record that many an appellate attorney would envy: in 25% of his cases, the clients have won at least some relief...