John C. Tucker
May God Have Mercy
A True Story of Crime and Punishment
A murder mystery that provides a chilling and
heartbreaking glimpse into the workings of justice in
the United States.
In some states by law, in others by tradition, judges
imposing a sentence of death complete the grim ritual with the
words "May God have mercy on your soul."
In 1982, in Grundy, Virginia, a young miner named
Roger Coleman was sentenced to death for the murder of his
sister-in-law. Ten years later, the sentence was carried out,
despite the extraordinary efforts of Kitty Behan, a brilliant and
dedicated young lawyer who devoted two years of her life to
gathering evidence of Coleman's innocence, evidence so
compelling that media around the world came to question the
verdict. The courts, ruling on technicalities, refused to hear the
new evidence and witnesses. Finally, the governor of Virginia
ordered a lie-detector test to be administered on the morning
of Coleman's scheduled execution, and in a chair that to
Coleman surely looked like nothing so much as an electric chair.
In John Tucker's telling, this story is an emotional and
unforgettable roller-coaster ride from the awful night of the crime
to the equally awful night of the execution. Perhaps it was
not Roger Coleman whose soul was in need of God's mercy but
the judges, prosecutors, and politicians who procured his death.
John C. Tucker practiced law for many years in Chicago,
where he was a leading criminal defense attorney. He now lives
in Tidewater, Virginia, where he is following a second career as
a writer.
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