Dead Man Walking

Upon meeting Millard Farmer, Prejean learns a great deal about the unjust application of death sentences in the United States. White victims prompt a clear majority of death sentences, despite being a small percentage of overall homicides. The legal process is complicated to the point of absurdity, with one death-row inmate receiving a stay of execution that was reversed an hour later. Poor defendants often do not secure effective counsel, and after the Supreme Court decision of Gregg v. Georgia (1976) largely delegated the administration of executions to the states, federal courts have been loath to review any but the most egregious violations of defendants’ rights. Although many defendants have access to a lengthy appeals process, they tend not to make a difference if the defendant cannot hire defense attorneys, expert witnesses, and other expensive assets. Instead, most end up with attorneys who may not even have any experience in any kind of criminal law, much less a capital murder case. Millard assures Prejean that “you’re never going to find a rich person on death row” (49). The application of the death penalty was so chronically unjust that the Supreme Court issued a nationwide moratorium in 1972, but many of the same states that had only recently desegregated clamored for capital punishment as an exception from federal oversight, and then won it in Gregg.