The Ultimate Punishment By Scott Turrow And The Death Penalty Summary

Scott Turow is the author of The Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer's Reflections on dealing with the Death Penalty, published in 2003. Turow has written a series of nonfiction books reflecting current affairs and the legal system. Most importantly, is that Turow is an attorney who has prosecuted as well as defended clients in death penalty cases (Turow,2003). Turow describes his experience with death penalty cases and his work examining the death penalty process, while not precisely a supporter or detractor of the death penalty, his reflections are discussed in his work.

Turow begins by telling us the story of Michelle Thompson and a Rene Valentine that took place when he was in Chicago as an Assistant United States Attorney. Michelle and Rene while in a nightclub parking lot were held at gunpoint in Gurnee, Illinois, an area near Chicago. The gunmen forced Valentine to walk to an area close by, where he was shot and killed and abducted Michelle (Turow,2003). Michelle Thompson was tortured, raped, strangled and murdered. Her remains were found in Wisconsin., leading to the arrest of Hector Reuben Sanchez, and his accessory, Warren Peters, Jr. it was learned that Sanchez had previously killed

Consequently, the Ed Cisowski a commander for the Illinois State Police led an investigation into Dugan’s testimony. Collaborating testimony was that Dugan worked near where Jeanine lived, tire prints matched Dugan’s car, and other little know details were substantiated. Illinois state police concluded that Dugan was the perpetrator of this crime(Turow,2003). This evidence went nowhere, and DuPage County Prosecutors continued to discredit Dugan’s testimony (Turow,2003). In 1994, Hernandez’s and Cruz's convictions were upturned DuPage still insisted on the prosecution. Finally, a series of DNA results that excluded Cruz and Hernandez while including Dugan were argued, subsequently, in 1995, both men were freed