J. Or Blake cases, is a good recent example of that: Peterson (whose defense was also not cheap) waits on Death Row in California while O.J. And Blake both walk free, enjoying life and having plenty of quality time with their children. For children of a convicted capital killer like my father, though, life in prison without parole is like the Mark of Cain. Unfortunately, I have worn it all my life, wear it now, and have passed it on. One need not worry about lifers without parole somehow harming others, either. Even if my father would have wished to strike out violently at any of my or my mother's tormentors or their relatives (and he did not) he would not even have been allowed to write letters to them (that they would have ever received) or reach...

I am sure he has it now, and that after he read my brief enclosed note and saw his own wide smile beaming back at him from two beautiful little faces he has never caressed and never will; he died yet again. My father dies a lot and always has. Actually, my father has been dead for years, but he just keeps on dying. This is because my father, one must realize, received the real death penalty - the death-in-life that keeps on killing-then-resurrecting the dead one in order (only) to kill him anew - a little differently this time, a little differently from that the next - but without ever respite: without ever rest: without ever mercy.