Tuesday, October 19, 2010

Death By Fire

The Skeptical Spouse / Editor / Publisher and I just watched the Frontline presentation of Death By Fire. It told the story of Cameron Todd Willingham's conviction and execution for an arson / murder that never happened. Well done, but short. They had only an hour. Anyone who would like to watch it online can do so here.

We finished proofing our book The Skeptical Juror and the Trial of Cameron Todd Willingham just hours earlier. We were watching the show with special interest to see if the book was solid or if it contained a factual error. We both decided the book was good to go.

It will be off to our printing firm and to Kindle first thing in the morning. The Skeptical Spouse / Editor / Publisher believes the Kindle version may be available as early as this weekend and the print version may be available as early as next Wednesday.

Our work is definitely not a rehash of the Frontline show. The show barely touched on the primary focus of the book. As a reader, you'll have a chance to see if you, as a juror, could have stopped the tragedy before it began. No fire experts were needed to see that the State's case was simply not possible.

So it looks as if we can turn out a book in four weeks from first keystroke to availability on Amazon. I probably won't be trying it again any time soon, though. It's pretty hard on everyone involved. Tomorrow, I can start digging through the backlog of things left undone.

Good night.

Learn From Rob

Brandi Grissom of The Texas Tribune has a good interview with Hank Skinner's attorney. You can pick up some tips on how you might prepare for your next case before the U.S. Supreme Court. You can learn a little constitutional law. You might even learn something about the death sentence.

It's quite a good interview, actually. View it on YouTube if you wish, or on the Texas Tribune site.