Clemency
August, 2002
By the time I get to the execution chamber where the State of Georgia is going to kill my friend Byron Parker, the witness room is filled almost to capacity.Behind a large window is a tableau. Byron, wearing a prison uniform, is trussed to a gurney, his arms out-spread slightly--the better to display the needles inserted in them.His witnesses--myself and three of his lawyers--had come to the chamber through a guards' locker room. Inside hung a poster. Never Give Up Hope it read, under a photogra...
