THE LAST LINE OF DEFENSE.

The article discusses U.S. capital punishment within the criminal justice system, focusing on the work of attorney Diana Holt who took on a case in 1999 to defend South Carolina death row inmate Richard Charles Johnson with attorney John Blume. Topics include Holt's 1993 case for death row inmate Edward Lee Elmore, Holt's own imprisonment for armed robbery, and the execution method of lethal injection. Also discussed is 2003 Illinois Governor George Ryan's commuting of death row sentences.