David Wood has twelve weeks to live. He has been on death row since 1993 for several murders in El Paso, and already has one execution date put on hold, another being put on hold. Still, his lawyers are hopeful; There is a diverse selection of paths to their ultimate appeal – some promising, some far-fetched. In last 12 weeksSerial and latest joint production from the new York TimesJournalist Maurice Chammah and producer Alvin Melathey team up with Wood’s legal team to pursue potentially life-saving clues.
There is a disturbance in the structure of last 12 weeks Which can be confusing. A recap at the top of each episode would have been helpful. But the format is also useful in highlighting the chaos that these lawyers face as their client’s execution date approaches. As time runs out and lives are at stake, they must decide where to invest their limited resources. They can’t afford to waste time, but they won’t know if a lead is a waste of time until they investigate. Absolutely a catch-22.
last 12 weeks They take us with the legal team as they meet with people who claim to have potentially exculpatory information. In conversations with Chammah and Melathey, we heard how lawyers think about this evidence, assess its credibility, and decide how likely it is to be helpful. Not everything they hear is straightforward. Sometimes a witness is not consistent; Sometimes there is someone else on the record making equally strong claims to the contrary. Still, even the most questionable leads can have potential, as becomes clear in the show’s final episode.
co-produced the serial last 12 weeks With The Marshall Project, a nonprofit news organization that focuses on inequities within the legal system. You might think that with such authenticity, the podcast would be quite enthusiastic in declaring Wood’s innocence. Interestingly, the discussion is much more vague.
Chamma does not speak to Wood until the final episode, but even so, the first part focuses on a harrowing interview with a previous victim, a crime of which Wood was convicted in a separate and undisputed case.
That’s the thing about Wood: to quote Chammah, “Although he is probably innocent of the murders, he is certainly not sympathetic.” Wood has always maintained that he had nothing to do with the murders, but he was previously convicted of multiple rape and sexual assault charges, including in the case of a 12-year-old girl. No amount of repentance can atone for such heinous acts. Yet, when Chamma talks to Wood about them, it’s remarkable how irritable and unrepentant he sounds. To some extent, Wood’s attitude can be attributed to the short interview time that the prison allowed – only one hour – and Wood’s understandable focus on discussing his innocence regarding the crime for which he is currently being prosecuted. Still, it’s not a good look.
Interestingly, what Wood’s lawyers are questioning is why having such a deeply unsympathetic character made him an ideal culprit for the murders, which began shortly after he completed a prison sentence for rape. When someone has done a terrible thing, it’s not hard to believe that he may have done other terrible things too.
The fact that it’s so hard to feel pity for Wood really makes last 12 weeks Such an unusual podcast of its kind. If you compare him with Adnan Syed, the subject Serial’While the first season had no prior convictions and a lot of warmongering, this series then has a very different question at its heart. Syed’s vague guilt was part of the emotional hook serial. When a likable person is on death row for something he clearly didn’t do, it’s easy to care about his fate. This is much more difficult when there is less clarity about their culpability, and if they have prior terrible deeds to their name. Yet, peacefully and legally, it should not matter.
No one should be in jail for something they haven’t done, let alone be sentenced to death for it.
last 12 weeks is an eye-opening look at the justice system, and how life can be – but should not do – Take recourse to legal luck at the last moment. However, even more compelling is the challenging, thought-provoking way in which it weighs our sympathies against our values.