Truth Be Told: Life Lessons From Death Row

Nobody knows how long it will be before Rich is executed - if he is executed. For this, too, is a bewilderment. How he went from being assured by his attorney of manslaughter charges to being on death row is a story that comes to light in the letters, as do the details of a justice system that, once unjustly underway, cannot easily be restored. In November, 2004, when Agi and I sat in the office of Rich's public defender, he told us, "Rich does not belong on death row. And I have very little hope that he will not be executed." He said that publishing the letters might help Rich's cause.As this book goes to press, Agi and Rich have six years of letters between them and no idea of how much time is left. By sharing their letters, they share their hope, most of all, for a future in which the death penalty will no longer exist.

Agnes Vadas is a musician and a human rights activist. She started to write when she was in her seventies, and that not even in her native language. Her autobiographical stories, "Tales from Hungary," were published in 2001. The continuation of that by the title of "Memoirs of a Stupid Woman," will be ready to publish very soon.In her work for Amnesty International her personal focus is to fight against the death penalty, and so it happened that she started to correspond with a death row inmate, which became a wonderful friendship. Rich should not be on death row, but in this country money decides that matter. If you can't afford to pay a good lawyer you are easy victim of unscrupulous prosecutor whose "success" is to put the guy into the death chamber.