Anatomy of an Execution: The Life and Death of Douglas Christopher Thomas Hardcover – Illustrated, November 30, 2009

I ordered this book because I grew up near Middlesex and remembered when the J.B. and Kathy Wiseman were murdered. I wrote a blog post about the murders and noticed it got a lot of hits, which prompted me to want to read more about what happened. Todd Peppers and Laura Anderson did a fantastic job covering this case and took me down memory lane.I wish this title had been available on Kindle, because I found myself wanting to make notes and share excerpts. It's easier to do that when the book is on Kindle than if it's a physical copy. Also, the font was very small, which was hard on my old eyes. However, this book was still well worth the effort of reading, and especially gratifying, since capital punishment has now been abolished in Virginia.I especially enjoyed reading about the Virginia State Penitentiary, since my high school government teacher arranged to take his classes on a field trip there in the spring of 1990. There were still prisoners there during our visit, though we were kept away from them. Peppers writes about the facilities, including the death house, which we did have the chance to visit. At the time, it was still in operation, too. I remember that day as the day when my opinions about the death penalty changed from pro to anti.Anyway, those who are interested in the case of Chris Thomas and Jessica Wiseman, and their highly ill-advised love affair, should definitely read Anatomy of an Execution. It really is a high quality offering!

Thanks to the thoughtful, extensive examination of a cold-blooded murder and the circumstances surrounding it, Peppers and Anderson show that the death penalty is not as black and white as its "eye for an eye" reasoning implies. Did Chris Thomas murder his girlfriend's parents when he was 17 years old? Definitely. Should he be executed for doing so? This is the question with which the reader must struggle. Whereas the authors do not excuse his crime, they suggest that "even a murderer's life is worth more than its worst act."As we read about Chris's short, tragic life, it is easy to understand his compulsive need for love. Abandoned by his father and estranged from his mother, Chris was raised by his grandparents, both of whom died when he was eleven years old. Thus began his downward spiral at school and his trouble with the law. When he started dating Jessica, a willful, spoiled fourteen-year-old, she quickly became his reason for living. He could not consider losing Jessica's love by refusing her request to kill her parents.Once Chris became part of the criminal justice system, with incompetent, inexperienced counsel and an uninterested judge, his fate was quickly sealed. Executed in 2000, he was one of the last juvenile offenders killed before the Supreme Court ruled in 2005 that executing minors convicted of capital murder was "cruel and unusual punishment" prohibited by the Eighth Amendment.

This is a powerfully moving biography of the life and death of a young man executed by the Commonwealth of Virginia. Legally a minor when he committed a crime of passion, he was tried, convicted, and sentenced to die. I encourage you to read this book. Wether an opponent or supporter of the death penalty, I think this beautifully written piece of literature will enlighten and inform. It offers an in depth look at the flaws and failures of our justice system, particularly for those who are not wealthy or well educated, and in this case immature and naïve. My favorite aspect of this book, however, is how deeply it humanizes Chris and his family and friends. We are allowed an intimate journey with all of them through this ordeal. The cold truth of life inside a prison and on death row, and the last days and hours in the death house are a truly compelling legacy that Chris has left us, with the help of Laura Trevvett Anderson and Todd C Peppers.

This trial was a huge part of my childhood because I lived in this town and my parents worked for the court system. Reading this book brought it all back as if I was re-living those moments in real time. My mom was present for every single day of this trial, and to this day she still cries when she talks about it. I gave her this book to read and she made it halfway through before having to put it down because it was too traumatic emotionally. I am so glad that the authors got this story out there because it needs to be told. This is such a powerful book. I can't recommend it highly enough. I hope that it continues to be read for generations to come. This trial changed history, and Chris deserves for his story to be told. It is the least we as citizens of the commonwealth can do for failing this young man as profoundly as we did.

While this is not an easy story to read, it is definitely a story that needs to be told and shared widely. No matter what your position regarding capital punishment, this book will help you to understand the inequities in the justice system. It is told from both a technical viewpoint by Todd Peppers and a personal viewpoint by Laura Anderson, a combination that lends itself to including the legal "details" most of us would miss, yet flows more in the manner of a novel than a report. And while I cannot say that it is an "enjoyable" read, I am sincerely glad I took the time to read the book and feel I gained some needed wisdom from the experience.

Peppers' Anatomy of an Execution is a poignant and necessary glimpse into the mind of a juvenile killer, and the social circumstances surrounding his crime. To quote Shakespeare's King Lear, "So young and so untender..." This book illustrates the naïveté of the juvenile psyche, and highlights the weaknesses of our criminal justice system in its handling of juveniles who commit horrific crimes. The book is expertly researched, yet accessibly written--an important contribution to the field.