(1991) Adams V. Texas, By Randall Adams, with William Hoffer & Marilyn Mona Hoffer. (ISBN: 031205811X / 0-312-05811-X)

Book Description: St. Martin’s Press, New York, New York, U.S.A., 1991. Stated First Edition June 1991, number line on copyright page reads (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1), First printing thus. Black Hard Cover Boards and Spine With Silver Text. 347 pages and about the author page, 6.25" x 9.5" tall, 1.125" thick. New copy. Never read. Not price clipped. Beautiful copy of book and dust jacket. COLLECTOR'S COPY.

Book Condition: Brand New.

Dust Jacket Condition: Brand New. NON price-clipped DJ [$19.95 US].

About This Book: For Randall Adams, this nightmare was a reality. In a case made famous by the Oscar-nominated film "The Thin Blue Line", Adams was brought to trial for the murder of a Dallas policeman, on the strength of the "eyewitness" account provided by the actual murderer, a sixteen-year-old juvenile delinquent already facing charges of burglary and armed robbery.

Synopsis: A former death row inmate describes the miscarriage of justice that led to his wrongful conviction on charges of murdering a Dallas police officer and details his thirteen-year battle to clear his name.

About The Author: Randall Dale Adams (December 17, 1948 – October 30, 2010) was wrongly convicted of murdering police officer Robert W. Wood, and was subsequently sentenced to death. He served more than 12 years in prison, at one point coming within 72 hours of being put to death. His death sentence was reduced through appeal to the United States Supreme Court, and eight years later he was released when evidence was uncovered to prove his innocence. Adams' case is profiled in the documentary The Thin Blue Line.

Exoneration: In 1989, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Ex parte Adams (768 S.W.2d 281) overturned Adams' conviction on the grounds of malfeasance by the prosecutor Douglas D. Mulder and inconsistencies in the testimony of another key witness, Emily Miller. The appeals court found that prosecutor Mulder withheld a statement by Emily Miller to the police that cast doubt on her credibility, and allowed her to give perjured testimony. Further, the court found that after Adams' attorney discovered the statement late in Adams' trial, Mulder falsely told the court that he did not know the witness' whereabouts. The case remained in limbo. In 1981, Mulder returned to practice private law in Dallas, and the new prosecution then dropped charges in 1989. The Texas Court of Criminal Appeals said, and Adams agreed, that "conviction was unfair mainly because of prosecutor Doug Mulder." Adams later worked as an anti-death penalty activist.

Lawsuit over the story: After release from prison, Adams ended up in a legal battle with the director of The Thin Blue Line, Errol Morris, concerning the rights to his story. The matter was settled out of court after Adams was granted sole use of anything written or made on the subject of his life. Adams said of the matter: "Mr. Morris felt he had the exclusive rights to my life story. ... I did not sue Errol Morris for any money or any percentages of The Thin Blue Line, though the media portrayed it that way."

Morris, for his part, remembers: "When he got out, he became very angry at the fact that he had signed a release giving me rights to his life story. And he felt as though I had stolen something from him. Maybe I had, maybe I just don't understand what it's like to be in prison for that long, for a crime you hadn't committed. In a certain sense, the whole crazy deal with the release was fueled by my relationship with his attorney. And it's a long, complicated story, but I guess when people are involved, there's always a mess somewhere."

At a legislative hearing, Adams said: "The man you see before you is here by the grace of God. The fact that it took 12 and a half years and a movie to prove my innocence should scare the hell out of everyone in this room and, if it doesn’t, then that scares the hell out of me."

Personal life: Adams married a woman who was the sister of a death-row inmate.

Death: Adams died of a brain tumor in Washington Court House, Ohio on October 30, 2010. He had chosen to live a quiet life divorced from his past, and the death was reported only locally, according to his lawyer, Randy Schaffer. The death was first widely reported on June 25, 2011. His mother died in December 2010.