Diana & Ted Harrington, Surviving the Death Penalty...

Wonderful intriguing reading. From start to finish, a 25 year battle for the victim. One of the best books I have read lately. Would highly recommend reading.

I finished this book, Surviving the Death Penalty, The True Crime Story of Donald Ray Wallace Execution & the Gilligan Family.

This story is from the initial crime to its conclusion, with unbelievable twists & turns. It tells of the death penalty wait for both the criminal and the victims and how their lives intertwined.

It also details a miserably failed system and unravels the web of prisoners' rights that take precedence over victims' rights, bridging from the crime to the aftermath of Wallace's execution.

It examines the many events that occurred with insights and letters from the killer along with the impact that lingering cases have on survivors. From death row, Wallace was able to take hostages, hold hunger strikes and continue his appeals. He wrote in 1992 a series of letters to Diana Harrington. In these letters was his guilty confession and how the crime happened. Even after this private confession he continued to proclaim his innocence to the public. One week before his confession he confessed on a TV interview.

This story has wide appeal and is one of very few books that tells the story of the victim and criminal from start to finish.

Donald Ray Wallace Jr was executed in 2005 for the cold-blooded murders of 4 innocent people: Pat & Theresa Gilligan, 5-year-old Lisa and 4-year-old Greg (The Patrick Gilligan Family).

In 1980, upon entering and surprising Wallace, as he was burglarizing their home, Wallace tied them up, tortured them, shot all of them in the head and beat my brother-in-law with barbells.

On March 10th, 2005 Wallace was executed.

This is the true story of the Patrick Gilligan Family and Donald Ray Wallace Jr. It is a story about the criminal, the victims and their lives.