Dr. David Tait, associate professor in Rogers State University’s Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, and student William Toliver will review the book, “Death and Justice: An Expose on Oklahoma’s Death Row Machine,” on Wednesday, April 21, at the Stratton Taylor Library.
The event, which is free and open to the public, will begin at 3:30 p.m. in the Stratton Taylor Library, Room 207. The presentation is part of the university’s Library Literary Review series. This installment of the review series will be held in conjunction with National Library Week.
Fuhrman, who gained national attention as an investigator during the O.J. Simpson murder trial, examines the death penalty in Oklahoma where 21 executions occurred in 2001, more than in any other state in the nation. The majority of these death penalty cases came from one jurisdiction, Oklahoma County, where district attorney Bob Macy had bragged about sending more people to death row than any other prosecutor. Police chemist Joyce Gilchrist was eventually fired for mismanaging the crime lab. During the research for this book, Fuhrman examined police records, trial transcripts and appellate decisions, and conducted hundreds of interviews related to some of these death penalty cases.
Tait received his doctoral degree in history from Oklahoma State University, a master’s degree in divinity from Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas, and a bachelor’s degree from Boston University. His research interests include Oklahoma history and the interactions between religious institutions and social issues. He is also a priest of the Episcopal Church.
Toliver is a social and behavioral sciences senior from Sand Springs.
For more information, call the library at (918) 343-7716.