A Story Telling of Tragedy: Mental Illness, Molestation, Suicide, and the Penalty of Death.

This paper describes the experience of mitigation experts in first degree murder cases in the penalty phase of the trial. The first author, who is a sociologist, has worked in capital murder cases since 1988, as a mitigation expert in over 200 such cases. The second author assists in the mitigation process by analyzing mental health and educational records. The focus of the paper is a discussion of a specific case in which the defendant committed suicide before the case went to trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]