My name is Keith LaMar, and I’m a death row prisoner at Ohio State Penitentiary in Youngstown, Ohio. I’m about to read an excerpt from my recently released book called Condemned, the story about my journey from prison to death row after the 1993 prison uprising at the Lucasville Correctional Facility in Southern Ohio.
“Death Row One, Walking Through Hell”
“Even though I walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil,” Psalms 23:4. After I spoke my peace, Judge Crow, as expected, sentenced me to death. Standing there, it felt as if I was in some kind of weird dream. In his closing comments from the bench, he repeatedly used the word ‘heinous’ to describe the viciousness of the murders that had taken place. And I nodded my head in agreement, “Yes.” Whoever was guilty of the crimes for which I had been sentenced to death needed to be rebuked and raked over the coals. But I was not that man and Judge Crow’s words – though directed at me – did not have the desired effect. If anything, the blatant hypocrisy in what he said angered and upset me. After all, who was he to speak about murder and mayhem? Was it not murder when, instead of being impartial, he colluded with the prosecution to deprive me of a fair trial? And cannot the word heinous be equally applied to the prosecutor’s will for withholding of statements that could have proved my innocence? Hypocrite.
As the transport van pulled away from the courthouse, I shook my head in disbelief. I had come into the situation wearing rose colored glasses, but I was leaving it totally disillusioned. There’s no justice in this world I concluded, clenching my fists in anger. I wanted to scream, but the extreme animosity I felt rendered me speechless. I was going to death row and there was nothing I can do or say about it. When the van veered off the highway and took the non familial turn toward SOCF [Southern Ohio Correctional Facility], I was actually glad to see it looming in the distance. My soul was tired, and all I wanted to do was lie down and close my eyes.”
For more information regarding my story, you can go to prison radio.org, or to my own website, keithlamar.org, and there you will find a link to how to purchase the book and more information about my case as it currently stands.
These commentaries are recorded by Noel Hanrahan of Prison Radio.
