About this item
Written by a wrongfully convicted man who spent 16 years in solitary confinement and 12 years on death row, a powerful memoir about fighting for--and winning--exoneration.Infinite Hope is an argument against the death penalty through one man's personal story. It is about a man enduring a life on death row year after year, when he knows that he is one hundred percent innocent and that his exoneration is unlikely. Anthony Graves' unbelievable saga started in 1992 when, at 26 years old, he was arrested for killing six people in Somerville, Texas. Despite his air-tight alibi, his unwavering insistence that he had no knowledge of the crime, and a lack of physical evidence linking him to the scene, Graves was arrested, charged with capital murder, and eventually sentenced to death. He spent nearly two decades defending his innocence from behind bars. With the help of a hard-charging journalist, Graves' story of injustice and the astounding malfeasance he encountered at every turn was published in Texas Monthly. In 2011, eighteen years after his nightmare began, Graves was finally exonerated. The prosecutor in his case was later disbarred. Poignant and skillfully wrought, Graves writes about fighting for his dignity, trying to maintain his sanity, the excruciating reality of being innocent behind bars, and how he endured one setback after another as he and his lawyers chipped away at the state's case against him. Infinite Hope exposes an extreme version of when the judicial system is wrong and, as Graves describes it, "what people go through when they're treated as disposable."
About the Author
Anthony Graves was wrongfully convicted of multiple homicides in 1992 and spent nearly two decades behind bars, including twelve years on Texas's death row. While still in prison, he cofounded Join Hands for Justice, a France-based activist group that led global efforts to prove his innocence. Graves's conviction and death sentence were overturned in 2006, and after four years of legal wrangling, he was fully exonerated and released in 2010. Since then, he has become a full-time advocate for criminal justice reform, testifying to the US Senate about the harms of solitary confinement, serving on the board of directors for the Houston Forensic Science Center, and working with the ACLU's Campaign for Smart Justice. Graves speaks widely and runs the Anthony Graves Foundation, which works to draw attention to problems within the American criminal justice system. He lives in Houston.Author photo: Gerald Seroy
