The Wrong Man: A True Story of Innocence on Death Row
"Read this book; it is a love story and a tragedy. Michael Mello's fight to save Joe Spaziano's life is, in its odd way, a love story. The tragedy is ours. Mello's struggle with a system that cares more about protecting itself than finding the truth, that cares more about how it looks than it does about doing justice, that would rather kill an innocent man than admit its own mistakes, provides a harrowing and painful lesson for those who want to believe that equal justice under law exists in America today." Bonnie Raitt
"Michael
Mello may be the most passionate opponent of the death penalty
in America. In this remarkable book, he provides a searing account
of his efforts to free 'Crazy Joe' Spaziano, who has spent decades
on death row for a crime that Mello is convinced he did not commit.
Even those who are less fervently opposed to capital punishment
than Mello will be riveted by his eloquence, candor, and unshakable
committment to his cause." Jeffrey Rosen
Timeline of Joseph Spaziano's case (1973-present)
| August 5, 1973 | Laura Lynn Harberts last seen alive |
| August 21, 1973 | Human remains, later identified as those of Harberts, found at Altamonte dump |
| February 9, 1974 | Vanessa Dale Croft raped and mutilated |
| Mid-February 1974 | Keppie (DiLisio) tells police Joseph "Crazy Joe" Spaziano, a local biker, raped Croft |
| October 1974 to July 1975 | Tony DiLisio ties Spaziano to rape and murder; DiLisio undergoes hypnosis sessions with police |
| August 1975 | Spaziano tried, convicted, and sentened for Croft rape, based on testimony of Tony DiLisio |
| January 1976 | Spaziano tried and convicted of murdering Harberts based on testimony of DiLisio; jury recommends life imprisonment, but judge overrides and imposes death sentence |
| 1976-83 | Direct appeal to Florida Supreme Court and liminted resentencing |
| 1983 | Florida Supreme Court affirms death sentence |
| October 1983 | Michael Mello becomes Spaziano's lawyer |
| January 1984 | U.S. Supreme Court grants plenary review on issue of legitimacy of jury override |
| February 1984 | Brief filed in U.S. Supreme Court |
| March 1984 | Oral argument in U.S. Supreme Court |
| June 1984 | U.S. Supreme Court rules against Spaziano, affirming his death sentence; postconviction investigation kicks into high gear |
| June 1985 | Public defender investigator Jerry Justine finds, in attic of deceased police detectives home, audiotapes of Tony DiLisio's 1975 hypnotism sessions with police, clemency petition filed |
| November 1985 | First death warrang signed; execution scheduled for 7:00 a.m., December 3, 1985 |
| November 11, 1985 | Juror in Harberts murder trial executes affidavit saying jury recommended life imprisonment due to lingering doubts about Spaziano's guilt |
| November 20, 1985 | State postconviction motion and stay application filed in state trial court |
| November 22, 1985 | Oral arguement in state trial court; all relief denied |
| November 24, 1985 | Florida Supreme Court brief filed |
| November 25, 1985 | Oral arguement in Florida Supreme Court; stay of execution granted |
| 1986-91 | Two more death warrants; two more Florida Supreme Court stays |
| 1992 | Federal habeas corpus petition filed in federal destrict court |
| 1993 | Habeas petition denied; appeal to Federal Court of the Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit |
| 1993-94 | Brief and oral arguement in Eleventh Cirguit; denial of habeas corpus petition affirmed by Circuit; application for review in U.S. Supreme Court |
| January 1995 | U.S. Supreme Court denies petition for plenary review |
| Early May 1995 | Mello approaches Miami Herald about Spaziano's case, Herald says it will consider the matter |
| May 24, 1995 | Fourth death warrant signed, execution scheduled for 7:00 a.m., June 27, 1995 |
| May 25, 1995 | Miami Herald conditions its involvement in Spaziano's case on Mello's writing an op-ed piece for the paper, explaining why he believes Spaziano is innocent |
| June 4, 1995 | Mello's op-ed piece appears in Miami Herald and other Florida newspapers, Herald agrees to investigate Spaziano's case |
| June 9, 1995 | Tony DiLisio recants to a Miami Herald reporter |
| June 11, 1995 | Miami Herald runs front-page story on DiLisio's recantation |
| June 14, 1995 | Florida Department of Law Enforcement (FDLE) officers question DiLisio, who repeats his recantation; interrogation is videotaped |
| June 15, 1995 | Governor Chiles stays Spaziano's execution and orders FDLE to conduct secret investigation into believability of DiLisio's recantation |
| August 17, 1995 | FDLE reports to governor results of its secret investigation; investigators say DiLisio's recantation is not believable |
| August 24, 1995 | Governor signs fifth death warrant, execution scheduled for 7:00 a.m., September 21, 1995 |
| September 7, 1995 | Oral arguements in Florida Supreme Court on application for stay of execution |
| September 8, 1995 | Florida Supreme Court denies stay and orders evidentiary hearing in 96 hours, under warrant, on believability of DiLisio's recantation; Mello faxes motion to Florida Supreme Court explaining why he cannot and will not participate in the hearing under warrant |
| September 12, 1995 | Florida Supreme Court stays execution indefinitely and fires Mello from Spaziano's case, assigns case to public defender and gives public defender two months to prepare for hearing |
| January 22, 1996 | Following hearing, state trial judge rules that DiLisio's recantation is believable, vacates Spaziano's murder conviction and death sentence, and orders new trial, state will again seek the death penalty |
| June 3, 1997 | Grand jury indicts Spaziano again for capital murder of Laura Harberts |
| November 6, 1998 | Spaziano, fearful that another miscarriage of justice will again put him on death row, enters into no-contest plea to second-degree murder in the Harberts case, with negotiated sentence of time served plus two years |
| November 6, 1998-present | Spaziano continues to litigate validity of his rape conviction in the Croft case, which was also based on the now-recanted testimony of Tony DiLisio |