The other side of death row

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 24 May 2022

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It is 31 years since Christine Towery's brother Robert killed a man and 10 years since he died at the hands of the state of Arizona by lethal injection. For two decades Christine had to live in the shadow of her brother's death sentence. Christine's confidence and faith was blown to pieces. Through conversations with counsellors, campaigners and her children, Christine examines the impact her brother's crime, conviction and eventual execution has had on her and her family. How do you rebuild? Is it time for the US to acknowledge the pain experienced by these 'other victims’?

Transcript

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0:00.0	What goes into making the business-dairy podcasts from the BBC World Service?
0:04.8	Well first we take a cup full of business news. Naturally.
0:08.0	Then we add a healthy measure of technology.
0:10.0	Mmm. Along with a pinch of exciting innovation.
0:14.0	Business daily from the BBC World Service. Find out more at the end of this podcast.
0:22.0	The following programme contains reflections and descriptions about the death penalty
0:26.0	and its impact which some listeners may find disturbing.
0:32.0	30 years ago my brother Robbie killed a man.
0:36.0	Eventually Robbie was executed by lethal injection, but it went wrong and he died in pain.
0:43.0	Having a brother on death row changed things forever.
0:46.0	Changed the way others saw me, how they treated me, and how I felt about life and the future.
0:54.0	How does that kind of experience change your life and is it time for more support?
1:00.0	I'm Christine Towery and this is the other side of death row on the BBC World Service.
1:08.0	The Nightmare began back in the early 1990s.
1:14.0	My brother Robbie had started to use drugs after a motorbike accident which meant he couldn't work.
1:20.0	He got into crystal meth and supported his addiction by committing petty crimes.
1:26.0	In September 1991 he went to the house of Mark Jones with the intention of robbing him and ended up killing him.
1:34.0	He was sentenced to death in the state of Arizona and for two decades I visited him as he waited for his execution.
1:42.0	I know people treated me differently when they knew my backstory.
1:46.0	In fact, there were people who tried to avoid the subject by avoiding me.
1:51.0	It was quite shocking at the time, you know.
1:53.0	I mean, you obviously hear in the news every day about somebody else being murdered or being arrested,
	...

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