hi i am looking to buy a good law book for my man's birthday in july. He is in menard illinois and fighting for an appeal. He studies law but tells me the law library 'sucks' and as his new attorney has not replied to him in 11months i think this is the best present i can buy him. As i live in England i do not know the u.s. legal system. He has served 18yrs on death row commuted to life without parole for a murder he did not commit can anyone give me any help please.:confused:

Do you know why he has a new attorney? Wasn't he part of the Illinois death row that got commuted to LWOP after the scandal a few years back?

I ask this because if he wasn't part of that commutation he got off the row with another sort of successful appeal and that could be the last any court wants to do with the case. If he was commuted when the row was cleared, do you know how he got the 'new' attorney he has and just what that new attorney is working on?

Here we don't get attornies handed out like candy at all, or after 18 years in ever. If one is assigned he's been hired for something... Do you know what that is?

Point being, if there is an attorney on the job, he's on some job and whether your friend knows everything about the law or not, there is an attorney on the job.

That may be some consolation for the great good news that single law book isn't going to be the cure all or necessarily helpful to your friend or that library.
Real law digests are subscribed to and issue out in installments and simply keep pace with newly published cases. They are exceptionally expensive and getting them into that library might be a lot easier than dancing with the mailroom/property regs where he is.

Think Enclyclopedia. a-to z in separate bound volumes. World Books issued annually.
Sending him the letter Q won't be a great deal of help. And did I mention that his state and neighboring (district) states all share the same A-Z... and there are quite a few other Districts a-z that he might want to read,... and that the Feds have at least 2 of their own A-Z's? That Q isn't looking very useful in contrast.

Again.. He's got an attorney for something...If you don't know what that's for, find out. Rest assured that the attorney has a really swift law library and a few online links his firm subscribes to that he'll have to work with.

and Breathe.

Go to www.amazon.com (http://www.amazon.com)
type in law in the search box.

hills999 I have pm'd you on this.
Jude