The Marshall Project: In 2022, I [Maurice Chammah, Staff Writer at The Marshall Project ] spent several weeks shadowing investigator Sara Baldwin as she tried to save a man from execution. Bernard Belcher had killed a young woman named Jennifer Embry; despite deep remorse for his actions, he couldn’t explain why he did it.

Baldwin’s goal was to unearth his life story, looking for material that would persuade a jury to choose mercy. Her job title is “mitigation specialist,” but I started calling her a “mercy worker,” seeing in her profession a set of lessons for how to build a less punitive country. Continue reading A Light For Life On Death Row? A Unique Story in Graphics →