Chronicles from Parchman #9: Birds of a Feather
Incarcerated writer L. Patri on deciphering a 167-page court decision and trying to stay one step ahead of Mississippi's bigotry-laced justice system.
This is the latest installment in the Chronicles from Parchman series, a monthly column by the talented and prolific writer, L. Patri, who has been fighting his wrongful incarceration on Parchman’s death row for over thirty years. Read L. Patri’s interview in Rooted from November 2024.
I took last night, and pretty much all day yesterday to read the 167-page decision that the Mississippi State court handed down when it denied Pitts 7-2 on rehearing. Pitts came to Mississippi’s death row over twenty years ago, accused and convicted of murdering a white female in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, the state’s most openly racist place that I’ve read about in these men’s cases, even more so than Natchez. I say this because…well, you will see.
About seventeen years ago, Pitts had a major stroke that was followed by three mini strokes, and then another stroke. Sometimes I’m amazed he survived, but I think I know why. For one, Pitts was an avid exerciser. He was ve…
