Meet Vernon the Death Row Blogger

Posted on January 27, 2006

The Guardian has an article about the Vernon Lee Evans blog. Evans is a man sentenced to death for a double murder in 1983. He is currently on death row in Maryland. He insists that he is innocent according to the Guardian story and in the weblog's introduction.

Evans does not blog himself as he does not have computer access. Correspondence is posted to the blog by Virginia Simmons, an opponent of the death penalty who runs the blog. The blog also includes links to death penalty resources.

Most of his correspondents are curious about life on death row, but some are looking for advice from someone who has had 22 years to contemplate existential matters. Felipe, a Brazilian feeling "tired, bored and sad" living in Canada, wrote to him last year, asking if music helped him cope with his circumstances.

"Listen to me. I am not always right, but listen to me anyway, and you might get something out of what I have to say," Evans replied.

"Now, here's the deal, you are young, and you should not have such fear when you are a talented young man. You could have friends if you stopped being on guard. Your music is a perfect tool to lure a friend."

The blog has one recent post about Vernon's new death warrant set for the week of February 6, 2006. The rest of the blog posts are from last March, April and May.