Gather Death Sentence Illustrated By Jerry Bledsoe Contained In Copy

great true crime story, A mustread for believers in the death penalty, A mixed bag

The book gets five due to the impeccable research and writing of author Jerry Bledsoe but I really can't say I like the book.
This was my second attempt at reading this and was surprised when the court section ended around onlycompletion of the book, I do highly recommend reading this if you are interested at all in capital punishment because that is the main thrust here, I understand that people can be redeemed in prison but this woman killed five people including her own husband and elderly mother, Blaming Valium and childhood sexual abuse cannot mean that murderers escape justice, Justice was done here and I felt like many of Velma Barfield's supporters lost sight of what actually went on, Sometimes as you read the second half you almost forget that anyone died at all and these horrible people plucked this sweet old granny from her cottage and put her on death rowe.
I am happy for her redemption but also for her victims' families who finally were able to move on after six years of political grandstanding and misplaced religious fervor.
.Another book I did not register on GR apparently,

I gave it aout ofon Bookcrossing and on Thursday, March,I wrote about this book:

out of
Well I see I forgot to write a journal entry.

I completed this book on Januaryst and really enjoyed it,
What a story. very well written.
Highly recommend Where did it all start Painkillers Instead of making pain more bearable in the short term, it led to a lifetime of misery, A heartbreaking tale of addictions that resulted in murders and the destruction of a family,

Thorough research. The writer felt unable to discard some of his research and worked it into a very detailed story, Heartbreaking book.

This book tells both sides of a very sad murder story, I was always for the death penalty until reading this book, I have all the sympathy in the world for the victims and there families, I never saw the other side of it, When the perpetrators families have to go through the ups and downs of trying to save the life of there loved one, When someone has redeemed themselves and is doing good for others even prisoners it should count for something, This family continually went through the ups and downs of appeals and stays of execution, It destroyed the lives of her family for many years to come, There were a lot of circumstances that presented during trial tha t I think should have overturned the sentence of death, This book has really made a huge impact on me, A balanced, thorough history of Margie Velma Barfield, this book delivers exactly what it says on the cover, Nobody writes like this nowBledsoe is totally absent from this work, proving that it is possible to write third person investigative journalism, I wish there were more, many more , like him, Just really, really slow because Jerry Bledsoe loves details and has a tendency to over describe amd get into the weeds, Its an interesting story but not nearly as good as Bitter Blood, This book was one I am so happy that I read, I have to say I am not saddened by the fact Velma was executed, I am however saddened that her family went through so much because of her, This told both sides, not just hers which was why I enjoyed this book so much, This is the first book I've read by this author, though I've had a few by him in my wishlist for months and months and months, However, they usually go for overa pop and that is way too expensive, So this one helpfully dropped top and I snatched it up fast, I will definitely be waiting on further pricedrops on his other titles as well on the back of this,
The research is tremendous and I only dropped it one star because it got a little laboured around the middle section for me, with some repetitiveness as we traipsed through appeal after appeal after appeal process.
They just blurred into one, pretty much, I was very, very surprised that other victims' deaths were permitted to be mentioned during her trial for one murder !! Bearing in mind she hadn't been arrested nor prosecuted for any others.
I flew through the latter quarterhe did an astounding job relating what happened at the execution, very fascinating indeed.
I know the subject matter is a serious business but I did have to laugh at the opening chapter's title, "I Only Meant To Make Him Sick"!! I felt very sad for Velma's kids.
She led the pair of them a right merry dance for so many years and they both did so much for her, though in fairness she was a lovely mum till circumstances just got away with her, really.
The whole story is a really sad and tragic one, I have to say, It's not often you find yourself having any remnant of sympathy when it comes to a murdering maniac but she did actually end up genuinely rehabilitated during her time on Death Row and I found it a bloody shame that they did go ahead with her ultimate sentence, eventually.
Actually, considering her addictions, I'm surprised she ever made it that far ! It's staggering that she didn't seem to be aware at all of her own tolerance to the drugs she'd been chucking down her throat for decades and persistently overdosed.
along with the car wrecks she was in ! She had as many lives as a cat ! She definitely engendered a great deal of sympathy among lawyers, many assisting her under a pro bono basis.
People liked her a lot.
Both Ronnie and Pam had extremely patient spouses, I have to say, It was amazing what both of them put up with in dealing with the motherinlaw, She was a bloody liability for so many years,
I had never, ever heard of Velma Barfield before, yet she was killing in my lifetime so I'm not sure how she passed me by, I must say, this paragraph really gave me pause for thought, "Even if nobody else was ever sentenced to death in the United States, one person would have to be executed every day for more than ten years just to kill all the people on death row at the beginning of" !! It makes a total mockery of the given sentence altogether, I think.
I don't know why they don't just get on with it !
A couple of things I noted: I'm not sure what the publisher's font used was here but it looked terrific, even on my old Kindle Keyboard.
One person she encountered was named Record Lee and I highlighted what a splendid name I think this is ! I liked that photos were included in my digital version sinceof true crime ebooks don't include them, which is annoying.
All my printed books have pictures in them, it can't be too much of a hardship to include them,
There are some apostrophe issues, . persistently writing sheriffs department as opposed to sheriff's and the same with Edwards, not Edwards' a few times, There were odd words missed from sentences as well, . typical slapdash digital formatting these days, Oh, and that American "thing" of writing 'people lighted candles' instead of lit candles, . horrible. In her final letters to her kids, there was a line, "I love you much" which I am guessing is a typo, which I gasped at in very high dudgeon !! THAT was very annoying.
Then at one point Murphy's dead aunt Annie Belle was referred to yet at first mention she was one of his sisters, It was mentioned too that Velma was the first condemned prisoner to attempt to donate organs postexecution and I know this is an error because Gary Gilmore famously donated his corneas in.

Let's hope the pricing gets dropped considerably on his other books as I really want to read those as well, I recognise one of the cases he's written about but that's all, so plenty to look forward to,
First half and last half of this book were good! The middle was a lot of the same so I just skimmed over it, Fast paced professionally researched and professionally written,
This book was an excellent choice to read, Jerry Bledsoe brought Velma Barfield and all the people affected by her crimes to life, Velma's abusive childhood her bipolar personality, drug addiction, check forgery, and wild manic fluctuations in temperament, Velma was a ticking time bombs and was a person with virtually no coping mechanisms, Velma goes on to murder poison and murderpeople including family members, Her children Ronnie and Pam have their lives turned upside down after Velma admits to her son and police what she has done and receives the death penalty.
For the victims relatives they live a nightmare however they received some solace from the outcome of the trial and execution
But there is no end for Velma's children.
It seems, regardless of jailhouse conversion, empathy from supporters and the death of their mother hoping their lives can find some peace afterwards seems to be a impossibility, as they try to put their lives back together after their own demons of drugs and alcohol.
Ronnie and Pam

try to come to terms with the mother they loved, and wonder could they have stopped her, The book is extremely professionally researched and professionally written and is fast paced, I thoroughly enjoyed this book by Jerry Bledsoe
This is a good book, I listened to the book through audiobook format so it was an overhour thing to get through, Part of me through this book was just getting on with it and kill the murderer, While there was some compassion for Velma and that fact that she was abused and an addict she still had to face up to her crimes and while sh ultimately did the lead up was provoking.
In the way she was treated, Don't abuse criminals that are not what I am saying but all the amenities such as bday parties by the police officers and the ability to have visits with special people is not a way to treat a convict.
Yes in a way she tuned around her life that she got off drugs but I don't buy the spiritual crap, She was with god when she made those murder attempts asking all to pray over who she was a killing,

If at times the book didn't drag on I think I would have up this a star but some points were hard to get through, Sloughed on because I wanted to see this book to the end, Barbara Stager was known as a devoted mother, loving wife, and dedicated church leader in her Durham, North Carolina, community, When she “accidentally” shot her husband, popular high school coach, Russ, the police were inclined to believe heruntil they learned that ten years earlier, her first husband had died in a strangely similar way.


Sgt. Rick Buchanans relentless investigation into Stagers life revealed a stunning vortex of compulsive lying, obsessive spending, and sexual promiscuity, With every new discovery, more of Barbaras impeccable image unraveled, But the greatest shocka damning piece of evidence Russ Stager left behindrevealed the nightmare truth about Barbara, With “the finetoothedcomb reporting of an ace crime journalist,” this book takes us deep into a spellbinding case of double life, lethal lust, and almost perfect murder Kirkus s.


“A shocking and wellwritten portrait of a dangerous woman, ” The New York Times

“Mesmerizing, ” Ann Rule, New York Timesbestselling author of The Stranger Beside Me

“This account of manipulation, compulsive spending, lying, promiscuity, and murder is made even more chilling by the fact that appearances are often deceiving.
” Library Journal

“A profile of evil, . . Fascinating. ” The Baltimore Sun

“Jerry Bledsoe is the master of true crime, the conclusion to what Truman Capote began, Another stunning success. ” Patricia Cornwell, New York Timesbestselling author of Chaos Jerry Bledsoe did a good job of providing background about Velma Barfield and showing how her crimes impacted her children amp the impact she had on the folks who tried to help her.
However, I am skeptical that Velma was truly reformed before her execution, For her sake, I hope she did truly have a religious experience amp repented for her past crimes, So many criminals use religion as an excuse to try amp avoid their punishment, and a part of me feels like Velma was one of them, I still feel Bitter Blood was a better read, Made me cry I found the book fascinating, . . at first. Following a convicted serial killer through trial, appeals and execution, Until the preaching and all out attempt to try to portray this murderer as a godly wonderful woman, She brutally murdered FIVE people! One by fire, four by torturous poisoning, Including her husband and mother! She destroyed her victims families and the lives of her own two children, What the heck.