Thomas L. Dybdahl has degrees in theology, journalism, and law and is a former staff attorney at the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. He worked in both the trial and appellate divisions and tried 25 homicide cases. He lives and writes in Boulder, Colorado.
The author was a finalist for the 2024 Colorado Book Award for General Nonfiction.
SunLit: Tell us this book’s backstory. What inspired you to write it? Where did the story/theme originate?
Thomas Dybdahl: The Brady rule, the legal requirement that in a criminal case prosecutors must disclose favorable evidence to the defense, was intended to make sure trials were fair. But in the decades since it was enacted in 1963, prosecutors have regularly failed to comply with the rule; sometimes deliberately, sometimes inadvertently. And judges have been reluctant to enforce it.
As a result, prosecutorial misconduct — hiding favorable evidence — has become the single leading cause of wrongful convictions in this country. Of 2,400 documented exonerations between 1989 and 2019, Brady violations helped to convict 44%: 1,056 innocent people.
As a public defender in Washington, D.C., I saw prosecutors routinely break the rule, and judges routinely look the other way. I wrote this book to focus attention on the problem, and to show how we can fix it. It tells the winding history of the Brady rule through the cases that created and defined it. The book is anchored by the odyssey of the Catherine Fuller murder case, which shows just how easily Brady violations occur, how difficult they are to uncover, and the terrible human cost they exact.
SunLit: Place this excerpt in context. How does it fit into the book as a whole? Why did you select it?
Dybdahl: The excerpt story both starts the book and illustrates how laws develop. The best way to understand the birth and the life of a law is through stories; through the tales of real cases with real people in real situations, and how they were resolved.
Also, after reading the beginning of the story, I hope readers will be enticed to find out how it ends; how such a crucial legal concept emerged from a bumbling, unplanned murder, and why it has failed to realize its primary purpose.
UNDERWRITTEN BY
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SunLit: Tell us about creating this book. What influences and/or experiences informed the project before you sat down to write?
Dybdahl: Through my work as a public defender, and my volunteer work with prisoners prior to that time, I saw firsthand the unfairness that is all too common in our law courts. I wanted to share what I had learned with others.
When I began writing, I had some ideas about how the Brady rule could be reformed and strengthened so its initial promise of a fairer, more just system could be realized. But the more I studied and researched the issue, the more I came to believe that the rule was fatally flawed. That it needed to be set aside and replaced with a much more open, collegial system where all relevant information is shared.
As long as prosecutors control all the disclosure of information, we’ll have Brady problems. The only lasting solution is to take those decisions out of their hands, and simply require that any information they intend to use at trial be disclosed to the defense. In the few places where that has been tried, it has worked amazingly well.
“When Innocence Is Not Enough”
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SunLit: Are there lessons you take away from each experience of writing a book? And if so, what did the process of writing this book add to your knowledge and understanding of your craft and/or the subject matter?
Dybdahl: To make this book work I needed to keep things as simple as possible. The law is not difficult to understand, but there are a lot of related issues and wrinkles that come into play. Legal concepts need to be explained in clear, basic terms, with stories and examples to illuminate them.
Trying to write elegant prose is a dangerous temptation — we all want to do it, but the more you deliberately try the more likely you are to get bogged down in fancy language. If you just write what you mean in plain words, maybe sometimes they’ll even be eloquent.
SunLit: What were the biggest challenges you faced in writing this book?
Dybdahl: I wanted to tell a big story in a relatively short book. The Catherine Fuller murder case had 10 defendants, and the trial and hearing transcripts totaled nearly 12,000 pages. There were also dozens of police reports, evidence reports, interviews, witness statements, etc.
To find the key facts amid all that paper, and put them together in a coherent story, was an ongoing challenge. I could easily have written a book that was three times as long, and there were things I hated to leave out, but I’m convinced shorter was better.
SunLit: If you could pick just one thing – a theme, lesson, emotion or realization — that readers would take from this book, what would that be?
Dybdahl: I would like people to realize — for a fact — that our criminal legal system is fundamentally flawed. Many of the issues we face, such as Brady violations, are not rare, aberrational events, but recurring, systemic problems. The good news is that if we can find the political will to enact serious reforms, we can make the criminal process much more just.
SunLit: In a highly politicized atmosphere where books, and people’s access to them, has become increasingly contentious, what would you add to the conversation about books, libraries and generally the availability of literature in the public sphere?
Dybdahl: It’s liberating and exhilarating to learn that the world is a large and wonderful place, with a multitude of cultures, religions, political ideals, and lifestyles. The more widely you read, the more you know, and the more you understand the richness that surrounds us. Nothing tests and builds your beliefs and ideas more than reading books that challenge or illuminate those values.
SunLit: Walk us through your writing process: Where and how do you write?
Dybdahl: I write at a desk in my upstairs office, looking out at the mountains, so my only distraction is the views. I try to write something every day, no matter how I’m feeling. I can’t make myself write, but I can make myself sit in the chair at my computer. And I try to follow Hemmingway’s advice: end your writing day knowing where you’ll begin the next day. That makes it far easier to get started again.
SunLit: The Brady rule is the law; why don’t prosecutors obey it or judges enforce it?
Dybdahl: Though the rule is intended to promote fairness, it has been widely disregarded. The goal of criminal prosecutions should be justice, not convictions. But in our adversarial system, too often the aim is winning guilty verdicts. That’s what earns a prosecutor publicity, and promotions, and bigger paychecks. So it’s hard for them to honor a rule that can make winning more difficult.
And because the law loves finality, judges are reluctant to overturn jury verdicts, especially years afterwards. When prosecutors ignore the rule, they know they’re unlikely to be caught, and that even if they are, there will be little price to pay. Until that changes the rule will never be successful. And since it’s unlikely to change, I believe the only real solution is to reform the system.
SunLit: Tell us about your next project.
Dybdahl: My main project right now is working with Sr. Helen Prejean, author of “Dead Man Walking,” on a book about her personal experiences with men on death row. Her stories will illustrate how broken the legal system is in the way it chooses to impose and carry out capital sentences.
Just a few more quick questions
SunLit: Do you look forward to the actual work of writing or is it a chore that you dread but must do to achieve good things?
Dybdahl: Yes — to both. Some days I’m excited to get started; some days I can’t wait to quit floundering. Fortunately there are more of the good days; and I nearly always enjoy rewriting and polishing what I’ve already written.
SunLit: What’s the first piece of writing – at any age – that you remember being proud of?
Dybdahl: In fourth grade I wrote a poem about a trip to the mountains. The words weren’t great but it had tight rhyme.
SunLit: When you look back at your early professional writing, how do you feel about it? Impressed? Embarrassed? Satisfied? Wish you could have a do-over?
Dybdahl: Some pieces are embarrassing to read, but some are surprisingly OK. The ones I’m happiest with are not necessarily the best, but the ones where I was trying to stretch my range or to make some really worthwhile points.
SunLit: What three writers, from any era, can you imagine having over for a great discussion about literature and writing? And why?
Dybdahl: Charles Dickens, Toni Morrison, and John Updike. To learn how they were able to turn the trials and traumas of everyday life into art.
SunLit: Do you have a favorite quote about writing?
Dybdahl: “The only reliable reward for writing is the pleasure of writing.”
SunLit: What does the current collection of books on your home shelves tell visitors about you?
Dybdahl: That I’m obsessed with crime and criminals; with how and why people end up on the wrong side of the law despite the pitfalls and punishments that are likely to result.
SunLit: Soundtrack or silence? What’s the audio background that helps you write?
Dybdahl: I prefer silence, though I can tolerate a limited soundtrack of everyday life. Music doesn’t work for me because I end up focusing on the songs rather than working.
SunLit: What event, and at what age, convinced you that you wanted to be a writer?
Dybdahl: When I was about 14 I heard Calvin Trillin give a reading from his work. It was hilarious and sad and deeply human, and I wondered if I could possibly create something like that one day.
SunLit: What’s your greatest fear as an author?
Dybdahl: That what I write won’t be true to the subject, or fairly convey its meaning and significance.
SunLit: Greatest satisfaction?
Dybdahl: Readers who tell me they liked my book/piece for a specific reason — i.e. that it left them hopeful, or angry, or smarter, or more engaged with the world.