Chapters 45-47 Summary

As part of the preparations, Sam is moved from his long term cell into the observation cell, where he is monitored twenty-four hours per day to ensure that he doesn't attempt suicide. Eight burly guards escort him between the cells, with Nugent leading the way. From the observation cell he will eventually be moved to the isolation room and then the gas chamber.

With just forty-two hours left before Sam is scheduled to enter the death chamber, Adam is still busily working to halt the execution. Although most of his petitions have been systematically denied—first by the the Mississippi Supreme Court, then the federal district court, the Fifth Circuit, and finally by the US Supreme Court—one had found an audience. Adam's claim that Sam was mentally incompetent to be executed is supported by Dr. Swinn, whose credentials...