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Audiobook14 hours
Death Sentence: The True Story of Velma Barfield's Life, Crimes, and Punishment
Written by Jerry Bledsoe
Narrated by Kevin Stillwell
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
4/5
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About this audiobook
A shocking true story of a double life undone by murder. When North Carolina farmer Stuart Taylor died after a sudden illness, his 46-year-old fiancée Velma Barfield, was overcome with grief. Taylor’s family grieved with her—until the autopsy revealed traces of arsenic poisoning. Turned over to the authorities by her own son, Velma stunned her family with more revelations. This wasn’t the first time the born-again Christian and devout Sunday school teacher had committed cold-blooded murder. Tried by the “world’s deadliest prosecutor,” and sentenced to death, Velma turned her life around and gained worldwide attention. With chilling precision, New York Times bestselling author Bledsoe probes Velma’s stark descent into madness. From her harrowing childhood to the shocking crimes that incited a national debate over the death penalty, to the dark, final moments of her execution—broadcast live on CNN—Velma Barfield’s riveting life of crime and punishment, revenge and redemption is true crime reporting at its most gripping and profound.
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Reviews for Death Sentence
Rating: 3.9918033032786884 out of 5 stars
4/5
61 ratings5 reviews
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5This book was well researched and well written. I can't say just why I didn't care for it. I guess I couldn't relate to anyone in the story.
Still I would recommend Bledsoe's work to anyone who enjoys true crime books.2 people found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5One of the most engrossing true crime books I’ve heard or read. Great writing and excellent narration, the narrators voice was perfect for the book. Definitely recommend, gets a bit god squaddy and depressing towards the end but still a really good book
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Amazing author, extremely thorough knows how to write a narrative in a pleasant pace humanizing every person involved, not as characters, but as the people they are/were. I recommend all of his books and this one becomes particularly sad towards the end, but maintains the high level I came to expect from Mr Bledsoe.
1 person found this helpful
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent audiobook. Bledsoe does an amazing job of fully presenting Barfields lifelong "mitigating" personality issues and hard times, but somehow, at least for me, still left me with a huge feeling of turn off for her. I don't believe in the death penalty at all anyway, but that's the only reason I thought she shouldn't get it - I believe otherwise that she should have the stiffest penalty possible. The hurt she caused is stunning. But anyway, the writing is outstanding.
3 people found this helpful
- Rating: 1 out of 5 stars1/5Listened to half of this waiting for something to happen. Absolute rubbish. Still hadn't reached the crime after half way.
1 person found this helpful