A man and his son have been shot in a hotel in Miami. Clive Stafford Smith, the English-born lawyer in charge of Maharaj’s appeal, is an excellent true-crime writer. He’s as good a writer as he is a lawyer. He describes the moment the sentence is passed. The judge “places no emphasis on the word death, but it resonates across the courtroom”. The case against Maharaj seems strong. His fate seems sealed. Stafford Smith tells us about that fate — he describes the execution of Nick Ingram, another of his clients. It’s frightening and disgusting.
