Shawn Gaston - The Life of David Gail

The Life of David Gail is one of the most intense movies I have ever seen. It is a story about capital punishment in the state of Texas. It is a fiction story about a philosophy professor, David Gail, who was dedicated to the abolition of the death penalty and who was sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a colleague and fellow abolitionist. The story begins at a graduation party, an inebriated David was seduced by an attractive student from his class; earlier he had refused her advances to raise her failing grade, resulting in her expulsion from school. She then used the physical evidence of their sexual encounter to falsely accuse Gale of rape in revenge. While she dropped the charges and fled town shortly afterwards, the negative publicity cost him his career as an educator and activist, and his marriage; with no wife and no job, Gale turned to drinking. One of Gale’s good friends Constance Harraway who was a fellow abolitionist died just a few weeks later. Gale’s finger prints were found on the plastic bag that served as the murder weapon and became a suspect of her death. Gale went through trials and was proven guilty, put on death row and executed. We find out from flashbacks throughout the movie that the two of them planned this whole thing to prove that the system had flaws. Harraway had cancer and knew she didn’t have long to live anyway and Gale’s life was ruined and he felt he had no reason left to live so they had nothing to loose. Harraway committed suicide on a secret tape and then Gale walked into the screen and touched the bag but it was obvious he didn’t do it. So he was executed and then shortly after when the tape came up proven innocent. These incidents of course cause a huge media nationwide uproar. They plan worked it made a huge statement about the role and effectiveness of the death penalty. The issue brought up in this movie is something that every person should think about and come to their own conclusion. I personally believe it has a good thought behind it, make the punishment fit the crime, but that would require us to rape rapists and abuse abusers and that’s just not possible. The death penalty is not as effective as it should be and if there is even a chance that one innocent person could be executed that is too many. Ghandi says it best; an eye for an eye would lead the whole world blind.