The Fact of a Body

Before Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich begins a summer job at a Louisiana law firm defending men accused of murder, they believe their position is clear: as the child of two lawyers, they are firmly opposed to the death penalty. That conviction is shaken when they review old tapes of Ricky Langley, a convicted murderer, and hear him speak about his crimes. Instead of feeling only concern or detachment, Alex is startled to find themselves wanting him to die.

Disturbed by this response, Alex looks more closely at Langley’s case, probing the circumstances surrounding his crimes and their own powerful reaction to them. Although Alex and Langley come from vastly different circumstances, something in his story feels unsettlingly familiar. The deeper Alex goes, the more the case becomes an examination of how people confront the darkest, most difficult acts—and what those acts can reveal about their own assumptions, memories, and limits.