Thomas E. Guilbeau is a prominent Lafayette, Louisiana, attorney, "The Interview" is a work of fiction. Based on a composite of several recent death penalty cases handled by Guilbeau, including Dalton Prejean and Jimmy Wingo, he said: "It is factually based on the death case of Joseph Floyd Carmouche which resulted in a life penalty." "The Interview" was also the story submitted by Guilbeau to gain entry to a literary class at the University of Southwestern Louisiana, conducted by USL's writer-in- residence since 1983, Ernest Gaines, who wrote The Autobiography of Jane Pittman, In My Father's House, and A Gathering of Old Men. Recent recipient of the "Humanist of the Year Award" by the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities, Gaines is working on another book, A Lesson Before Dying, about a teacher who visits a prisoner waiting execution in the 1940s. "The Interview" was one of the 11 chosen out of 800 applications screened by USL's English Department for entry to Gaines' class during the 1989 semester. "I was quite happy to get in," Guilbeau told The Angolite. A first reading of "The Interview" describes the roller-coaster life for lawyers who represent death penalty cases. A second reading reveals the pain and the tears of a concerned and compassionate human being whose cries are unheard, tears not seen and whose suffering goes unnoticed. Guilbeau, who opposes infliction of the death penalty under any circumstance, based on moral principle, said of Dalton Prejean, "I've always considered Dalton somewhere between a brother, a close friend and a father figure.") |
Thomas E. Guilbeau
106 West Congress Street
P.O. Box 3331 Lafayette, LA 70502
337.232.7240 fax 337.232.7309 800.323.6120 info@thomasguilbeau.com
