Mar 7

Mar 7 Phoebe Zerwick journalist and author joins Lexington Book Festival Saturday

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A love of journalism, writing and telling the stories of those around her may have always been a part of journalist Phoebe Zerwick’s world, but she still never thought she’d write a book.

She became a published author when a story she began covering for the Winston-Salem Journal not only kept coming back to her to write about, but caught the attention of the woman who is now her agent.

In 2003, Zerwick, was assigned to dig into the story of Darryl Hunt. Hunt had been convicted 19 years earlier, in 1984, of the rape and murder of a newspaper editor. That was just three years before Zerwick arrived in North Carolina, a recent graduate of the Columbia University School of Journalism in New York, often considered the top of the line in the journalism world.

By 2003, Zerwick was an established journalist and a columnist, so when Hunt filed an appeal requesting new DNA testing, the paper wanted someone to investigate the case.

After all, 19 years and numerous court challenges had passed, and still Hunt was incarcerated. But in the end, the DNA did not match Hunt, instead matching someone else in the system, and in February of 2004, Hunt was exonerated and released.

Zerwick wrote an eight-part series on his case for the paper, entitled “Murder, Race, Justice: The State vs. Darryl Hunt.” But with that, as she says, “my work on Hunt’s story was over.”

Until the spring of 2016, when Hunt went missing. More than a week passed before his body was found in his truck. He had apparently shot and killed himself.

Hunt’s death struck a hard chord with Zerwick, who realized that a big part of Hunt’s story had until then, been missed.

In her book, “Beyond Innocence: The Life Sentence of Darryl Hunt,” she delves into not just the failures of the criminal justice system but the larger community failure to recognize that the man Hunt presented to the world, a fighter for reform and seemingly not angry or jaded by his 19 years of incarceration for a crime he did not commit, was not the man on the inside.

Hunt might be gone, but Zerwick was not willing to leave the story as it was. She wrote another magazine article for Duke University Law School, and credits editor Andrew Park for much of its success, though the words and research were hers. At the time, “Duke was interested in supporting criminal justice journalism,” Zerwick said, and when the university distributed the article, it had the weight of Duke behind it, perhaps garnering additional attention. Park also sent the article out, and it was picked up by both the Marshall Project and the Sunday Long Read, both well-respected outlets.

It caught the attention of a literary agent, who reached out to Zerwick to see if she would be interested in turning it into a book. Together they wrote a proposal, and it was picked up by Grove. Suddenly Zerwick was looking at a different deadline – she had 18 months to finish a book.

When the first bound proofs arrived, “I nearly fainted,” Zerwick said. “It was scary.”

She credits good resources for the solid information in her book, including parts of Hunt’s own journals and recordings of his life, which had been left to Wake Forest University by his attorney as part of that lawyer’s work.

The only piece missing, she said, was what Hunt’s life in prison had been like.
“There was a lot of information about his public life, but not about his personal anguish and private life,” she said.

Since that first story on Hunt, Zerwick said she essentially fell into reporting on criminal justice, but she has also written about the Yadkin River and about the abortion issue among other topics. She did not stop with writing, dipping her wings into multimedia, and has won awards in most of the fields and most of the topics she has tackled.

In addition, she joined Wake Forest University’s staff in 2010 and today is the director of the university’s journalism program.

Zerwick will be one of the authors participating in Lexington’s Book Festival Saturday, March 9, at Arts Davidson County, 202 North Main Street. The festivities run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. The event is free and open to the public and all details can be found on the Facebook page Lexington Book Festival.

Zerwick is looking forward to answering questions and talking about her book. She says those who are writers will want to talk about the process of writing the book, but “most people want to talk about the intimate details, the nitty gritty, of Hunt’s story.” She says that she is okay with that.

Zerwick will also be on a panel at 4:00 p.m. Saturday at the festival on “Seeking Justice.” The panel includes members of an activist group that has been working for clemency for Lexington resident Charles McNeair. McNeair, who is Black, pled guilty in 1979, at the age of 16, to second-degree rape of a white woman after he was threatened with the death penalty and more charges. But examination of the case shows no existing evidence that the crime actually occurred. Police have said the files were destroyed. Meanwhile, McNeair’s repeated requests for parole have been denied, with little explanation, despite the growing support, including a proclamation unanimously signed by Lexington’s city council supporting his clemency.

A local resident, Wanda Cox, took up McNeair’s case more than three years ago, gathering supporters then forming a nonprofit board and along the way garnering the aid of attorney Jamie Lau, a law professor at Duke University, supervising attorney of the Wrongful Convictions Clinic and deputy director of the Center for Criminal Justice and Professional Responsibility. Lau submitted a brief requesting clemency to Governor Roy Cooper last year, but so far, no action has been taken.

Zerwick says she is glad the group found inspiration in her book, and believes there is a story to be told.

She will hold a book signing on Saturday from 2 p.m. to 2:45 p.m. along with author Scott Reingten.

As for the future, Zerwick is taking it as it comes, but she remains committed to journalism, especially local.

“I believe in the role of the free press in democracy,” she said. “I believe in giving voice to people who don’t hold the power to speak.”