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For Mace James, half the battle had been getting court approval to even conduct this test. He had filed his motion under seal because the test results would remain confidential unless they tended to exonerate Antoine Marshall. The attorney general’s office had responded under seal, citing all the reasons the test itself would be inadmissible.

But Mace had done his homework. The Brain Electrical Oscillation Signature test, or BEOS, had already been used by a court in India to affirm two murder convictions. The technology had been tested and peer-reviewed by eminent neuropsychologists around the globe. Mace had attached affidavits from several of them to his motion.

The test involved the unique use of an electroencephalogram to distinguish experiential knowledge from conceptual knowledge. A suspect would be hooked up to thirty-two electrodes, two of which would be placed on his earlobe and the rest on various areas of his scalp. The suspect would sit quietly with his eyes closed as the administrator read a series of statements. Computer software would map the electrical signals the suspect’s brain generated in response to the statements. Because experiential knowledge of an event is accrued only through participation in it, electrical activity would map differently than if the suspect had only learned about the event through others. In other words, the test could distinguish between memories created by experience and memories created by being told about an event.

Mace had lined up one of the top neuropsychologists in the country to conduct the test. Perhaps out of a reluctance to give Mace James another issue to complain about on appeal, the court had finally consented. But the court made it clear that it reserved judgment as to whether or not it would ultimately consider the test results as evidence. That decision would wait for another day.

Now, nineteen days before Antoine Marshall’s scheduled execution, Mace James sat in an enclosed conference room at the Diagnostic and Classification Prison in Jackson, watching a scene straight out of a George Orwell book.

Antoine Marshall wore a cap with the thirty-two electrodes that measured his brain waves. He had his eyes closed, listening intently to the statements suggested by Dr. Rukmani Chandar. They began with baseline statements—“The sky is blue”—and Chandar studied the responses on the computer. Next, Chandar moved to events that he knew would elicit an experiential response, such as “In the early part of 2000, I was high on meth” or “I ate eggs this morning for breakfast.” He also interspersed statements that would only elicit a conceptual response, such as “I’ve argued a case before the Georgia Supreme Court.”

Once the baselines were established, Chandar carefully went through a short series of factual statements about the crime in question. “I broke into the Brocks’ house at 130 English Oak Court. . . . I was carrying a gun that night. . . . I saw the open garage door. . . . I shot Dr. Brock when she interrupted me. . . . I shot Robert Brock in the stomach.”

Mace watched his client’s expression as these questions were asked. Antoine showed no external reaction, his demeanor the same during the description of the crime as it was during the baseline questions. Chandar was focused only on his computer and the electrical patterns he was seeing in front of him. Mace knew it would take a few days to fully interpret all the results, but Chandar was plainly seeing something interesting even now.

Mace couldn’t tell whether it was good news or bad.

The test lasted no more than an hour. After it concluded, Chandar was tight lipped about the results. “I cannot say definitively until I’ve had more time to analyze each pattern.”

“How long will it take?”

“Two days. Maybe three.”

Mace had waited this long. He could begin drafting the briefs now, assuming that the test results would be good news. After all, Antoine had already passed two polygraphs. How could he not pass this test? The real issue would be whether the courts would regard the results as reliable evidence. On that point, Mace knew he faced an uphill battle. But at least the battle would bring a new wave of publicity to the case, one that would center around a cutting-edge scientific test that once again confirmed his client had been nowhere near the Brock house on the night in question.

If Mace won, defense lawyers everywhere would have a powerful new weapon in their arsenal. The Fifth Amendment guarantee against self-incrimination would prevent prosecutors from using this test in America unless the defendant acquiesced. It would be like DNA evidence, but the defense would have a veto over whether or not the evidence could be used. This test alone could radically turn the tables in favor of defense lawyers everywhere.

But Mace couldn’t concern himself with the broader societal implications of what he was doing. Right now he had a laser focus. He was trying to save Antoine Marshall’s life.