Pamela Colloff w/ Catch the Devil
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Join Midtown Reader, in partnership with the Innocence Project of Florida, to hear acclaimed journalist Pamela Colloff talk about her chilling debut book, Catch the Devil, with IPF’s executive director, Seth Miller.
ABOUT THE BOOK
For more than three decades, Paul Skalnik roamed the Gulf Coast lying about who he was. He passed himself off as a fighter pilot, a high-rolling oilman, a criminal defense attorney, an undercover agent, and a terminal cancer patient. In these guises he married nine women—some at the same time.
When Skalnik got caught, as he invariably did, he would run a different con. Locked up with other men awaiting trial, he claimed they confessed their crimes to him. Then he peddled those stories to prosecutors. In Pinellas County, Florida, he became a frequent witness for the state, thinking nothing of exaggerating men’s wrongdoing or implicating the innocent to help prosecutors win convictions. In return, the state rewarded him with his freedom, fueling his growing sense of invincibility. Soon he was not just committing fraud; he was preying on girls in their teens or barely into adolescence.
In 1985, Jim Dailey, a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, was implicated in the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and landed in the Pinellas County Jail with Skalnik. No forensic evidence or motive linked Dailey to the killing, but Skalnik’s account of his “confession” helped put Dailey on death row. Skalnik, meanwhile, walked free. More than three decades later, after another man took responsibility for the killing, Pamela Colloff, reporting for the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica, visited Skalnik and asked him if he would recant his testimony. He refused.
By then, Skalnik had caused untold damage: to the women and girls he exploited, to the dozens of men he helped imprison, and to Jim Dailey, who went on to receive an execution date. In this mesmerizing debut, Pamela Colloff spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pamela Colloff is a reporter at ProPublica and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. She was the recipient of a National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2020 and for Feature Writing in 2013. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Reporting, and Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. Colloff holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Brown University. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and their two children.
ABOUT SETH MILLER
Seth is the point person for IPF 's public relations engagement, staff engagement with its Board of Directors, and is responsible for the day-to-day management of IPF's overall legal, transition services, and non-legal activities. Seth also litigates post-conviction innocence cases and regularly lectures to students, lawyers, and community groups on issues related to wrongful convictions. He teaches Post-Conviction Remedies as an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law and Stetson University College of Law. Seth was the President of the Innocence Network, a consortium of more than 70 innocence organizations in the United States and abroad, from 2014 to 2020, and served on its Executive Board from 2012 to 2021. He also served as Chair of the Steering Committee for the American Bar Association Death Penalty Due Process Review Project. Before joining IPF in 2006, Seth served as a project attorney with the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project in Washington, D.C., and as a staff attorney with the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, Florida. Seth currently serves as treasurer of the Tallahassee Jewish Federation. Seth graduated from Florida State University College of Law and received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University. He lives in Tallahassee with his wife Katie and son Gideon, and enjoys gardening and long-distance trekking in his spare time.
ABOUT THE BOOK
For more than three decades, Paul Skalnik roamed the Gulf Coast lying about who he was. He passed himself off as a fighter pilot, a high-rolling oilman, a criminal defense attorney, an undercover agent, and a terminal cancer patient. In these guises he married nine women—some at the same time.
When Skalnik got caught, as he invariably did, he would run a different con. Locked up with other men awaiting trial, he claimed they confessed their crimes to him. Then he peddled those stories to prosecutors. In Pinellas County, Florida, he became a frequent witness for the state, thinking nothing of exaggerating men’s wrongdoing or implicating the innocent to help prosecutors win convictions. In return, the state rewarded him with his freedom, fueling his growing sense of invincibility. Soon he was not just committing fraud; he was preying on girls in their teens or barely into adolescence.
In 1985, Jim Dailey, a down-on-his-luck Vietnam veteran, was implicated in the murder of a fourteen-year-old girl and landed in the Pinellas County Jail with Skalnik. No forensic evidence or motive linked Dailey to the killing, but Skalnik’s account of his “confession” helped put Dailey on death row. Skalnik, meanwhile, walked free. More than three decades later, after another man took responsibility for the killing, Pamela Colloff, reporting for the New York Times Magazine and ProPublica, visited Skalnik and asked him if he would recant his testimony. He refused.
By then, Skalnik had caused untold damage: to the women and girls he exploited, to the dozens of men he helped imprison, and to Jim Dailey, who went on to receive an execution date. In this mesmerizing debut, Pamela Colloff spins a dark tale of a remorseless and brilliant liar made lethal by a system more concerned with winning convictions than finding the truth.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Pamela Colloff is a reporter at ProPublica and a staff writer at The New York Times Magazine. She was the recipient of a National Magazine Award for Reporting in 2020 and for Feature Writing in 2013. Her work has been anthologized in Best American Magazine Writing, Best American Crime Reporting, and Next Wave: America’s New Generation of Great Literary Journalists. Colloff holds a bachelor’s degree in English from Brown University. She lives in Austin, Texas, with her husband and their two children.
ABOUT SETH MILLER
Seth is the point person for IPF 's public relations engagement, staff engagement with its Board of Directors, and is responsible for the day-to-day management of IPF's overall legal, transition services, and non-legal activities. Seth also litigates post-conviction innocence cases and regularly lectures to students, lawyers, and community groups on issues related to wrongful convictions. He teaches Post-Conviction Remedies as an adjunct professor at the Florida State University College of Law and Stetson University College of Law. Seth was the President of the Innocence Network, a consortium of more than 70 innocence organizations in the United States and abroad, from 2014 to 2020, and served on its Executive Board from 2012 to 2021. He also served as Chair of the Steering Committee for the American Bar Association Death Penalty Due Process Review Project. Before joining IPF in 2006, Seth served as a project attorney with the ABA Death Penalty Moratorium Implementation Project in Washington, D.C., and as a staff attorney with the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee, Florida. Seth currently serves as treasurer of the Tallahassee Jewish Federation. Seth graduated from Florida State University College of Law and received his undergraduate degree from Penn State University. He lives in Tallahassee with his wife Katie and son Gideon, and enjoys gardening and long-distance trekking in his spare time.
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