Famed author speaks at Antioch High School

They could have stayed home to watch the Cubs, Bears or Barack Obama's speech on TV, but nearly 250 people chose to spend the night debating the death penalty.

Culminating its first-ever, "One book, One Community" event, Antioch Community High School hosted a

Thursday discussion forum featuring best-selling author Scott Turow.

A former federal prosecutor and the author of "Ultimate Punishment. A lawyer's reflection on dealing with the death penalty", Turow spoke to the group for about 40 minutes. Audience members then broke off into small student-led discussion groups.

Turow's nonfiction analysis of capital punishment, was the book of choice for this communitywide reading initiative.

Antioch High School principal Mike Nekritz said the book was perfect for the inaugural event. "This is a relevant topic and everyone has an opinion on it," he said. "It engages people into discussions about values and morality."

With a wealth of experience as a lawyer on high-profile death penalty cases, such as the murder of Jeanine Nicarico, Turow presented compelling arguments on both sides of the debate. After that, about 15 groups of people headed to classrooms to continue the discussion. Antioch senior Blythe Roberson was feeling a little anxiety about leading adults in a discussion about such a volatile topic, but overcame it. "I was afraid that either nobody would talk or there would be big arguments," she said. "Neither happened. It went really well."

Strongly worded opinions were flying around the room, but the discussions were civil. Deborah Will of Zion was impressed by the student leaders in her group. "I'm amazed by their critical thinking skills," she said. "They are engaged and informed. This was great."