Clay Warner was a young writer. He confessed to the murder and robbery of KKK cabbie Robert Lee Redburn. He demanded that he receive the death penalty in a plea bargain with the District Attorney's office. He had earlier stabbed a junkie to death while in prison on drug charges. He is based on Jack Henry Abbott, a convicted murderer and writer who was paroled thanks to the efforts of acclaimed novelist Norman Mailer, only to kill again once freed.