behind the armless sofa were three cardboard boxes which contained the rest of the story : the bulky transcripts of all three trials , which adam had purchased while at pepperdine ; copies of the briefs and motions and other documents from the appellate warfare that had been raging since sam 's conviction ; a thick and carefully indexed binder with neat copies of hundreds of newspaper and magazine stories about sam 's adventures as a klansman ; death penalty materials and research ; notes from law school .