The Innocent Man by John Grisham

The tagline to this book is, “If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.” And I couldn’t agree more. Perhaps I’ve been conditioned from watching CSI and other forensic/crime drama shows, but I became physically mad at times while reading this book. Despite the first-person pronoun in the title, Grisham introduces the reader to at least four men who were accused of, and in some cases executed for, crimes they did not commit. The main focus of the book is on Ronald Williamson, a former Minor league baseball player who, in the early 1980s, was a couch potato. When a young woman in his hometown, Debbie Carter, was brutally raped and murdered, he was implicated by one man, and for reasons that are still sketchy, the Chief of Police and the local District Attorney focused their entire investigation on Mr. Williamson, nearly to the exclusion of anyone else, including one man’s videotaped confession that he had killed Ms. Carter. Over the course of many years, the police put together a case against Mr. Williamson that was based on hearsay, shaky evidence, and prison snitches. One major piece of evidence that was used against Mr. Williamson was a dream that he told the police he had. In that dream, he had raped and killed Ms. Carter. Mr. Williamson and a friend, Dennis Fritz, were eventually convicted of the rape and murder, and Mr. Williamson was put on Death Row. After many years, with the help of The Innocence Project, both convictions were overturned and both men were freed and given a monetary compensation. While this story does have a satisfactory ending for the family of Mr. Williamson, Debbie Carter’s murder is still unsolved. By the time I finished reading the book, I was no longer angry, but I was disappointed that there are places in America where injustice is so obvious and ramped. I wasn’t surprised, which is the sad part, but I am pleased that Grisham took the time to convey this story to the American public. Perhaps the nation will soon be able to really learn from its mistakes.

If you enjoyed this book, please consider these :
Fiction Recommendation #1 : The Testament by John Grisham. This novel tells the story of Nate O’Reily, a lawyer set on a wild goose chase in order to pin down the heir of a great fortune. Nonfiction Recommendation #1 : The Dreams of Ada : A True Story of Murder, Obsession, and a Small Town by Robert Mayer. This book, published in 1987 first brought the story of the unfairness of the trials in Ada, OK, to the general public. Mr. Grisham cites it on occasion.