This is a scary place to live!!!

books:

	• The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town John Grisham Doubleday, 2006 - 368 pages average customer review:based on 446 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

This is a scary place to live!!!

If you haven't read this you should! This book will enlighten you to how we live! Now that everything has settled down and gone home, they are back to the way they where. I won't name names because I don't know where the lines are drawn. Not that it matters much but I am so glad I am not a criminal type, they can make you look like one anyway. The county jail is full of staff infection and they will not allow anyone medical attention, they are stacked 10 to a cell, they sleep on the floor sitting in corners, where ever they can find. They are not given attorneys or read their Miranda rights. Most of them do not even know what they have done!! That is on the female side I can only imagine what happens on the male side. OSBI doesn't seem interested and the FBI will not return their calls, so these women sit and rot. The justice system in this small town is still in a horrible state. You need to read this book and then you will understand! Things like this really do happen.

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A Very Different Grisham

This was a book truly out of character for Grisham yet left you not wanting it to end. It is a true story and, having heard it, realize why he chose to write about it. It really leaves you shaking your head about so many judicial systems .. especially those in small towns!

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Wrongful convictions!

After lying unread on my bookshelf for over 9 months, I finally got around to reading John Grisham's latest offering and first work of non-fiction - "The Innocent Man".

Growing up on a steady diet of Erle Stanley Gardner and in love with Perry Mason, it was but natural that I become a fan of John Grisham's legal works of fiction. But other than "Skipping Christmas" which was moderately interesting, his non-legal fiction did not excite me at all. So I wasn't sure what to expect with his work of legal non-fiction.

Fortunately it was interesting reading for the most part except the botched trial that got really slow and repetitive. Since this was a true story and Grisham was using actual court transcripts, he had to keep it so, but could have edited it a bit to make it crisper. Maybe all the legal serials we watch - The Practice, Law & Order, Boston Legal and others of their ilk have gotten me to expect snappy, sharp detective work, logical but persuasive arguments by counsel and crisp closing statements. The way the case was handled was completely slip shod and pathetic and makes you wonder at the possibility of truly getting justice unless you are in a TV serial.

Little wonder that a libel suit was filed against John Grisham on 28, September 2007, by Pontotoc County - Oklahoma, District Attorney Bill Peterson and Gary Rogers, a former Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation agent.

This true story, is remarkable for the fact that the main accused Ron Williamson who was framed by the law enforcement team of Pontotoc County was not just a "white" man, he was a semi-FAMOUS "white" man.

Ron Williamson was a local hero on the baseball field and was also the 41st pick in baseball's 1971 amateur draft, a second-round selection by the Oakland Athletics. Due to poor performance, he did not hit the big time but he was still quite a local celebrity when he was accused as the murderer of cocktail waitress Debra Carter.

His co-accused Dennis Fritz had nothing to implicate him except that he and Williamson were occasional "drinking buddies". Ironically Fritz's own wife had been murdered 7 years ago.

The police used forced dream confessions, convicted felons as snitches and witnesses, junk science and other dubious means to get them both convicted. Williamson got the death penalty which automatically set a series of appeals in motion while Fritz got a life sentence.

Through his incarceration, Williamson deteriorated physically and mentally despite the efforts of some good hearted souls until the Innocence Project - (basis for the serial In Justice) helped get them both acquitted after 12 years on the basis of the new technology - DNA testing.

Grisham read Williamson's obituary when he died (5 years after being released) and was inspired to research and write this book.

I started out reading the book, knowing that the main accused was innocent (could the title have been more descriptive?). Grisham wrote the book, knowing that Williamson was innocent. But even someone who didn't know some of the data presented here in hindsight, could have seen that this was a wrongful conviction. And it appalls you that even though the case came up for appeal multiple times, each person upheld the original wrongful conviction.

Hence Grisham seems to have achieved his major goal in writing this novel.

"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"

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Victim of Small-Town Injustice

I have been an avid reader of Grisham's fiction for years and eagerly look forward to each of his new contributions to the legal genre.

This true story did not engage me as much as Grisham's fictional tales. Exhaustively researched and told in exacting detail, the book is a revealing and somewhat horrifying tale of the ineptitude of the police department and legal system that sent an innocent man to prison and basically destroyed his life. However, I never could really develop much sympathy for the victim with all of his flaws and addiction issues.

I did enjoy the legal detail relating to the trials, appeals, etc. which display Grisham's joint talent for comprehending and explaining legal processes.

The book is bound with 8 pages of photos inserted into the center which should be labelled as "plot spoilers" so that you can skip the photos until you have finished reading the book. A glance through the photos reveals the outcome of the story.

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a native adan's review

Having lived in Ada during the writing of this book and also being an employee of the Ada Evening News during the same period, the detail of this book is remarkable. The author truly got to know the characters. I knew most of the law enforcement and court characters. This gave me a true flavor for Ada, even if I had not been a native.

reviews: 1, 2, page 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12

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