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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER - LOOK FOR THE NETFLIX ORIGINAL DOCUMENTARY SERIES - "Both an American tragedy and [Grisham's] strongest legal thriller yet, all the more gripping because it happens to be true."--Entertainment Weekly
John Grisham's first work of nonfiction: a true crime masterpiece that tells the story of small town justice gone terribly awry. In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. 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. Don't miss Framed, John Grisham's first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, co-authored with Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey.
John Grisham's first work of nonfiction: a true crime masterpiece that tells the story of small town justice gone terribly awry. In the Major League draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the state of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A's, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution's case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. 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. Don't miss Framed, John Grisham's first work of nonfiction since The Innocent Man, co-authored with Centurion Ministries founder Jim McCloskey.
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Community Reviews
Interesting and maddening. If there is a hell, I hope there's a special nook for crooked law enforcement and court officers whose desire to win or simply wrap up a case causes innocent people and their families (the accused and the victims) to suffer so much.
I did watch the Netflix special based on this book a year or so ago and am glad I read the book. Much more detail here. Although I thought there was more about Ward and Fontenot in the show compared with the book. I'll have to rewatch it.
If you're a fan of true crime books or books about miscarriages of justice, this one will likely keep you involved and interested.
I did watch the Netflix special based on this book a year or so ago and am glad I read the book. Much more detail here. Although I thought there was more about Ward and Fontenot in the show compared with the book. I'll have to rewatch it.
If you're a fan of true crime books or books about miscarriages of justice, this one will likely keep you involved and interested.
The Innocent Man details a travesty of justice that should never occur in the United States. In the little town of Ada, Oklahoma, the murder of a beautiful young woman leads corrupt police and morally reprehensible District Attorney to secure convictions for the crime at any cost. In this case, the cost was the Constitutional rights guaranteed to the defendants, both of whom were wrongly convicted. One was sentenced to die and came within 5 days of being executed. Grisham exquisitely details the grim story of how Ron Williamson, who had grown up in Ada, spent 12 years on condemned row, living in deplorable conditions and denied treatment for the mental illness about which the court and prison officials were well aware. Were it not for principled, dedicated appellate court attorneys who were determined to review the record below and ascertain whether Williamson's Constitutional rights were violated, Williamson would have been executed. Barry Sheck and the Innocence Project also became involved and, eventually, both convictions were overturned.
The only true crime book ever drafted by Grisham is as fast-paced and spell-binding as his fictional works. Meticulously researched and told without an attempt to veil his anger and repulsion at the unethical behavior of the police and District Attorney, as well as the utter incompetence and callousness of the judge who presided over the trials, as well as Williamson's defense counsel, Grisham tells a compelling, cautionary tale about the ways in which the justice system can be manipulated and corrupted. The story may not alter readers' views on the death penalty but, at a minimum, it illustrates why proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the appropriate standard and any capital murder case must be subject to automatic appeal to ensure that the evidence is indisputable and no innocent person is ever executed.
The only true crime book ever drafted by Grisham is as fast-paced and spell-binding as his fictional works. Meticulously researched and told without an attempt to veil his anger and repulsion at the unethical behavior of the police and District Attorney, as well as the utter incompetence and callousness of the judge who presided over the trials, as well as Williamson's defense counsel, Grisham tells a compelling, cautionary tale about the ways in which the justice system can be manipulated and corrupted. The story may not alter readers' views on the death penalty but, at a minimum, it illustrates why proof beyond a reasonable doubt is the appropriate standard and any capital murder case must be subject to automatic appeal to ensure that the evidence is indisputable and no innocent person is ever executed.
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