The Innocent Man by John Grisham
This story not only depicts a faulty justice system, but also, a failing mental health care for criminals or the indigent alike.
Unless the death penalty is free from abuse and criminal justice is evenly and justly administered, many innocent people and our justice system will suffer.
Accordingly, for those who defend the death penalty, The Innocent Man is the book to read, for it is the true account of several innocent men wrongly accused in a small town where the justice system and the police work depend on personal beliefs and prejudices.
The narrative, however, centers around one man, Ron Williamson, who was picked by the Oakland A's of 1971 in a major league draft from Ada, Oklahoma.
While the hero is the pride of his town and his father, his brash and overconfident demeanor and his heavy drinking interferes with his becoming a big star, and for several years, he suffers, going from one minor league to another.
After he loses his pitching arm, Williamson returns to Ada with several bad habits like drinking, drugs, and women.
His irresponsible lifestyle, brashness, and probably underlying mental illness stops him from keeping a job or settling down.
When a 21-year-old waitress is raped and murdered, Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz are suspected by the police, specifically by the district attorney.
After five years of so-called police work, they are arrested and charged with the murder of the waitress.
As the result of botched-up evidence, wrong interpretation of the scientific data, and deficient public defenders, the trials resemble a circus and Williamson ends up getting the death penalty.
After a long time on death row, he is cleared and set free, but Ron Williamsonis a broken man.
Due to lack of attention and since the cover of the book neglected to say that this is a non-fiction book, only after reading through to the middle of the third chapter, I realized the style of writing lacked the passionate expression of the usual Grisham work.
With the exception of the first chapter, which reads like any other Grisham novel, the rest of the text is full of narratives, a long explanation of Williamson's backstory, definitions of the judicial terms, and highly detailed discourses of the way the law works; therefore, at times, the story sounded only a step away from a law journal.
Even so, the author deserves a very high praise for the way he took an objective look at the troubled justice and mental health systems.
As it is in his fictional work, Grisham makes the reader empathize with the main character, even if sometimes Williamson does not act like a lovable character.
He is, however, mentally ill, with little or no means, and he always tells the truth, even though the way he tells it arouses more suspicion.
At the end, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for him because the reader has discovered that he is, in his core, a good, decent man.
John Grisham, the author, was born in 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
After majoring in accounting at Mississippi State University, he graduated from law school and specialized in criminal defense.
From 1983 to 1990, he served as a state representative.
When his first novel A Time to Kill became a success, he turned to writing.
Some of his novels eventually were made into movies.
His books are: The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Brethren, The Summons, A Painted House, The Innocent Man, and Playing for Pizza.
The book is in hardcover and 368 pages with ISBN-10: 0385517238 and ISBN-13: 978-0385517232 The Innocent Man may not be as gripping as other Grisham fiction; it is, however, persuasive and thought-provoking enough to leave a lasting impression with the reader.
I recommend this book for the understanding it brings to how the guiltless can be convicted and how the reparation and rehabilitation processes are made to fail after a convict is released from prison.
Unless the death penalty is free from abuse and criminal justice is evenly and justly administered, many innocent people and our justice system will suffer.
Accordingly, for those who defend the death penalty, The Innocent Man is the book to read, for it is the true account of several innocent men wrongly accused in a small town where the justice system and the police work depend on personal beliefs and prejudices.
The narrative, however, centers around one man, Ron Williamson, who was picked by the Oakland A's of 1971 in a major league draft from Ada, Oklahoma.
While the hero is the pride of his town and his father, his brash and overconfident demeanor and his heavy drinking interferes with his becoming a big star, and for several years, he suffers, going from one minor league to another.
After he loses his pitching arm, Williamson returns to Ada with several bad habits like drinking, drugs, and women.
His irresponsible lifestyle, brashness, and probably underlying mental illness stops him from keeping a job or settling down.
When a 21-year-old waitress is raped and murdered, Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz are suspected by the police, specifically by the district attorney.
After five years of so-called police work, they are arrested and charged with the murder of the waitress.
As the result of botched-up evidence, wrong interpretation of the scientific data, and deficient public defenders, the trials resemble a circus and Williamson ends up getting the death penalty.
After a long time on death row, he is cleared and set free, but Ron Williamsonis a broken man.
Due to lack of attention and since the cover of the book neglected to say that this is a non-fiction book, only after reading through to the middle of the third chapter, I realized the style of writing lacked the passionate expression of the usual Grisham work.
With the exception of the first chapter, which reads like any other Grisham novel, the rest of the text is full of narratives, a long explanation of Williamson's backstory, definitions of the judicial terms, and highly detailed discourses of the way the law works; therefore, at times, the story sounded only a step away from a law journal.
Even so, the author deserves a very high praise for the way he took an objective look at the troubled justice and mental health systems.
As it is in his fictional work, Grisham makes the reader empathize with the main character, even if sometimes Williamson does not act like a lovable character.
He is, however, mentally ill, with little or no means, and he always tells the truth, even though the way he tells it arouses more suspicion.
At the end, it is impossible not to feel sympathy for him because the reader has discovered that he is, in his core, a good, decent man.
John Grisham, the author, was born in 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas.
After majoring in accounting at Mississippi State University, he graduated from law school and specialized in criminal defense.
From 1983 to 1990, he served as a state representative.
When his first novel A Time to Kill became a success, he turned to writing.
Some of his novels eventually were made into movies.
His books are: The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, The Rainmaker, The Brethren, The Summons, A Painted House, The Innocent Man, and Playing for Pizza.
The book is in hardcover and 368 pages with ISBN-10: 0385517238 and ISBN-13: 978-0385517232 The Innocent Man may not be as gripping as other Grisham fiction; it is, however, persuasive and thought-provoking enough to leave a lasting impression with the reader.
I recommend this book for the understanding it brings to how the guiltless can be convicted and how the reparation and rehabilitation processes are made to fail after a convict is released from prison.
