The Innocent Man | John Grisham | Compelling. Concise.

The Innocent Man | John Grisham | The enemy of human is human

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The Innocent Man

	The Innocent Man John Grisham Dell, 2007 - 448 pages average customer review:based on 101 reviews view larger image
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Compelling. Concise.

I could not put this book down. Its concise, clear and compelling because it reminds you not to put too much faith in those in power. The criminal justice system in our country is the best the world has to offer, but thanks to Mr. Grisham for reminding us that it can go awry, and usually to those who need it the most.

The enemy of human is human

Although this is not my favorite of Grisham's is definitely one of his best.
Grisham beautifully draws how the combination of human error, human negligence, personal interest, broken judicial system can destroy one's life.

The Innocent Man

John Grisham's first non-fiction work is an engrossing work. It tells the tale of Ron Williamson wrongly convicted of murder. Grisham recounts in a concise manner the details that amounts to a chilling tale.

I've never been a fan of non-fiction works but I was willing to try this one because of the author. Mr. Grisham has a track record that's certainly one of the greatest in fictiondom. The only problem that I had with the book was all the names that were included. I know that it was necessary but it was still somewhat confusing. The story centers on Ron Williamson; accused, convicted & sentenced to Oklahoma's deathrow for a murder he did not commit. Williamson had a promising baseball career as a young man graduating high school. Unfortunately he wasn't able to hit at the bottom level of the minor leagues & wasn't able to progress beyond that point. This partially led to an increase in usages of drugs & alcohol which helped lead to his downfall. He was later diagnosed with being bipolar & schizophrenic, though these weren't his only issues. Grisham's story details the questionable police investigation, the "manufacturing" of evidence, the D.A. filing & pursuing the conviction of Williamson & Dennis Fritz (the so called accomplice). We are told about the inadequate defense of Williamson's lawyer, the judge who allowed evidence that was questionable & the many "Brady" violations, the jail snitches who lied in order to get plea bargains & diminuation of sentences.

But the most appalling error was the fact that Ron Williamson was not mentally competent yet this was never brought up at his trial. In a previous trial in which he was rightfully convicted of check fraud the issue of mental incompetency had been addressed. After his conviction we see Williamson's slide into a mental nightmare from which he was never able to recover. Williamson spent eleven years on deathrow. His physical & mental health decline. It is a story of redemption in which innocence, finally, prevails. Unfortunately, it doesn't end there. Grisham goes on to tell us a little about Ron Williamson's life after release. Though Williamson gamely tried to live independently he wasn't successful at it. The most despicable part of the story though is the way the D.A. pursued this conviction based on the flimsiest of evidence. What made it worse was the fact that Oklahoma, the D.A., the Ada police department, the judge that presided, the defending lawyer nor anyone else involved ever apologized or admitted to wrong upon Williamson's release.

I can highly recommend this book by John Grisham.

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Stranger - and more devastating - than fiction

John Grisham's first attempt at non-fiction is clearly a winner. He exposes the biases of law enforcement and even judges as he describes the real life drama of Ron Williamson and his long road to and through prison as well as through his mental illness.

Ron Williamson was a fair haired child who was the favorite of his family. His older sisters helped to rear him and he had them wrapped around his finger, doing his bidding as if it were expected. He was a successful high school baseball player with dreams of becoming a pro, though it is clear from Grisham's narration, that he clearly lacked the professional skills and competency to become the great baseball player he hoped to be.

Williamson caroused and drank and lost his shot at becoming a pro, though he was drafted and worked in Single A ball. In fact, he gave up the opportunity to go to college because he was sure he would become a pro baseball player. He was an abusive drunk, and had his run-ins with the law. When Debra Sue Carter was murdered, police were looking for a fall guy, or so it seems from the narrative. Ron Williamson was ultimately charged along with an acquaintance, Dennis Fritz. The two were railroaded through the system, tried and found guilty. They were given inept legal counsel, had manufactured evidence presented against them and the police tried to fit the "criminals" to the crime, rather than look for the real criminals.

Ultimately exonerated, this story is a devasting reminder that the poor do not have resources available to them, are often accused and judged unfairly and pushed through the system. This story also tells a sad tale of mental illness and how it was used against Mr. Williamson, who was a bi-polar schizophrenic. Finally, it tells of severe abuses within prisons. I felt as though I was reading about a third world fascist state rather than America. Surely even death-row criminals deserve not to be starved, kept freezing cold or severely hot with inadequate heating and ventilating systems in cells that are too small. That innocent men, and several others on death row were mentioned in this book, are kept in this fashion is inexplicable as well as inexcuseable.

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