OMG…I had no idea how corrupt the justice system is!!!
An incredible read and a huge eye opener.

Grisham's first true-crime book is better, in many ways, than his fiction. And the characters, all real, are more unbelievable. The cops, the prosecutors, the judges, the jailers, the doctors, the scientists, and everybody else shirked their duty, bent the rules, and generally framed five innocent men for three murders. A grisly, depressing tale.
To be fair, it begins with a police-created confession, editing the dream of a mentally disturbed man to fit the desired facts. Once the confession was in the record, everybody else gives themselves license to fix the results--'oh, he confessed, so this fingerprint must be his.' All the manufactured evidence springs from this first abuse of the cops.
This story is so much more disturbing than fiction: these murders are real, and the destruction of five innocent lives is just as real. Grisham mostly keeps an even, neutral tone, but he can't resist a few pokes at these lazy charlatans who pretend to work for justice in Oklahoma.

I always feel a little guilty when starting a Grisham book as I know I will still be reading ten hours later...but at least this one is a true story so I feel like I learned something.

The author is trying to shine a light on potential miscarriages of justice in America specifically the small town of Ada, Oklahoma--those in prison and on death row who really shouldn't be there. They end up there for all manner of reasons; corrupt cops, ambitious prosecutors, judges who are too focused on retirement or reputation, snitches willing to lie on oath, or maybe even innocent people just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least one of the men wrongly convicted believed that his coerced confession wouldn't matter because the police would get to the truth. He had placed his faith in the criminal justice system, it let him down.

The story is sad but believable. As always, it is a well written account that kept me reading until the last page. Being non-fiction, it is also well researched--the author spent a lot of time with many of those involved in these cases and investigated the culture of small town Oklahoma. The story focuses on two men convicted of the rape and murder of a 21 year old waitress in 1982. The cases are linked to other possible innocents in jail. All of the cases covered are compelling. I hope that some progress is being made on those who still languish in prison.

I always find Grisham's stance on faith issues a little confusing. He often includes strong Gospel statements referring to salvation by faith in Jesus in his books and refers to himself as a Christian. However, he also states that his faith is a private matter that he keeps to himself. How can a real Christian think it is okay to keep their faith to themself, especially one with the huge platform that he has?

This book has only a little bad language. There is some violence and some graphic details of the crime but it is factual rather than sensational. There are also some details about the sexual aspects of the crime but again it is factual.

I enjoy Grisham's books and will no doubt read more of them and probably re-read those that I have read in the past. To find a non-fiction book by Grisham was a nice surprise and I'm glad I read it. I hope that one day Grisham will take a clearer public stand on faith issues, choosing God over popularity/success...

Nonfiction is hard to write because you have to strive to stick to the facts, and facts have a way of changing shape as each new perspective is brought into play.

This is a true story you need to know about!

There are many, many arguments on both sides of the capital punishment issue. But perhaps one of the most powerful arguments against the use of capital punishment is that, every once in a while, the justice system goes seriously off the rails and makes a tragic mistake.

As a young man, Robert Williamson was an exceptionally skilled baseball player. Thinking himself destined for the major leagues, he began to lead a self-indulgent debauched life style that ultimately would lead to nowhere but trouble, self-destruction and severe mental illness. Robert Williamson and his alleged co-conspirator were definitely not nice people. But neither were they rapists.

THE INNOCENT MAN is the story of the blind, single-minded quest of the Oklahoma judicial system to arrest, imprison and execute a man for the 1982 rape and murder of a cocktail waitress. It was a very near call but, ultimately, Robert Williamson was proven to be innocent and released before his rapidly nearing date with the executioner.

Even those who believe in either the deterrent or the punishment argument on the pro-side of the capital punishment debate will be un-nerved by this near miss of a system gone so badly wrong.

Unfortunately, the writing in THE INNOCENT MAN is not as compelling as it might have been give the nature of the subject matter. But it is still quite gripping and certainly important enough that every thinking citizen should read it and make themselves aware that this kind of miscarriage of justice can and does happen.

Highly recommended.

Paul Weiss

I've enjoyed a few Grisham's in my day, and of course seen a few of the films... But this book is stunning, and it's his first non-fiction.

I myself practice criminal law, and of course if you asked me, I'd say there are bad cops out there, and bad prosecutors, and bad defense attorneys and bad judges, but I would not have imagined the devastating travesty that unfolds on these pages.

This is a story of small town justice going way south. It wasn't vigilante but it wasn't far off. They used the "system" over two decades to accomplish what a mob and noose once accomplished overnight.

The evil that even prosperous, educated people can do to one another is astonishing in this detailed, chilling account of a man who's constitutional rights are run roughshod over en route to a death penalty conviction for a murder he did not commit and for which no real evidence existed.

This is an informative, exciting, fast paced, real life chiller that everyone should read to understand how something unbelievable can and apparently does happen to "anyone."

This is John Grisham's first Non Ficiion. It focuses on a young athlete wrongly convicted of a crime he did not commit.

It is a scathing look at our criminal justice system and a story of sadness, tragedy and gross incompetence.

It is also quite long and took me a great deal of time to finish but is very well written. I always love Grisham's work and this book, although tough to follow at times and very tragic, is poignant because of its reality. Unlike the characters in Grisam's fiction novels, of which there are many, this actually happened.

A searing and disturbing read.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Smalltown, John Grisham

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town is a 2006 true crime book by John Grisham.

The book tells the story of Ronald 'Ron' Keith Williamson of Ada, Oklahoma, a former minor league baseball player who was wrongly convicted in 1988 of the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter in Ada and was sentenced to death.

After serving 11 years on death row, he was exonerated by DNA evidence and other material introduced by the Innocence Project and was released in 1999.

تاریخ نخستین خوانش: ماه دسامبر سال 2010 میلادی

عنوان: مرد معصوم: نویسنده: جان گریشام؛ مترجم: فریده مهدوی دامغانی؛ تهران، کتابسرای نیک؛ 1387؛ در 604ص؛ شابک 9789642953113؛ موضوع: داستانهای نویسندگان امریکایی - سده 20م

داستان وکیلی نابینا، موکلی دیوانه، دستگاه قضایی خودستا، پلیس­هایی فاسد، و عدالت، که به مسلخ میرود. «ران ویلیامسون» جوانی با آرزوی تبدیل شدن به بزرگترین ورزشکار ایالت «اوکلاهما»، نوجوانی را طی می­کند، در عنفوان جوانی یک بازیکن بیسبال با آینده­ ای روشن می­تواند باشد، ولی مزایای شهرت را وامی­نهد، و به بیراهه رانده می­شود؛ آسیب­های جسمانی، در کنار افراط در نوشیدن مشروبات الکی و مصرف مواد مخدر، زندگی ورزش­ی او را بسیار زود به انتها می­رساند؛ زندگی ­ای که می­توانست سرشار از افتخار باشد، تبدیل به گنجینه ی حسرتها می­شود؛ حسرتهایی که ذهنش را می­خراشند، و او را بیماری روانی می­کنند

دختر جوانی، به نام: «دبرا سو کارتر»، در شهر کوچک «ادا»، در منزل خویش به طرز وحشتیانه ­ای مورد تجاوز قرار گرفته، و کشته می­شود؛ ترس از ناامنی، شهر را فرامی­گیرد، و اهالی در انتظار یافتن قاتل، و مجازات بزهکار هستند؛ اداره ی آگاهی و دادگستری شهر، درمانده و ناتوان، از حل معمای قتل، زیر فشار افکار عمومی، و برای رهایی از مخمصه، به دنبال شخصی می­گردند، که با پرونده­ سازی بتوانند، او را مجرم جلوه دهند، و چه کسی بهتر از جوانی که به سرعت از ورزشکاری موفق، به دائم­ الخمری بی­کار، سقوط کرده، و نیز مشتری همیشگی همان کلوبی بوده، که مقتول نیز در همانجا مشغول به کار بوده است

بنا بر همین برهانها، «ران» سرپوش مناسبی، بر بی­کفایتی اداره­ ی آگاهی�� و دادگستری، برای آرام کردن افکار عمومی می­شود؛ از لحظه دستگیری، بازجویی از متهم آغاز شده، در دادگاه نیز همین روال ادامه می­یابد؛ اداره ی آگاهی، که آگاه نیست، به یاری دادگستری که دیگر دادگستر نیست، و ��یات منصفه نیز، یارای مقاومت در برابر خواسته ی آگاهی و دادگستری را ندارد؛ آنها دلیل ارائه میدهند، تا واقعیت را، آنطور که خود می­خواهند، جلوه دهند؛

شهادت جنایتکاران، محکمترین مدرک اثبات گناهکاری «ران» می­شود، کاری از دست وکیل نابینای «ران» برنمی­آید، پس به ناچار، خود بی­گناهیش را فریاد می­ز؛د. فریادهایی که از دیوارهای بتونی زندان، راهی به خارج پیدا نمی­کند، و تنها موجب تفریح زندانبانانش، و آزار دیگر منتظران اعدام می­شود؛ چندین سال حبس، در سلول «صف مرگ»، بیماری روانی «ران» ر،ا تشدید می­کند، و چون بیمار روانی را نمی­توان اعدام کرد، پس قانون، ناچار می­شود، اجازه بستری­ شدن وی را در کلینک بیماران روانی، صادر کند

مکانی وحشتناک، که تنها از دید شخصی که سال­ها در سلولی تاریک، محبوس و در انتظار مرگ بوده، جایی امن و خوب جلوه میکند؛ شانس و تصادف، اینبار به او روی خوش نشان میدهد، و یکی از برگه­ای درخواست تجدیدنظر در حکم اعدام «ران»، توجه قاضی با تجربه ­ای را جلب می­کند؛ قاضی پس از مطالعه و پژوهش درباره ­ی پرونده، حکم برگزاری دادگاه دیگری را صادر، و می­نویسد «بنابراین خدای متعال به دادمان برسد، اگر در این سرزمین بزرگ و وسیع، تا سرمان را به سوی دیگری بچرخانیم، مردانی که محکوم به مجازات به مرگ شده­ اند، به اتاق مجازات می­روند، در حالیکه حتی از یک محاکمه عادلانه و منصفانه نیز، برخوردار نگردیده ­اند، و این رخداد در همین پرونده بخصوص نیز، نزدیک بود روی دهد.»؛

دادگاه برگزار می­شود؛ علم ژنتیک، و آزمایش دی.ان.ا اجازه­ ی هیچ بی­عدالتی را به کسی نمی­دهند، و «ران» بی­گناه اعلام شده، و پس از دوازده سال آزاد می­شود؛ در حالیکه هیچ­کس از او پوزش نخواسته، و اظهار پشیمانی و ندامت نکرده، زیرا هیچکس آنقدر جوانمرد، و شجاع نبوده، تا اظهار تاسفی صادقانه ابراز دارد؛ هیچ­کس از او خداحافظی نکرد؛ هیچ­کس از او دلجویی نکرد؛ فقط گفتند: «گورت را از اینجا گم کن و برو»؛ و سپس گفتند: «وقتی رفتی سر و صدای زیادی هم به راه نینداز.»؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 20/04/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

This is John Grisham's first work of non-fiction. It is the story of Ron Williamson,a minor league baseball player who had dreams of playing in the major league.

His life didn't go according to plan. Leaving his baseball career,he came back home to a life of drink,drugs and womanizing.

When a waitress was murdered,he alongwith another man was arrested. He would go on to spend eleven years on death row,before being reprieved.

It is the story of one man but is also a reminder of how many innocent people pay the penalty for crimes they did not commit.

Grisham tells the story with empathy and compassion. However,there is way too much detail about Williamson's life. At times it gets boring.

As it is a work of non-fiction,it also made me wonder if Grisham's research is entirely accurate.

This True Crime story reads like a straight forward Master's thesis on the injustice some accused but innocent Death Row inmates have gone through. No embellishments or random filler, just the facts (Ma'am). While this could prove daunting if you look for a little extra color and storytelling in your True Crime, it is still a very good and enthralling book that will no doubt get your anger juices flowing.

As someone who gets very frustrated by stories of false accusations (I still yell at the TV every time I watch The Fugitive), this was a very hair-pulling experience. But, that is not necessarily a good or bad thing, it just means I was very engaged and invested in the story. Sometimes the best and most interesting stories have a lot of pain along the way. This is definitely one of those.

What makes this story particularly heartbreaking is all the waste of money/time/resources, all the ignored evidence, all the time behind bars for no reason, and, worst of all, complete apathy towards mental illness. There was a convenient "answer", so they went with it. It is scary to think that some day any of us could be in the wrong place at the wrong time and be the convenient "answer". I stress . . . SCARY!

There have been throughout history many stories of legal injustice. Some of these stories are worse than others. 2020 has been a particularly bad year for that, so you may feel like avoiding this one until later if you have had too much of it. But, this is a true story worth checking out if the subject of what the wrongly accused go through interests you.

The Innocent Man by John Grisham. Such a well written NF story. Very well researched. So sad. Makes me very angry. Thank God for DNA. Shame on corruption.

3.5 stars

In this non-fiction book John Grisham tells the shocking and disheartening story of two men who were wrongfully convicted of rape and murder in Oklahoma.


Author John Grisham

*****

Ron Williamson, born in 1953, grew up in a loving Christian family in Ada, Oklahoma. He was a star on his high school baseball team and played for several professional minor league teams, hoping to make it to the majors.


Ron Williamson on his high school baseball team


Ron Williamson played minor league baseball

Injuries and health problems shattered these dreams however, and a short unsuccessful marriage added to Ron's woes. By his mid-20s Ron was back in Ada, carousing, drinking heavily, philandering, and starting to show signs of mental illness. At about this time he became friends with Dennis Fritz, who became his partying buddy.


Ron Williamson


Dennis Fritz

Then in 1982 a young woman named Debbie Carter was brutally raped and murdered in her apartment in Ada.


Debbie Carter

The police did a less than thorough investigation and - in a major instance of bungling - gave a pass to Glen Gore, who had been harassing Debbie and was known to be violent toward women. It turns out the police (more or less) ignored Glen as a suspect because a few cops were doing drug deals with Glen at the time.


Glen Gore

In any case the investigation dragged on and finally, in 1988, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were arrested and charged with the rape and murder of Debbie Carter. There was no credible physical evidence against the men but prosecutor Bill Peterson lined up (and coached) a series of mendacious jailhouse snitches - which resulted in convictions.


Mug shot of Ron Williamson


Prosecutor Bill Peterson


Law enforcement individuals manipulated evidence and witnesses to get convictions

Dennis was sentenced to life in prison and Ron was given the death penalty. Grisham gives a detailed account of the 'investigation' and a play by play description of the trials, and it's frightening to see the lengths Peterson and the police would go to to secure 'confessions' and convictions.

Grisham then details Ron's years on death row as his lawyers file appeal after appeal. By this time Ron was severely mentally ill as well as prison facility that was boiling in summer and freezing in winter, with nasty guards who delighted in tormenting disturbed Ron.


Oklahoma State Penitentiary


Death Row


Ron Williamson's mental health deteriorated in prison


Ron Williamson aged prematurely in prison

To cut to the chase: twelve years after Ron and Dennis's convictions DNA evidence showed that the imprisoned men were innocent and that Glen Gore was guilty. Ron and Dennis were released from prison but DA Peterson - in a major demonstration of stubborn hubris - refused to apologize. In fact, he indicated that he still thought of the two men as suspects and might even retry them if he found more evidence. Of course this preyed on Ron's already troubled mind. Nevertheless, six years later Gore was finally convicted of Pamela's murder.


Dennis Fritz was exonerated


Ron Williamson was freed


Glen Gore was convicted

The book is interesting and informative...but also sad and disheartening. I felt angry that the Ada police and DA Peterson were not held to account for their outrageous behavior. In fact a google search revealed that Peterson tried to sue Grisham and other people who wrote books about the case, claiming they libelled him (as if!) However, Peterson was routinely unsuccessful with these lawsuits.



On the negative side the book is overly long and goes into too much detail about every aspect of Ron's life. Grisham details all of Ron's childhood/teen sports (he played baseball and basketball); his antics to get his parents and sister to pay for nice clothes, a car, and expensive sports camps; Ron's many unsuccessful experiences with minor league baseball teams; his injuries and rehabilitations; Ron's bar-hopping and picking up women; his horrible years on death row; the round of talk shows and celebrations when Ron and Dennis are released from prison; and finally Ron's ongoing physical decline and eventual death in a nursing home. It's just a little too much.

Still, this cautionary tale about justice gone wrong is worth reading and instructive.

You can follow my reviews at https://reviewsbybarbsaffer.blogspot....