The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town (Random House Large Print (Cloth/Paper))

click here for more details, find new or used items	John Grisham Our price £14.40 (£15.16) New from £11.00 Used from £8.09 Pages: 576 (Hardcover) ISBN: 0739326732 Pub: Random House Large Print Publishing Pub date: 2006-10-10 Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 85618

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A Cautionary Tale of Legal Incompetence and Malfeasance (0/0 people found this helpful)

I was trained as a lawyer and am a member of the bar (although I don't take private clients), but I haven't had much contact with criminal law. As a law student, I once assisted in the defense of a mentally handicapped man accused of attempted murder. From that experience, I was struck by how poorly the criminal justice system is designed for handling those who have mental problems. I wrote my J.D. thesis on that subject. This book brought all of those issues back to the front of my mind.

In recent years, many have been astonished to learn that DNA evidence has exonerated large numbers of people who have been convicted of murder and are residing on Death Row in one state or another. The legal theory is that ten should go free rather than one innocent person be misjudged. Clearly, the reality is nothing like that. Although there are many career criminals (that's how they earn their living), those who don't seek to commit crimes daily are often mistaken for those who do. For example, people with various mental problems will "act up" in ways that violate the law. Put them in jail, and they may attack a guard . . . making another law broken. The downward spiral can be pretty fast and dangerous for all involved.

In The Innocent Man, John Grisham has chosen an intriguing subject . . . the life of Ron Williamson, a favored son whose life once spread in potential glory before him as a professional baseball player. Due to chronic mental problems, Mr. Williamson's life began to unravel while he was still an athlete. After his athletic days were over, he often sought solace in alcohol . . . and sometimes drugs. Two women had accused him of rape, but he beat the raps. But when a local woman was murdered not far from his home, the police liked Mr. Williamson for the crime . . . even though he had an alibi from his mother. From there, a frame-up followed . . . for which Mr. Williamson later collected a large sum from the legal authorities. While in the criminal justice system, Mr. Williamson didn't get the treatment for his ills that he needed. As a result, he couldn't help defend himself. His lawyer was blind and seemed to be having a bad week, which made matters worse. Soon, he was convicted based on a faulty "confession" during which he described a dream and misstated descriptions of hair sample "matches." The death penalty was ordered for him. Over the course of many years, he endured inhuman treatment, abuse, and what amounted to torture while his physical and mental states declined.

Thanks to the dedicated work of those who do appeals for Death Row inmates, the conviction was reversed, and he was cleared by DNA evidence on retrial. A parallel story looks at the effects on his family and friends, one of whom was implicated in even flimsier "evidence" and sentenced to life imprisonment (who was also exonerated through the DNA evidence).

So who was the murderer? It was the main accuser who made up the testimony to avoid harassment by the D.A.

So should you read this book? If you think that the criminal justice system works like the show Law and Order on television, you should. Television doesn't capture the reality of what criminal "justice" is all about. There are major problems with how the accused are treated and what happens to those who have been convicted.

Will you enjoy this book like one of Mr. Grisham's thrillers? Probably not. This is a sad, depressing tale. And there's no happy ending. Novels are prettier.

As a nonfiction book, The Innocent Man has some flaws you should be aware of: Mostly, Mr. Grisham tries to tell you too much. For example, you'll read about dozens of instances of mistreatment on Death Row . . . not just enough to give you the idea. The same detail is provided for each aspect of Mr. Williamson's life during his ordeal. At the same time, in places Mr. Grisham tries to tell you with too little information. As a lawyer, he decides he wants you to appreciate the legal wrongs involved. But he doesn't give you enough background to understand what the legal rules are, why they are that way, and why you should care when the rules aren't followed. So you end up knowing more than you ever wanted to know about incompetence issues, but not enough to understand them.

This would have been a better story if it had focused on what it felt like to be Ron Williamson . . . but that wasn't really possible because of his mental problems. So the book's ultimate weakness as writing comes down to having selected the wrong person to write about . . . to some extent. But I'm glad that Mr. Grisham did write about Mr. Williamson. The story should be told, and most people will pick up the subliminal message in the book: This could happen to you!

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