The Innocent Man

My new (temporary?) position in a town about a 30 minute drive south of where I live has resulted in an obviously longer commute. Sadly, Raleigh is lacking any morning radio I would be willing to listen to on a daily basis outside of NPR. So, I needed an alternative listen. I began with a study series my parents gave me for Christmas a couple years back called Rethinking Womanhood, a women's study my former church provided. Great study. I had the 2003-04 audio set, led by the senior pastor's wife and my former pastor/boss's wife. I will have to revisit those CDs regularly - so much great insight on the Bible, Biblical womanhood, and life lessons.

I finished that set off pretty quick and needed a new drive time listen. Enter the audio book. While The Innocent Man was not my first choice - did not even make my list! - I am pleased at my choice. This is John Grisham's first non-fiction novel, and, as he mentions in the author's notes, he could not have ever dreamed this story up for a novel.

The book centers on the murder of a young woman in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma in the early 1980s and the trial of conviction of two men. From the moment the police came on the crime scene, things were botched. The police already had their eyes on two men, Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz, for the murder, even though no one could testify that they had seen either of them the previous night, with the victim or not. In fact, the only person who did say he (Glen Gore) said these two men the night of the murder was the very man who everyone else had last seen with the victim. Unfortunately, the police did not even take Gore's fingerprints for examination until months after the murder.

It took several years for the arrest of Williamson and Fritz to be made and, in the trial, many of the prosecution's witnesses were jailhouses snitches who told any lie the police wanted to get a reduced sentence. In addition, the police urged forensic specialists to reconsider some of the hair and print evidence in light of Williamson's arrest and the specialists' opinions changed to reflect the accused being at the scene. It seemed with every new sentence read, there was a new travesty to be spoken of. From a blind attorney with no one to explain the visual evidence against his client to a juror who was the former head of police to the mental instability of Williamson never being brought up in court (he was a paranoid schizophrenic who never got consistent or proper medication from the police or mental institutions).

Williamson was convicted of murder and sentenced to death. His time in prison further damaged his sanity and he resided in deplorable conditions. His sisters tried to send as much money as they could so Williamson could buy food, but it was never enough for him, it seemed. Eventually, Williamson's case was reviewed, as is mandatory for all death row cases, and the lawyer in charge of the case was fully convinced of his innocence. After many years, Williamson, along with Fritz, were proven innocent and Gore was later found guilty of the murder.

After his release, Williamson would go on and off his medication, as well as alcohol and drugs. Earlier this decade, he died because of the amount and types of medication he was given as well as alcohol and drug usage. Fritz is living outside of Oklahoma now and has a granddaughter. Other people from the case and trial are still in Ada. The DA who prosecuted Williamson and Fritz, as well as another pair of innocent men, is still in office.

This book exemplifies how disastrously wrong a case can go when there is unchecked abuse of police power, a focus so narrowed that other suspects are not even considered, a lack of resources (money and experts) for the defense, use of questionable evidence and witnesses to amaze the jury, and not recognizing and humanely dealing with Williamson's mental illness.