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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town | 
| Author: John Grisham
Publisher: Doubleday
Category: Book
List Price: $28.95
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Rating:  573 reviews
Sales Rank: 39976
Media: Hardcover
Pages: 368
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 6.3 x 1.2
ISBN: 0385517238
Dewey Decimal Number: 345.76602523
EAN: 9780385517232
ASIN: 0385517238
Publication Date: October 10, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
John Grisham tackles nonfiction for the first time with The Innocent Man, a true tale about murder and injustice in a small town (that reads like one of his own bestselling novels). The Innocent Man chronicles the story of Ron Williamson, how he was arrested and charged with a crime he did not commit, how his case was (mis)handled and how an innocent man was sent to death row. Grisham's first work of nonfiction is shocking, disturbing, and enthralling--a must read for fiction and nonfiction fans. We had the opportunity to talk with John Grisham about the case and the book, read his responses below. --Daphne Durham
20 Second Interview: A Few Words with John Grisham
 Q: After almost two decades of writing fiction, what compelled you to write non-fiction, particularly investigative journalism?
A: I was never tempted to write non-fiction, primarily because it's too much work. However, obviously, I love a good legal thriller, and the story of Ron Williamson has all the elements of a great suspenseful story.
Q: Why this case?
A: Ron Williamson and I are about the same age and we both grew up in small towns in the south. We both dreamed of being major league baseball players. Ron had the talent, I did not. When he left a small town in 1971 to pursue his dreams of major league glory, many thought he would be the next Mickey Mantle, the next great one from the state of Oklahoma. The story of Ron ending up on Death Row and almost being executed for a murder he did not commit was simply too good to pass up.
Q: How did you go about your research?
A: I started with his family. Ron is survived by two sisters who took care of him for most of his life. They gave me complete access to the family records, photographs, Ron's mental health records, and so on. There was also a truckload of trial transcripts, depositions, appeals, etc., that took about 18 months to organize and review. Many of the characters in the story are still alive and I traveled to Oklahoma countless times to interview them.
Q: Did your training as a lawyer help you?
A: Very much so. It enabled me to understand the legal issues involved in Ron's trial and his appeals. It also allowed me, as it always does, to be able to speak the language with lawyers and judges.
Q: Throughout your book you mention, The Dreams of Ada: A True Story of Murder, Obsession, and a Small Town. How did you come across that book, and how did it impact your writing The Innocent Man?
A: Several of the people in Oklahoma I met mentioned The Dreams of Ada to me, and I read it early on in the process. It is an astounding book, a great example of true crime writing, and I relied upon it heavily during my research. Robert Mayer, the author, was completely cooperative, and kept meticulous notes from his research 20 years earlier. Many of the same characters are involved in his story and mine.
Q: You take on some pretty controversial and heated topics in your book--the death penalty, prisoner s rights, DNA analysis, police conduct, and more--were any of your own beliefs challenged by this story and its outcome?
A: None were challenged, but my eyes were open to the world of wrongful convictions. Even as a former criminal defense attorney, I had never spent much time worrying about wrongful convictions. But, unfortunately, they happen all the time in this country, and with increasing frequency.
Q: So many of the key players in this case are either still in office or practicing attorneys. Many family members and friends still live in the same small town. How do you think The Innocent Man will impact this community and other small rural towns as they struggle with the realities of the justice system?
A: Exonerations seem to be happening weekly. And with each one of them, the question is asked--how can an innocent man be convicted and kept in prison for 20 years? My book is the story of only one man, but it is a good example of how things can go terribly wrong with our judicial system. I have no idea how the book will be received in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma, or any other town.
Q: What do you hope your readers will take away from The Innocent Man?
A: A better understanding of how innocent people can be convicted, and a greater concern for the need to reimburse and rehabilitate innocent men after they have been released.
Product Description
John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.
In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory.
Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.
In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder.
With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 568 more reviews...
 The Innocent Man June 27, 2009
Aimee Morrison (Los Alamos, New Mexico United States)
this book is very moving and unbelievable, especially because it is true. It is like reading one of Grisham's fiction. I highly recommend it!
 Quick Review June 23, 2009
Rick (Tampa Bay)
A legal thriller from John Grisham with a twist -- this one is true. In the early 1980s, in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma a young cocktail waitress is brutally raped and murdered in her apartment. Right from the start, the local police force suspected Ron Williamson, a former local baseball hero who became a transient. With barely circumstantial evidence, however, the prosecutor was able to convict Ron and have him sentenced to death.
Frightening look at what can happen when a perfect storm of corrupt law enforcement, ineffective defense lawyers and indifferent legal and medical systems combine against an innocent individual. With evidence so clearly lacking, I was left wondering how it was even possible for travesty of not only a guilty verdict, but also a failed appeal, to occur. Part of me wonders if Grisham didn't sugarcoat and gloss over the complete story.
Legal Fiction Rock Star Grisham Performs Public Service By Writing This Book June 13, 2009
Gary Taylor (Houston, TX USA)
First, the good news. As a courts and legal affairs reporter the past 40 years, I have covered thousands of criminal cases and trials. And I remain fairly confident that the grotesque miscarriage of justice so artfully detailed in this nonfiction masterpiece is a rare occurrence. After all, if it were not, the injustices of Ada, Oklahoma, would not have triggered publication of this best-seller and two other books of outrage.
But, here's the bad news. The Innocent Man is nonfiction and this grotesque miscarriage of justice actually DID happen. No patriotic American can be proud of a system in which events like these can occur. To learn that the prosecutor and the cops at the center of this legal mess had the stones to sue for libel just adds insult to the injury of The Innocent Man. They should have slunk off quietly into a sunset of anonymity and hoped to heaven no one could ever link them to the cases from this book.
Grisham has performed a public service by lending his legal-fiction rock-star status to the story of this transgression. I hope he donated some of the revenues from The Innocent Man to the Innocence Project so that group can continue its valuable work.
And, I hope every prosecutor and cop in America reads this book carefully as a reminder that their true role in the system involves serving justice not just closing a case.
 Grisham is mad as hell and not going to take it any more! June 2, 2009
Bobby D. (Cerritos, CA)
I had long ago stopped reading John Grisham's novels. I think it was "The Pelican Brief" that ended it for me. I always though his first, "A Time to Kill" was my favorite. And in some strange way this new non-fiction book seems to be a worthy companion to that novel. But here Grisham is mad as hell and not going to take it any more. He asks how we can have a system of justice where those who are sworn to uphold justice do so much to undermine the process. Leading as it does in this case to so many innocents on death row. With a power of his convictions Grisham tells of the case of Ron Williamson who is falsely convicted of rape and murder. (Did not Alfred Hitchcock love these kinds of plots?) Along the way Grisham undermines the "common sense" belief in confessions, eye witness testimony, and failure of police investigations and the power of the government over those who can not afford to hire the best defense. This is a riveting and powerful read. I can only say many thanks to him for bring these events together in a simple, compelling narrative that only a novelist can many time provide. As a best selling author I am sure a wider audience learned about this injustice and the further revelations of the deep problems in our criminal justice system.
Page turning account of an injustice May 29, 2009
J. Robinson (San Francisco, CA USA)
Excellent, but sobering account of an innocent person spending a long time in prison, something that is probably not all that unusual and is a good argument against the death penalty.
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