Book: The Innocent Man by John Grisham

or Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

The town is Ada, Oklahoma, and Grisham spares no words in describing the errors and sloppiness that occurred in nearly every aspect of this case, involving lawyers (prosecution and defense) and the law enforcers (police) in Ada. It is a true story that is sad, outrageous, compelling and nearly unbelievable. John Grisham had "never heard of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz" while the events in this story were taking place but saw an obituary in The New York Times which started him thinking and wondering about what had really happened. He began asking questions; he travelled to Ada and other towns, researched the facts, interviewed dozens of people and then wrote this book.

Ron and Dennis spent time on death row for a murder they did not commit. Especially before DNA testing became widely available, "wrongful convictions" did happen. As Grisham notes, the Innocence Project has exonerated 180 prisoners through DNA testing at the time this book was published.

There are heroes in this story too, or Ron and Dennis might never have been released from prison. Perhaps they would have been executed. Grisham tells of the dedication and integrity these men and women exhibited as a habeas corpus appeal brought the case to their offices. Finally, the egregious mistakes were acknowledged and the mishandling of the case exposed.

Throughout Ron's long incarceration, he was examined repeatedly, but sporadically, by mental health experts as he became increasingly unstable. This is another system that failed as Ron had issues of lack of followup, noncompliance when taking prescribed psychotropic medications, varying diagnoses and often a complete disregard of obvious and significant mental illness.

And there is the rather poignant tale of Ron as a promising young athlete, potentially a player in  baseball's major leagues, and how that dream fell apart, and how through all the years, his sisters Annette and Renee supported him as best they could.