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 Grisham's first non-fiction impressive January 1, 2009
An aberration from his usual style of legal suspense thrillers, Grisham does some fieldwork in this stirring true story about a man (Ron Williamson) who struggles mightily in life after the good old days of high school stardom. Ron was a high school baseball prodigy and everyone in Oklahoma knew his name. He was drafted by the Oakland A's and success seemed destine for Ron, however the pressures to make it in the big leagues take their tole on his psyche and slowly he becomes a shell of a man in need of institutional care after continuous failures to move up in the world. Forced to take some personal initiative to receive care, Ron never has a chance. I found myself in disbelief at the way the law enforcement operated and the truth about their sick intentions for the fate of Ron and others in the story. Of course Ron is convicted and sent to death row. Grisham, with his simplistic writing style allows the true events from Ada, Oklahoma's turbulent past pave the way for one of the most shocking true-stories ever told in U.S. history.
Gripping True Tale December 29, 2008
This gripping book examines injustice following the rape/murder of Debra Sue Carter of Ada, Oklahoma in December, 1982. With her outraged community demanding justice, police botched the investigation, overlooked prime suspect Glen Gore, and employed dubious techniques that led to the arrest of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. Williamson was an unstable belligerent drunk with prior arrests for sexual assault, but Fritz was guilty only of being his friend. As the author shows, both were railroaded and convicted in trials based on scant, dubious evidence and so replete with procedural errors (not to mention incompetent defense) that they should have ended in a mistrial (Willamson) and outright dismissal (Fritz). Then we read of their incaceration, appeals, help from Project Innocent, plus Williamson's increased mental illness and near execution. Finally, the author shows how both were exonnerated by new DNA testing which essentially proved Glen Gore's guilt.
I usually disdain criminals, but my contempt shifted here to the incompetent (or dishonest) investigators, clueless judges, and most of all, prosecutor Bill Peterson. The latter continued believing Williamson and Fritz guilty (and Gore innocent) after the DNA tests - Peterson now has a web site to revive his image given this book's indictment of his arrogant stupidity and inability to admit he was wrong.
I'd have liked more information on grand juries, whether or not the cops, judges, and Peterson faced reprimands or even apologized, and whether those convicted in the nearby Denice Hathaway murder were similarly railroaded. Still, author John Grisham has written a gripping narrative that easily matches his best fictional thrillers.
 Grisham shows he is probably a better non-fiction writer. December 27, 2008
Grisham never surpassed A Time to Kill, in my opinion, in his fiction writing, but I've generally enjoyed his work. The Painted House was a very good book, and although fictionalized, it was based upon a true story, and perhaps now that he's made millions, he can afford to spend the time researching for non-fictional works. I hope so.
Several of Grisham's books, the ones I've like least, were written it seemed to justify his being able to write off a vacation. Those books had clumsy facts about places and people in foreign lands, here in this non-fiction book, he sticks to the facts and creates a very interesting and thought provoking book (which is also, sadly, entertaining to read in the same way reading Ann Rule is entertaining, not because the subject isn't tragic, but because the writing is good).
As for the social consequences of this book, I'm shocked that the DA wasn't disbarred and kept his job, astounding as his errors were, he kept his job. Much of the "justice" in America is sadly dished out by people that are working on careers, on both sides, and the results aren't always fair or just, for either side.
Hopefully books like this will continue to be written and people will start to look at libertarian philosophy and how taking that view of the state might improve our current affairs.
 Not very compelling December 26, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
John Grisham does a great job creating fiction in the world of attorneys and their trade.
This is the first non-fiction book I've read of his and I have to say, those that voted one-star basically got it right. It was a boring tale, a tale we've all read about these days; wrongly accused exonerated and returned to society, trying to fit in.
My problem with this book is the main character: Ron Williams. Honestly this isn't a person you can conjure up much compassion for. He's depicted as a spoiled, self absorbed drunk and womanizer. A person who manipulated his parents and his sisters for his own benefit his entire life. A guy that couldn't seem to rise above spending any money he ever earned in bars and strip joints, wishing for what could've been, (major league baseball career). That he died of cyrosis(SP) of the liver is telling.
I just wonder what motivated Mr. Grisham to spend the effort on this person or this case, as I said, cases like this are rampant in our judicial system. In the Author's Notes section of the book Grisham says he could've written 5000 pages on this case. Like many others I think he could have cut this book in half and it would have still been too long.
Quick Read About Long and Slow Process for the Truth December 17, 2008
The bare reality of the story is outlined in a few sentences near the end of the book: "When you don't have any money to defend yourself, you're at the mercy of the judicial system. Once in the system, it's almost impossible to get out, even if you are innocent." This is a direct quote from the accused - a boyhood sports hero, Ron or Ronnie Williamson, who went to the Yankees' minor league team in Fort Lauderdale, to only end up in death row.
What happens in this book is everyone's worst nightmare. In fact, as stated in the book - it is a dream that became a nightmare.
Mentally insane, the accused Ronnie Williamson was called to the police five years after a murder. He went, and took a polygraph, not knowing that it was the end of his freedom and the beginning of oppression the American way. Three hundred pages later, you have read the detailed account given by Grisham as to how this man lived more horrors in 12 years of imprisonment than entire communities endure in generations.
Distilled into one paragraph, Williamson's original trial was a disaster which required a new trial. "Ron deserved a new trial for many reasons, chief among them ineffective assistance of counsel (blind attorney named Barney with limited resources and paid only $3,600.00). Barney's mistakes were numerous and harmful. They included the failure to raise the issue of his client's mental competency; failure to throughly investigate and present evidence against Glen Gore (the real murderer); failure to flesh out the fact that Terri Holland (a lifetime jailhouse snitch) had also testified against Karl Fontenot and Tommy Ward; failure to inform the jury that Ricky Joe Simmons had confessed to the murder and had even done so on a videotape that Barney actually possessed; failure to tack Ron's confessions and suppress them before trial (the products of hours of oppressive questioning); an failure to call mitigating witnesses during the penalty phase."
To be fair to the attorney involved, even Mickey Mantle - the subject's hero - had weeks of being hitless, constantly striking out in important situations, and being equally inept on the field. The difference is that for Mantle, it is only a game. This book shows the problem of being "off one's game" in law - a person can be sent to death row.
And, thank God that Williamson's game involved a rain out. The game would be finished at another time, when Mantle was at his best, with new umpires, and the opposing pitcher was incapable of getting one past him.
The end result was a man's catastrophic rise from sports heroics to a fall derived from a "bum arm" which bottomed out at death row, then to the rebounding rise of being the attention of the national news. Then gravity hit. As his freedom's furnicular ascended to newer heights, his health simultaneously descended. The stress, wear and tear of medicines, and just bad luck combined to make the 51-year old Williamson look and be fifteen years his senior. The sadness pervades with Ronnie and his family who unfortunately gathered a cornucopia of bad memories which cannot be covered or forgotten by good events like the efforts of pro bono attorneys or this book - a first nonfiction account by Grisham.
Depicting the struggles in the court, describing in simple language the complexities of the courtroom, and making the endlessly inexcusable escapades of the criminal system of the small town seem personal, Grisham has the reader experience and feel like Ronnie - prisoner to the pitfalls and problems involved in American justice. Albeit the best judicial system on earth, especially in providing the accused rights to a fair trial, it consistently or even constantly fails when handled by less than extremely conscientious and proud professionals. And, too often we are human, which means too often human attorneys, police and judges are less than always conscientious. And that is when the perceived great halls of justice can be seen as less than hallowed.
This was a great read for the topic alone.
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