Search - The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

I'm glad I read this book, but it is not your typical John Grisham. At times I felt detached, as if reading a blow by blow account, when I wanted to read a story instead. In the authors notes he states that he could have written 5,000 pages. I think he had a hard time deciding what to put in and what to cut and it seemed a little fragmented. BUT, it is a good story and will make you think about the justice system and how sometimes instead of being blind, it has on blinders.

This is the second book I've read about our criminal justice system and the death penalty. It is horrifying that so many innocent people are killed for crimes they did not commit. I can not begin to accept a common response to this "well, they probably were pretty bad people in the first place, so who cares?"
This book is well written and demonstrates not only the mistakes and arrogance leading to innocent people receiving the death penalty, but the human emotions that lead juries to make inaccurate and devastating decisions in these cases. It is well worth reading and I hope it will change some minds about this penalty. We are the only nation in the "civilized" world which still uses the death penalty.
I highly recommend it.

In Grisham's first foray into non-fiction, he has done a great job. It is truly amazing the corruption, laziness, and outright stupidity that can happen in the real law and order world - with a man's *real* life *really* at stake. This book will make you shudder - even though the main character is not necessarily a sympathetic one, you cannot help but feel his horror and bewilderment at his situation. I hope Grisham writes more non-fiction.

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.

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.

This is a good non-fiction read by John Grisham and yet quite disturbing at the same time. You will never think innocent until proven guilty is the motto of our judicial systems again!

Riveting book. In detail back story of Ron Williamson's life. Couldn't put it down.