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The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
Unavailable
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
Unavailable
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town
Audiobook12 hours

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

Written by John Grisham

Narrated by Craig Wasson

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

3.5/5

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Currently unavailable

About this audiobook

When Ron Williamson signed with the Oakland A's in 1971, 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. He moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa.

In 1982, a twenty-one-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were arrested and charged with capital murder.

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 audiobook 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.

LanguageEnglish
Release dateOct 10, 2006
ISBN9780739340493
Unavailable
The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

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Reviews for The Innocent Man

Rating: 3.5497554080750406 out of 5 stars
3.5/5

1,226 ratings83 reviews

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Real life is stranger than fiction.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I liked the author's writing style very much but the book was spoiled for me by how much loving attention was given to the wrongly accused suspect- who was a multiple rapist although not convicted- yet the victim hardly warranted discussion. Her crime scene was explained in more detail than her tragically short -and honorable - life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This was a good book. I struggled with it when I first started because of the great detail with the characters, but after i got past that I couldn't put it down. This book describes the injustices we still deal with today. I always thought the we were innocent until proven guilty but this book shows us that we are indeed guilty until proven guilty. The book ended with an innocent man finally being free after years and years of paying for a crime he didn't commit. I would have liked to see an ending where he got to fulfill his lifelong dream.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    One of the best telling of a true story that that keeps your interest to the very end. Thoroughly enjoyed and makes you think
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I liked the voice of the narrator and he emphasis he put into characters, especially Williamson during his trial... this rating is more of a 3.5 from me, the only reason it's not a 4.5 is because I noticed passages that were double-read at least 3 times. The narrator would randomly start repeating a paragraph or two that had already been read earlier in the same chapter...... because of this I feel that there may have been some paragraphs that are missing entirely, maybe due to faulty recording or something.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I listened to this book on CD and would recommend that it be read rather than listened to. Although the story is good and is nonfiction, there is almost no dialog in the book, which makes it drone when listening to it. I don't know if this book is typical of Grisham as I haven't read anything else by him and know he writes fiction usually. The story is worth your time. It's about "murder and injustice in a small town", as the jacket says. It will scare you because it's a true story in the real world. The justice system doesn't always work, and even when it finds a wrong and attempts to right it, a broken mirror is never the same again.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
     I didn't realize this book was non-fiction when I bought it, but that didn't matter. The story is heart-wrenching and troubling at times, but Grisham presented the prosecutions case as being wholly absurd and obviously wrong. I doubt it was as clear as he makes it. There seems to be bad faith on the part of Grisham with respect to the prosecution, the jury, and others involved.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The murders, arrests, and prosecutions in this book are all true; this is a true-crime book, unlike most if not all of Grisham's other books. In 1982, in Ada, Oklahoma, a woman is raped and murdered. Suspects are arrested, and they are tried and found guilty, one sentenced to death and one sentenced to life without parole. Nothing is as it seems, however. This book portrays the total inadequacy of the entire judicial, legal, and police systems of a small town and county and even state. Grisham is careful to note in the end that what happened in this town happens in other towns also. The two men, who were arrested some 5 years after the murder, are not guilty, but it took 15 or so years and DNA evidence to determine their innocence. The evidence against them was almost non-existent, and I cannot begin to understand how policemen, a judge, and a jury could convict them on such slim circumstantial and unsubstantiated evidence. Even their legal representation was sub-par since they could not afford to hire their own lawyers. Justice may have happened in the end but at a huge cost to these men and their families.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    A lot of effort went into this book, I enjoyed listing to it. A sad story though.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Troubling, meaningful and a much needed view of our criminal justice failings.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    The first few chapters of character background were awfully slow, but otherwise this was an excellent book, well worth reading. It is very disturbing to see just how easy it is for ordinary people to become hopelessly trapped in the very system that is supposed to protect them. Watching crime shows or reading crime novels, the bad guys are always caught or killed by the end of the story, and if the wrong people are accused, the investigators and courts are the good guys who make sure that those innocent people are protected from false convictions. Fictional characters tend to take their jobs very seriously, and go out of their way to make sure they have the forensics and any other information they need to prove the identity of the bad guy and to establish how, when and why the victims died. After reading Grisham's book, a true crime account of two probably unrelated murders that ruined the lives of 4 innocent men accused of the crimes, I have to wonder how common it is for investigations to be this unfairly biased and incomplete.

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  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The Innocent Man begins by describing the rape and murder of Debra Sue Carter, a cocktail waitress living in Ada, Oklahoma. The case went unsolved until 1987, when Ron Williamson and a friend, Dennis Fritz, were arrested and charged with the murder. The prosecution's main witness claimed that the pair had been at the club where Carter worked on the night of her murder. The author proceeds to document a horrible abuse committed by the prosecutors in this trial. It's horrible to read about such a miscarriage of justice, especially knowing there are probably countless other cases out there just like this one. I'm a big fan of true crime and this was a fascinating story. I didn't really like the style Grisham used to document the story. It seemed like one big long summary interspersed with his own sarcasm. I guess it's understandable because the prosecution was so incredibly biased. Grisham exposes the flaws in the American justice system, which is under constant pressure to bring criminals to justice, even if those criminals might not be guilty.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Grisham is a better fiction writer than non-fiction. This book could have been edited down to be more succinct. Also, the criminal justice system - police investigators through district attorneys - seem to be drawn too negatively. I doubt that the motives ascribed to them are as clear as Grisham would like to portray. On the other hand, I have taken a class about erroneous convictions, and just about everything we learned about from the university lecturers shows up in the narrative of the book. Overall, it kept my interest to the end, but I think we could have gotten there faster.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    I always feel a little guilty when starting a Grisham book as I know I will still be reading ten hours later...but at least this one is a true story so I feel like I learned something.

    The author is trying to shine a light on potential miscarriages of justice in America specifically the small town of Ada, Oklahoma--those in prison and on death row who really shouldn't be there. They end up there for all manner of reasons; corrupt cops, ambitious prosecutors, judges who are too focused on retirement or reputation, snitches willing to lie on oath, or maybe even innocent people just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. At least one of the men wrongly convicted believed that his coerced confession wouldn't matter because the police would get to the truth. He had placed his faith in the criminal justice system, it let him down.

    The story is sad but believable. As always, it is a well written account that kept me reading until the last page. Being non-fiction, it is also well researched--the author spent a lot of time with many of those involved in these cases and investigated the culture of small town Oklahoma. The story focuses on two men convicted of the rape and murder of a 21 year old waitress in 1982. The cases are linked to other possible innocents in jail. All of the cases covered are compelling. I hope that some progress is being made on those who still languish in prison.

    I always find Grisham's stance on faith issues a little confusing. He often includes strong Gospel statements referring to salvation by faith in Jesus in his books and refers to himself as a Christian. However, he also states that his faith is a private matter that he keeps to himself. How can a real Christian think it is okay to keep their faith to themself, especially one with the huge platform that he has?

    This book has only a little bad language. There is some violence and some graphic details of the crime but it is factual rather than sensational. There are also some details about the sexual aspects of the crime but again it is factual.

    I enjoy Grisham's books and will no doubt read more of them and probably re-read those that I have read in the past. To find a non-fiction book by Grisham was a nice surprise and I'm glad I read it. I hope that one day Grisham will take a clearer public stand on faith issues, choosing God over popularity/success...
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Interesting and maddening. If there is a hell, I hope there's a special nook for crooked law enforcement and court officers whose desire to win or simply wrap up a case causes innocent people and their families (the accused and the victims) to suffer so much.

    I did watch the Netflix special based on this book a year or so ago and am glad I read the book. Much more detail here. Although I thought there was more about Ward and Fontenot in the show compared with the book. I'll have to rewatch it.

    If you're a fan of true crime books or books about miscarriages of justice, this one will likely keep you involved and interested.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Grisham details the life and trial of an innocent man. It is not a reassuring story for those who have faith in our judicial/enforcement organizations.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    This is a disgusting and appalling book, not in the sense of the book & its writing, but rather the contents. Whilst it would be better named The Innocent Men as it contains the course of events surrounding 2 cases involving 4 men, it primarily deals with the cases of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz who were wrongly convicted of the 1982 murder and rape of Debra Carter. They spent 12 years in prison after being convicted in a case that to an independent observer should have never made it to the courthouse.The actions of the police and prosecution within this book are nothing short of disgusting and appalling. As the book continues you find yourself being immensely infuriated by the actions of those who are meant to act for the benefit of society at large, who instead for their own vanity choose to railroad innocent men into convictions. Rather than admit that they have no solved the cases, they instead choose the 'best' people to pin it on and manipulate and conceal evidence to ensure their convictions. Then, just as you think things might be heading in the right direction the ending is solemn and a definite downer, Ron Williamson may not have been the best person but he certainly did not deserve what the legal system did to him.An excellent non fiction crime book.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    Book on CD read by Craig Wasson

    In 1971 Ron Williamson was signed by the Oakland A’s and left Ada, Oklahoma to pursue his dreams of big-league glory. But an injury and bad habits (drinking, drugs and women), ended his career. Back in Ada he began to show signs of mental illness. He moved in with his mother, and slept up to 20 hours a day on the sofa. In 1982 a young woman 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. Despite a complete lack of evidence, and Ron having an alibi, the two were arrested and charged with capital murder. Relying on jail-house snitches and a “dream” confession, the prosecutors hammered at both men. Dennis was given a life sentence; Ron was sent to death row.

    Grisham first heard about Ron Williamson when he happened to read the man’s obituary. The facts presented raised more questions and Grisham started researching how an innocent man could have been arrested, charged, convicted and imprisoned with so little regard for his rights or for the truth. The result is a gripping tale that had me on the edge of my seat. Meticulously researched, Grisham packs the book with information that slowly but convincingly builds the case. If the reader is disturbed by reading about these events, one can only imagine the horror and despair of living such a scenario.

    One of the most poignant sections comes after Ron has been released and is interviewed by a journalist. Asked about his beliefs, he answers: I hope I go to neither heaven nor hell. I wish that at the time of my death that I could go to sleep and never wake up and never have a bad dream. Eternal rest, like you’ve seen on some tombstones, that’s what I hope for. Because I don’t want to go through the Judgment. I don’t want anybody judging me again.

    What begins as the story of one man’s nightmare becomes a treatise on the state of America’s Justice System, and its many flaws. From the author notes at the end of the book: The journey also exposed me to the world of wrongful convictions … This is not a problem peculiar to Oklahoma, far from it. Wrongful convictions occur every month in every state in this country, and the reasons are all varied and all the same – bad police work, junk science, faulty eyewitness identifications, bad defense lawyers, lazy prosecutors, arrogant prosecutors.

    Craig Wasson does a fine job performing the audio version of this book. He has good pacing and he really brought Ron to life.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    4.25 starsIn 1982, Debbie Carter was raped and murdered in the small town of Ada, Oklahoma. The police set their sights on Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz as their suspects, and finally brought them to trial in 1988. With all kinds of errors and issues with the way the investigation was run and the way they were tried, the two of them were wrongfully convicted, with Ron spending 11 years on Death Row, before they were exonerated with DNA testing. Ron was mentally unstable, even before the conviction and only deteriorated in prison, while continually maintaining his innocence.This was really good. I thought the second half of the book picked up and held my attention just a little more than the first half. There were all kinds of problems with the entire process, and it's scary to think about how many innocent people might go to jail or be put to death due to that process (and how many already have).
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I am no fan of Grisham, so I admit my bias. But this was really boring, and poorly written. I really just skimmed through it in order to be able to discuss it for my book club. Lots of better stuff has been written about the injustices of the "justice: system.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    a true story. this book was a page turner and was good
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    The sleepy town of Ada, Oklahoma was rocked by a murder in the 1980s. A local sports hero, Ron Williamson, and his friend Dennis Fritz were arrested for the murder of a woman. The two had been in trouble with the law before and their bungled trials did nothing but cement their guilt in the eyes of the community. As the title of the book suggests, Grisham’s nonfiction account of the crime, trial, imprisonment and eventual exoneration focus on the fact that Williamson was never guilty to begin with. It was both disturbing and eye-opening to realize how quickly the system can turn against you when you are arrested. It was also incredible to see how far forensic evidence has come in only a couple decades. I tend to really enjoy books like this, I think it’s the journalist in me. I don’t read a lot of true crime, but nonfiction books chronicling some big event or injustice (think Erik Larson or Sebastian Junger) are right up my alley. Grisham’s knack for writing thrillers worked well with this subject matter. In another author’s hands it might have become stale and repetitive, but he made the whole process interesting. This one isn’t a new favorite, but I enjoyed it and I’d highly recommend the audio version. BOTTOM LINE: If you enjoy nonfiction books like Devil in the White City or The Monster of Florence, you’ll probably like this one. I loved learning more about the justice system and its inevitable flaws. If you are expecting a cookie-cutter Grisham novel with twists and lots of action then skip this one. It’s not fiction, so it won’t have the same breakneck pace of his novels.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    Good read. The detail was excellent but the lines got somewhat redundant after a while. I can't count how many times a sentence started or ended with something like "...Ron was innocent after all". Got it... you thought he was innocent... didn't have to repeat it over 100 times.One negative - the book was so clearly biased that it made me distrust whether Grisham exposed the evidence on the prosecution side. He made the cops, DA, judges sound absolutely clueless and nearly-criminally guilty. *Usually* I've found in life that neither side is quite so cut and dry. If the case really was as clear as what he explained then there are some seriously stupid people in Ada's law enforcement; however, I suspect that it wasn't quite so lop-sided. Anyway, it did the book disservice to be sooooo biased.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    did not know how this could possibly happen- but only in America? was a bit bogged down with all the technical jargon, but it was needed to be able to tell the story - did like this book even though it was so different to his other books . Hopefully this will never happen again in the American justice system.
  • Rating: 5 out of 5 stars
    5/5
    John Grisham has done a wonderful job of telling the story of convicted murderer Ron Williamson and the people connected with his case. While I enjoy the occasional Grisham novel, this nonfiction is my favorite book of his so far. Incredible bungling by those in charge as well as intentional lies and misleading meant Williamson spent years on death row, not getting the help he desperately needed for mental issues. How sad, and how frightening knowing that it could have happened to any of us. All it took in this case was for those in charge to believe Williamson and Fritz were guilty and were determined to convict them, the legalities and ethics be damned. And even sadder that the case was not an isolated one. While as interesting and fast-moving as any Grisham novel, this story is also an important cautionary tale.
  • Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
    2/5
    I dropped this book and only got through 30 pages. I found this book uninteresting and actually boring. I couldn’t get into this book. It the first pages describing a newspaper company that was during the civil rights movement. That was printing African American deaths. I didn’t read the whole book so I couldn’t tell you if the book gets better. If you are going to read this book then u probably won’t enjoy the beginning but if you want to read this book then go ahead.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    This is the first book written by Grisham that is non-fiction, although the victims names were changed. The narrative chronicles the twelve year saga of a wrongful conviction and the chain of incompetence that extended Ron Williams' stay on death row. Admittedly, I had read this book previously so this was a second perusal of a topic with which I am all too familiar as a retired forensic scientist, crime scene investigator and deputy sheriff. It is therefore difficult to view this as a normal citizen and I review it with that caveat. The writing is typical Grisham, clean and straightforward. No wordsmith, Grisham lays out the facts and tells a good story that is perhaps more interesting than fiction. But Grisham is also sold on the necessity of putting his name before the public in exposing problems in the criminal justice system in order to give it greater exposure, for which he should receive credit.In short, this is an important book, not because of the specific story of Ron Williams, but because it should be read by everyone. The liner notes say it best: "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."Submitted by publisher for review.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    Engaging non-fiction of issues with the criminal legal system. Some might argue it's not well balanced, but if half of what is written is true, there are big problems in the criminal legal system.
  • Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
    4/5
    "The Innocent Man" tells the true story of Ron Williamson, who was convicted of a murder he didn't commit and sentenced to death row. Grisham carefully lays out the chronology of the murder and everything that happened afterward. I listened to this book on Audible, and I found the story engaging and at times frustrating. I wanted some closure and for the good guys to win, and that didn't happen for a long time. I am used to crime stories wrapping up in in the standard one-hour TV show length, and I kept telling myself that this frustration that I was feeling was nothing compared to what Williamson went through wanting the same thing. I knew that the story took place in Ada, Oklahoma, but I didn't realize that the murder took place in the early 80s at the same time I was in college with friends from Ada and that the murder victim was my age. A subplot told about another murder in Ada that happened the same day I got married in a different part of the state. These strange coincidences made the book even more interesting to me.The narrator did a good job, reading the story in a kind of voice you might expect to hear in a true crime news show.
  • Rating: 3 out of 5 stars
    3/5
    I got squirreled into reading this book by my local book club. I normally like Grisham’s works but do not normally read his genre. And I guess I have never read a nonfiction book on a crime before either, so I was unprepared for the way the story was told. I opened it up expecting to read a story, where characters interacted telling the story themselves and instead got a step-by-step factual telling of how events unfolded by a narrator. It is the story of two murders that take place in Ada, Oklahoma in 1980s. It centering on the men who were convicted of the crimes and their innocents. It retold the horrible mistreatment they received at the hands of the judicial system and the failure of society to protect them from being unjustly convicted and treated inhumanely. It tells of the plight of the families of the convicted “innocent” men and how they were helpless to stop the horror that was happening to their loved ones, expanding on how the crime flows outward affecting all it touches. It tells of the single-minded focus and ignorance of the police investigating the crime. Detailing the desperation of the police to solve the crime quickly; pages and pages on the lengths they were willing to go. But mostly it told the sad tale of a man whose life was breaking apart from a mental illness, whose family was desperately trying to save him from himself and failed.First off, I did not like the style of storytelling; it left me feeling detached from the characters in the tale. I wasn’t able to get a feel for them. Whenever it was stated how a character felt at the moment it sounded contrite. It in no way made me want to like them, in fact most all of them disgusted me. Second, due to personal reasons I hate reading about things that happen to real people. It disturbs me that such things happen and I get no joy out of reading the grisly details of a murder. And the step by step telling of how innocent people became entangled and framed by law officials just made me want to hurl at the unjustness of it all. If anything this book opened my eyes to the inadequacies of our justice system; making me scared of any interaction with police if ever I am on that side of the law.Third, I hate real life tales that end in tragedy. No matter how you try to spin it… The story of the people involved in The Innocent Man is a tragedy; there is no happy ending for any of them.So is this book good? Oh ya, it’s good at telling you the horrible happenings in the lives of all involved. It exposes all the nastiness of a corrupt system and for people who love to follow murder cases…this book is it! Read it, enjoy it. For those whose hearts get ripped out at the misuse and abuse of others…avoid it, you will cry for a long time.I am giving it a 3/5 just based on my personal preferences in what I expect from a good read.