The Innocent Man: True Crime Story of Murder and Injustice in Small Town America - Perfect for Book Clubs & Crime Documentary Fans

The Innocent Man is by John Grisham. This is Grisham’s first non-fiction book; but it reads like fiction. It is a story that is hard to believe actually occurred, much less that it happened in 1982 and after. It sounds like something that would have occurred much earlier when you see that the evidence is so misused and that evidence from experts is not nearly as accurate as we think it should be. As a result, two men were found guilty and sentenced to life in prison for a crime they didn’t commit. In another case, three men were convicted and found guilty without the presence of a dead body. Then, when “confessions” were given, they were very different. When the body was found, she had been killed by a gunshot when the men claimed she was killed by a knife.This book shows the problems that arose when detectives were overzealous with their attempts to get confessions out of suspects as well as the tendency of some detectives to not look at the facts when investigating. Once they suspect someone, it is possible to make the evidence to say what you want it to say. Whether it is prejudice against someone or some group, or just sloppy police work remains to be seen.This book was especially interesting to me as I lived in Ada when I attended East Central University (then State College) and my grandparents lived there. Luckily, I had finished college and moved from Ada prior to this happening. It was also interesting when Ron Williamson mentioned knowing Harry Bracheen, as Harry’s parents lived across the street from my grandparents, and we had met Harry several times.