Last night I completed “The Innocent Man” by John Grisham. It is the first work of non-fiction by Grisham and it really is a shocking book. The book is about the false conviction of two guys on the charges of a murder. The cooked testimonies, the fabricated evidences, and some junk science led to two guys being falsely imprisoned for 11 years. One of them was just days away from being executed and the death row made him insane.

In 1971, Ron Williamson left Ada, Oklahoma, as a draft pick for a pro baseball team. It was a dream comes true that shattered six years later, after his pursuit of drinking, drugs and women, compounded by a bad arm, landed him back home and going nowhere. It wasn’t hard for anyone who was looking to see that Williamson was in a bad way. But was he a killer?

When Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered in 1982, the police were convinced Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz were responsible, despite being told the 21-year-old cocktail waitress was last seen arguing with a male high school friend the night of the killing. Based on zero physical evidence and the word of disreputable snitches, the two were hounded for five years before being arrested and found guilty. But while Fritz was given a life sentence, Williamson was sent to Death Row, where he stayed for twelve long years…

This is a nice book, written about an appalling set of circumstances, in which Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz was arrested, and in which they found himself sitting on death row, awaiting the final walk of his life. This book greatly describes the events that changed the life of both the victims and people who are near and dear to them.

The central character of the book is Ron Williamson, a character who has been wrongly convicted in the rape and murder case. Thought Ron is wrongly convicted and faces 12 years on death row it hardly appeals for any support to the reader, it just arouses only sympathy and pity. Ron had already destroyed his life in pursuit of drugs, drinks and women before the arrest. He was always a problem and a great matter of concern to his near and dear ones. Ron lacks confidence and fighting back spirit. Even after his release and getting some million dollars as compensation, he reverts back to his old life style of drugs, drinks and women.

Dennis Fritz was the only character who has greatly impressed me. He with hardly any monetary and legal support of his family (aged mother and his little daughter) has the fighting back spirit. He utilizes his time in jail to study laws and cases of wrong conviction which greatly affected his release. He is the person who is the real world person who transits from phases of frustration but always dreams for a free life and nice future and do everything possible to make the dreams come true.

The novel makes you think a lot about the society. The society doesn’t support Ron or Dennis just because they had a bad image and don’t look in to facts which leads to their conviction. This book made me think and analyzes my inner self. Really I think we form a opinion about a person based on our perceptions rather than facts. We form opinions based on someone’s cloths or his/her appearance and facts which we hear. We easily believe things told to us by our friends, media or people around you. We never take any pains to analyze whether the things which we believe are really true.