The Innocent Man

1. We'll begin by listening to an interview with John Grisham about his motivation for writing this non-fiction true crime story

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=6248147

Grisham highlights a number of similarities between himself and Ron Williamson. He is fascinated with the police's adamant pursuit of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz and the "flilmsy" case they jerrymandered to wrongly convict them. He describes the mistreatment that Williamson a bipolar manic depressive suffered while incarcerated. He is outraged that the state of Oklahoma never apologized for the injustice meted out to these flawed but innocent individuals. As far as Grisham is concerned, the monetary settlement Williamson and Fritz won against Ada, OK and the state of OK in no way makes up for the damage done by this miscarriage of justice

2. Why do you believe critics have given Innocent Man generally mixed or unfavorable reviews?
( http://www.metacritic.com/books/authors/grishamjohn/innocentman ) Do you think that Grisham's focus on the facts of the case weaken the overall narrative thread of the work? Or is it the absence of a sympathetic protagonist that infuriates Grisham's fiction fans?


3. The opening crime scene is meant to set up the most startling facts of the case for Grisham
a)"in the midst of all the fingerprinting and hairclippping ...Gore fell through the cracks. He either slipped away or was conveniently ignored, or was simply neglected."
b) "over three and a half years would pass before the Ada police finally took samples from Gore, the last person seen with Debbie Carter before her murder."
c) "it was inevitable that the police would find their way to Ron Williamson...the police now knew him as an unemployed guitar picker who lived with his mother, drank too much, and acted strange."

4. Chapters 2 and 3 provide a detailed biographical sketch of Williamson
a) He could be sweet and sensitive, unafraid to show his affection to his mother and sisters, and, a moment later, bratty and selfish, making demands of the entire family. His mood swings were noticed early in life but were the cause of no particular alarm"
b) [$50,000 signing bonus] "He bought himself a new Cutlass Supreme and some clothes. He bought his parents a new color television. Then he lost the rest of the money in a poker game.
c) "Ron was almost delusional in his belief that he could still play the game. And he was greatly troubled, even consumed by his failures."
d) As his world becme gloomier, Ron fought back with the only tools he had. He drank more, kept even later hours, chased even more girls, all in an effort to live the good life and escape his worries. But the alcohol fueled the depression, or maybe the depression required more alcohol--whatever the combination, he became moodier and more dejected. And less predictable."
e) He began hearing voices, but he wouldn't tell his mother whatthey said. Then he began answering them.
f) "Untreated, unmedicated and drinking, Ron became a regular at the local watering holes around Ada. He was a sloppy drunk, talking loud, bragging about his baseball career, and bothering women.

5. Grisham connects the Haraway and Carter murders and shows the "profound impact" of public outcry to solve both investigations and the unorthodox police tactics this pressure generated (cf. Tommy Ward's dream confession, Karl Fontenot's coached confession, )