By Dr M. Gautham Machaiah
The Innocent Man is John Grisham’s first work of non-fiction. It is the disturbing story of Ron Williamson who was condemned to death and almost executed for a rape and murder he did not commit.
The law believes in the dictum of innocent until proven guilty. But in the case of Ron, it was, guilty until proven innocent. A baseball hero, Ron left his hometown of Ada in Oklahoma, in 1971 to pursue his dreams of the big league. He was back six years later, his promising career and dreams shattered by a life of drugs, alcohol and women. Reduced to a mental wreck, Ron moved in with his mother, often sleeping for 20 hours a day.
In 1982, a waiter Debra Sue Carter was found raped and murdered in her apartment. For five years, the local police remained clueless. But as pressure began to mount, they arrested Ron and his friend Dennis Fritz and charged them with capital murder.
With absolutely no evidence at hand, the police built their case solely on their imagination aided by outdated forensic methods and the testimony of convicts, who lied on oath in exchange for clemency. On the strength of this fabricated evidence, Dennis was awarded a life sentence while Ron was sent to the death row.
Ron was kept in prison for 20 years awaiting death until the truth stumbled out. Ultimately, Ron was out, but with two decades of the best part of his life taken away by a faulty criminal justice system. Ron was plain lucky. But many more Rons await the electric chair or the lethal injection in US jails, for murders, rapes and burglaries that they have never committed, while the real culprits continue to stalk the streets.
This real-life story comes as a shot in the arm for all opponents of capital punishment, which has failed to serve as a deterrent. Death is a punishment that cannot be reversed. Life cannot be restored if innocence is established after a person’s execution. Besides, it is often only the poor with no access to quality legal aid, who face death penalty.
Even if a million criminals go scot-free, one innocent man should not be punished. Grisham deserves accolades for awakening our senses.
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