This is a true story of Ron Williamson, a former baseball player who was mistakenly convicted of murder in Ada, Oklahoma, and came within five days of being executed before he was finally acquitted - after 11 years on death row. All Grisham had to do is put the whole story all together. ... read more

Though Grisham does not feels comfortable in research,  he was looking through boxes of documents and materials from the family, mental health records, trial transcripts, depositions, fourth grade report cards. He travelled around with a recorder for 18 months, interviewing lawyers, judges and Williamson’s co-defendant, Dennis Fritz, carefully transcribing the quotes.

If in previous books Grisham almost always invented the story, with The Innocent Man he was dogged about getting his facts straight, especially because some of the people in the book are still alive, and because the prosecution botched the case so badly, many individuals aren’t portrayed in good light.

Williamson and Fritz were convicted in the slaying of Debra Sue Carter, who was sexually molested and strangled in 1982 in Ada, Oklahoma. Frtiz got a life sentence. Williamson spent nine years on death row, at one time coming within five days of execution before a stay was ordered. In April 1999, an Ada judge noted that DNA tests of semen and hair samples did not genetically match Fritz or Williamson and he dismissed the charges.

Glen Gore, the man last seen with Carter, and who helped convict Williamson and Fritz, was eventually convicted in her death, with the help of DNA evidence.

Barry Scheck, a lawyer who founded the Innocence Project - a legal group that uses DNA to exonerate convicts - and represented Fritz, said he hopes Grisham’s book will put more focus on the problem of wrongful conviction for people who may not be familiar with such cases.

We love Grisham because he has a very simple, chronological style that people can follow without much work. He is methodical about his writing, publishing a book every year. He usually writes for six months, but The Innocent Man took even more - 18 months.