The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, a Nonfiction Book by John Grisham: Summary

The author is the master of the legal thriller novel, but this is a true event. This book follows the story of a wrongfully convicted in murder, Ron Williamson in a small town in Oklahoma in the late eighties. Williamson had spent nine years on death row, and it’s only five days before the execution, the DNA evidence dismissed the charges.

The book is simple and easy to understand with meticulously researched. It can be said the book as a documentary. You can read some facts about law in this book.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town, a Nonfiction Book by John Grisham: Summary

With sixteen thousand people, Ada is considered large for rural Oklahoma, and it attracts factories and discount stores. Workers and shoppers make the drive from several counties. The biggest source of local pride is the quarter horse bidness. Some of the best horses are bred by Ada ranchers.

Most folks are Christian, or claim to be. The town has fifty churches from a dozen strains of Christianity. It’s a friendly place, filled with people who speak to strangers and always to each other and are anxious to help anyone in need. Kids play on shaded front lawns. Doors are left open during the day.

Factory workers looked for a drink before heading home, country boys looked for fun. The Coachlight was a popular and busy place, employing many part-time bartenders and bouncers and cocktail wait-resses. One was Debbie carter, a twenty-one year-old local girl who enjoyed the single life. She was pretty girl, athletic, popular with the boys, and very independent. She had her own car and lived by herself. She rented an apartment, left home, but remained very lose to her mother.

Her mother, Peggy Stillwell had not raised her daughter to live such a life in fact, Debbie had been raised in church. December 1982 was the last night for her, several people saw Debbie in the parking lot chatting with Glen Gore as the club was shutting down. Gore was a friend from high school. A month earlier Debbie had told her friend that she was afraid of Gore’s temper.

A close friend from high school has stopped by to say hello to Debbie. Her friend was lying on the floor nude, bloodied, not moving. When detective Dennis Smith knelt by Debbie’s body, he noticed the third message by the killer. Gary Rogers was an agent with Oklahoma State Bureau of Investigation (OSBI) who lived in Ada also agreed that there was more than one killer.

They investigated Gore. Gore worked at a club as a disc jockey, he went to school with Debbie. He would later change the story and claim that he had seen Ron William pestering Debbie at the club on that night. None remembered seeing Ron, a notorious carouser with loud mouth at the Coachlight. When Ron was in bar, everyone knew it.

Over three years and a half years would pass before the Ada police finally took samples from Gore, the last person seen with Debbie before her murder.

A state medical examiner and forensic pathologist performed an autopsy. The cause of death was asphyxiation, which was caused by combination of washcloth chocking her and either the belt or electrical cord strangling her.

The murder rocked Ada. Though the town had rich history of killings but such a brutal rape and murder a young woman was terrifying. Strict curfews were laid down for teenagers.

March 1983, Gary Rogers interviewed a local man who had just completed a short stint in jail for drunk driving. His cell mates talked about the killing several times and such talk seemed to bother Williamson. The debating developed the vague opinion that Ron was somehow involving in the murder. He suggested Rogers to concentrate on William as a suspect.

Ron was raised in devout Christian family. When he returned to Ada in 1972, Ron was the local hero, a professional baseball player. A year later he married a beautiful young lady and former Miss Ada. She was from a nice family. Ron called his mother in the spring of 1976, crying and hysterical with the news that he and Patty had fought bitterly and separated. The marriage lasted less than three years.

He signed a contract with a league, Class A, converting him to a pitcher, but Ron had simply not enough experience. When the season was over, he was cut again. Avoid Ada, he returned to Tulsa, and sold insurance. One more accustomed life to minors, he felt into bad habits, hanging around bars, chasing women, and drinking a lot of beer. Ron was almost delusional in his belief that he could still play the game. He was greatly troubled and even consumed by his failure.

Cocaine was roaring through the country and wildly available in the clubs in Tulsa. The late 1970s were wild and hedonistic. He was out of control. He met a woman in the club. In April, 1978 the Tulsa police were called to an apartment of a woman. She told them Ron had raped her and he was arrested. To Ron’s friend, the idea of rape was ridiculous. Women practically threw themselves at him. He hired veteran criminal defense attorney and Ron was released.

It only five months later, the Tulsa police received a call regarding another alleged rape. For the second time, Ron posted bail and called his lawyer. For the second time, the jury believed Ron and found him not guilty. Being called a rapist the first time had humiliated him, and he knew the label would stick for many years.

In 1981, Ron was again arrested for drunk driving and pleaded guilty. Renee, his big sister allowed him to stay in their son bedroom. His brother in law found him a job on a farm hauling hay, he quit because he said he found a softball team that needed him. The farmer later called and told his brother-in law that Ron was not welcome back, in his opinion he had some serious emotional problems.

His sister Annette and Renee were worried about their brother. On July 1981, he was arrested for being drunk in public and pleaded guilty. September, 1982, Ron was again charged with operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. He was arrested, jailed, and later pleaded guilty.

Three months after the murder of Debbie, the detectives went to the Williamson home and interviewed Ron for the first time. He said he did not remember- it had been three months earlier. His mother Juanita checked her diary, informed the detectives that her son had been at home at ten that night.

The police also interviewed a man by the name of Dennis Fritz, whose only possible link to the murder investigation was his friendship with Ron Williamson. According to an early police report, Dennis was a suspect at least an acquaintance of a suspect in the Carter murder. Dennis rarely went to the Coachlight and had not been there for months prior to the murder. No witness placed him there and mentioned his name.

Dennis grew up near Kansas City, finished high school there, and earned a degree in biology from Southeastern Oklahoma State University in 1971. His wife Mary was murdered by a teenager neighbor, shot in the head. He was emotionally scarred and did nothing but care for her daughter Elizabeth. He moved into rental home in Ada, not far from the Williamson, not far from the apartment Debbie Carter would one day lease. He got a job teaching junior high science in the town of Konowa. His mother had joined him in Ada to help with Elizabeth. He took another job teaching ninth-grade biology and coaching basketball in the town of Noble, an hour away. Dennis and Ron were looking for friends. Both men played guitar. Glen Gore was still in town but of little interest to the cops. 

In September 1988, a lawyer from Norman by the name of Mark Barret met Ron in prison. Mark was one of the four lawyers who handled the appeals for indigent defendants in capital cases. The Williamson case had been assigned to him. After two years on death row, Ron’s mental health was deteriorating. As a non contact facility, H unit was designed not only to keep the guards away from inmates but isolate the prisoners themselves. The food was worse than on F unit. H unit was a shock to the inmates. Ron lost interest in reading. He mumbled and screamed in agony. Ron lost ninety pounds after moving into H unit. His hair turned gray, and he looked like a ghost.

Ron and his sister got a letter from deputy warden that informed the date of execution. Once the Oklahoma courts were finished with Ron’s case, and the date of attorney hustled to federal court and began the next stage of appeals. The proceedings are known as habeas corpus-or Latin for “you should have the body.’ A writ for habeas corpus required that an inmate be brought before the court to determine the legality of detention.

The habeas corpus was randomly assigned to Judge Frank Seay. A new trial was in order, and after hearing habeas matters, the judge agreed to study the petition. He was not surprised at the sloppy trial and flimsy evidence. He had heard for years that cops had s bad reputation.

The Innocence Project was founded by New York Lawyers, one of the two founders was Barry Sheck. He was expert on forensic DNA and became famous one of attorney for O.J Simpson. Dennis watched the Simpson trial closely, and in March 1996, he finally wrote the Innocent Project. District Attorney and Ron’s lawyer agreed on DNA testing. On January 1999, at a company called Laboratory Corporation of America (LabCorp) in North Carolina, the cement samples from crime scene, the torn panties, the vaginal swabs, the bedsheets - were tested against the DNA profiles of Ron and Dennis. A DNA expert had been by the attorney hired to monitor the test. Ron and Dennis were innocent.

The prosecutor and the police could never admit they were wrong. Maybe the cops could pinch another dream confession from a witness or suspect or maybe another drug addict would stumble in the police station and confess, or implicate Ron and Dennis.

The exonerations of Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz brought national attention to Ada. Gore knew things were heating up over in Ada and that was rapidly becoming the prime suspect. He escaped. DNA proof from the source of the crime scene semen and hair was Glen Gore. 

Ron was diagnosed with cirrhosis of the liver. It was untreatable and no chance of a transplant. It was another death sentence and painful one. On December 2004, his sisters gathered around his bed for last time and said good-bye.

On June 2006, Gore was again found guilty. The jury deadlocked on the issue of death, and a judge, as required by law, sentenced Gore to life without parole.

Sekapur Sirih

Ini adalah postingan ketiga kali untuk karya novelis thriller-hukum John Grisham. Bila selama ini telah akrab dengan karya fiksinya, maka ini adalah karya nonfiksi pertamanya. Walau sudah pernah membaca karya ini sepuluh tahun silam, namun novel bertema salah hukum ini layak dibagikan. Kisah nyata dan tragis dari Ron Wiliamson, seorang terpidana mati atas tuduhan pembunuhan gadis di sebuah kota kecil. Setelah menjalani hukuman sebelas tahun, dan sembilan tahun di antaranya dalam penjara hukuman mati, hanya lima hari sebelum pelaksanaan hukuman mati, teknologi baru yakni hasil test DNA membebaskannya dan juga temannya Dennis (turut dituduh terlibat, dengan hukuman seumur hidup).

Ditulis dengan ringan dan sederhana sehingga tidaklah sulit untuk dipahami. Banyak mengandung fakta tentang hukum dan ketidakadilan sehingga bisa juga disebut seperti dokumenter (disertai banyak kutipan). Ketidakadilan seperti ini juga tidak sedikit terjadi di negeri kita, selalu memaksakan seseorang menjadi pelaku/terdakwa. Grisham dalam catatannya menyimpulkan bahwa di Amerika sendiri setiap bulan terjadi ketidakadilan - salah hukum, dengan beragam alasan tetapi pada intinya sama: kesalahan saksi mengidentifikasi, pembelaan buruk dari pengacara, jaksa yang malas dan arogan, dan kinerja polisi yang buruk.

Terjemahan dalam Bahasa Indonesia: Innocent (Tidak Bersalah): Kisah pembunuhan dan Ketidakadilan di Sebuah Kota Kecil karya John Grisham, Ringkasan

Kota Ada terletak dalam negara bagian Oklahoma, berpenduduk enam belas ribu jiwa. Kota bertumbuh, ramai dengan toko dan hiburan kelab malam dan bar. Tujuan tempat belanja dari kecamatan atau kota lebih kecil di sekitarnya. Banyak industri dan pabrik di kota ini, sebelum pulang ke rumah masing-masing para pekerja mampir mencari hiburan, meneguk bir melepas lelah di bar-bar.

Gereja banyak ditemui, mayoritas penduduknya berkulit putih dan penganut agama Kristen taat. Penduduk biasa membiarkan pintu rumah tidak terkunci, anak-anak bermain di rumput hijau halaman rumah, kenakalan anak remaja yang sedikit menggangu. Tidak sedikit juga tindakan kriminal seperti pembunuhan di kota lintasan itu, tapi biasanya menggunakan pistol.

Pembunuhan sadis dengan menggorok leher dengan kabel listrik, memerkosa gadis muda, menyumpal mulutnya, meninggalkan catatan darah di tempat kejadian baru kali ini terjadi. Penduduk Ada dan sekitar benar-benar gempar dan syok. Jam malam diberlakukan untuk para remaja dan gadis.

Debbie Carter, seorang gadis belia dan cantik, ditemukan sahabatnya bersimbah darah di apartemen sewaannya. Sebenarnya ibunya tidak setuju saat Debbie bekerja di bar yang dipenuhi minuman keras dan pelanggan keras. Ia dibesarkan dalam kelurga taat. Gadis bertubuh atletis yang bersikeras hidup mandiri dan telah memiliki mobil sendiri dan menyewa apartemen yang tidak jauh dari rumah ibunya.

Gadis idola bagi para pria, banyak saksi mengatakan terakhir kali Debbie berbicara dengan Glen Gore. Lelaki berprofesi disk joki di sebuah bar di kota yang sama , ia juga satu sekolah dengannya saat duduk di bangku SMA. Selain mencuri kaca spion mobilnya, Debbie pernah bercerita pada sahabatnya dan mengeluhkan perilaku kasar  Gore padanya. Setelah bar tutup, Glen terlihat berbincang dengan Debbie di parkiran. Itulah malam terakhir Debbie hidup.

Kediaman keluarga Williamson tidak jauh dari apartemen Debbie. Ron merupakan anak bungsu dari tiga bersaudara dan kesayangan bagi kedua saudarinya. Ayahnya seorang sales perkakas dapur dan rumah tangga, yang giat menawarkan dagangannya dari rumah ke rumah. Kedua orang tuanya sangat menyayangi Ron karena ia satu-satunya lelaki di rumah. Ia tergolong dimanjakan. Sejak kecil minatnya akan softball telah terlihat dan orang tuanya mendukung keinginan Ron menjadi bintang.

Keterbatasan ekonomi tidak menghalangi ayahnya membiayai Ron untuk menjadi pemain profesional. Sang ayah sampai membeli baju bekas untuk dirinya demi ambisi Ron ke sekolah yang ada tim softball-nya. Ron pun dalam usia belia sudah menjadi bintang yang dipuja dan kerap masuk koran lokal. Ketika SMA, ia kerap ikut pertandingan skala nasional, setelah lulus ia menjadi pemain terkenal. Ia dikontrak oleh liga berkelas. Ia pun terbiasa mendapat pujian dan kontrak besar.

Dibesarkan dalam keluarga Kristen taat dan sering membaca Bible, namun ketenarannya seolah menggiring ia kerap berhubungan dengan dunai malam, alkohol dan narkoba menjadi kelemahannya. Setelah sejumlah tur pertandingan hingga ke berbagai negara bagian di Amerika termasuk California, ia akhirnya kembali ke Ada dan menikahi gadis tersohor dan termolek di daerahnya, Miss Ada. Awalnya ia sangat bahagia namun pernikahan hanya bertahan tiga tahun.

Ia depresi dan kembali ke bar, bolak-balik masuk liga. Ia pun kembali minum-minum dan narkoba dan keadaannya mengkuatirkan keluarganya. Pernikahannya hancur dan kontrak pekerjaan tidak ada. Ia sempat menjadi sales asuransi di kota Tulsa, kota yang tidak jauh dari rumahnya, sengaja ia pilih untuk menghindari Ada. Bolak-balik ditahan polisi karena berkendara mabuk. Dua kali ia dilaporkan oleh dua wanita yang ditemuinya di kelab.

Desember 1982, tiga bulan setelah kematian Debbie, para detektif pun mendatangi rumahnya. Ron sulit mengingat kejadian tiga bulan lalu, ia sama sekali tidak ingat di mana saat peritiwa pembunuhan terjadi. Ibunya Juanita segera mengecek diarinya, malam itu ia bersama Ron menonton film rental. Detektif pun memastikannya persewaan dan benar.

Dennis Fritz seorang guru biologi, sarjana biologi lulusan universitas negeri yang merupakan teman Ron turut diwawancarai. Duda beranak satu itu, menyewa apartmen tidak jauh dari rumah Ron. Lelaki kelahiran Kansas itu memiliki luka dalam atas kehilangan istrinya yang tewas ditembak oleh seorang anak remaja, tetangganya sendiri. Ia sempat depresi atas kematian istrinya. Ia mendapat pekerjaan mengajar di kota Anda dan membawa ibunya pindah untuk menjaga putrinya yang masih kecil. Untuk menambah penghasilan, Dennis juga mengajar dan melatih basket di sekolah lain dengan berkendara satu jam dari Ada. Dennis mendapat pekerjaan di Ada dan pindah, ia pun bertemu Ron. Keduanya memiliki hobi yang sama yakni bermain gitar. Catatan buruk dirinya tidaklah banyak, ia pernah ditahan karena menanam marijuana.

Kematian Debbie Carter menjadi sirkus media lokal dan sekaligus misteri bagi masyarakat Ada. Kepolisian didesak untuk menangkap pelaku. Gore menuduh Ron, sekalipun tidak ada bukti Ron dan Dennis adalah pelakunya, bahkan semua saksi mata yang ada di bar pada malam kejadian tidak ada yang melihat Ron dan Dennis. Penyidik dan jaksa sudah sepakat mereka berdua adalah pelakunya. Alasan tuduhan: rumahnya tidak jauh dari kejadian, pembunuhnya ada dua orang, Ron mengidap gangguan mental, psikolog juga menganalisis ia mengidap bipolar, sudah sering keluar-masuk penjara, dua kali dituduh memerkosa dua wanita berbeda (pengadilan memutus ia tidak bersalah). Pembunuh utama adalah Ron, bintang softball dan dibantu oleh kawannya Dennis.

Keduanya pun ditahan, setelah mengalami berbagai persidangan selama bertahun-tahun, dan berbagai pengacara yang ia sewa, akhirnya Ron divonis hukuman mati dan Dennis hukuman seumur hidup, dan ditempatkan di penjara yang berbeda. Keterangan saksi-saksi palsu, pengakuan mimpi-mimpi, keterangan sejumlah penghuni penjara yang dibayar polisi untuk memata-matai Ron dijadikan dasar penghakiman. Tidak ada bukti fisik. Ron pun semakin depresi dan sering berteriak di penjara. Ia selalu bilang ia tidak pernah membunuh siapapun. Karena Dennis seorang guru, maka kemampuannya dimanfaatkan mengajar teman napi. Ia juga kerap belajar di perpustakaan dan mempelajari kasusnya. Tidak pernah terlewatkan mengikuti sidang dan berita tentang pembunuhan terdakwa O.J Simpson yang menggemparkan Amerika.

Rupanya pengacara, juga seorang ahli DNA pembela O.J Simpson bernama Barry Sheck dan satu rekannya mendirikan the Innoccent Project di New York dengan misi membebaskan napi yang salah hukum. Melalui tes DNA ratusan salah hukum terselamatkan. Dennis pun menyurati dan mendapat balasan. Berita mantan pemain softball akan dihukum mati dengan kejangggalan bukti terdengar oleh wartawan nasional yang kebetulan memiliki kerabat di kota Ada. Sirkus berita pun semakin gencar di ujung waktu hukuman mati. Pengacara hebat pun akhirnya turun membantu dan juga Sheck.

Pada tahun 2004, surat yang berisikan tanggal eksekusi sampai pada Ron dan kakaknya. Beberapa hari sebelum hari eksekusi pengacaranya permohonan naik banding ke tingkat lebih tinggi dengan pendahuluan yang dikenal dengan habeas corpus. Surat permohonan sampai kepada meja seorang hakim kritis dan jujur.

Habeas corpus berasal dari bahasa Yunani (Greek) dan secara literatur berarti “kau seharusnya memiliki/menghadirkan tubuh.” Sesuai kamus umum dan bila diterjemahkan secara bebas dalam bahasa Indonesia berarti : surat perintah pengadilan (dari hakim atau pihak berwewenang setara) kepada penjaga tahanan atau jaksa menghadirkan terpidana di muka persidangan untuk menguji atau mempelajari kembali legalitas penahanan. Corpus habeas juga dapat membantu kebebasan seorang napi anak-anak atau gila dari hukuman. Jika seorang tahanan yang merasa tidak mendapatkan keadilan dan ia berhasil meyakinkan dengan bukti-bukti bahwa ia tidak bersalah, maka pengadilan akan membebaskannya.

Kasus Ron dan upaya pembuktian bahwa ia tidak bersalah berjalan hingga lima tahun. Teknologi tes DNA baru dikenal awal tahun 90’an. Pada tahun 1999, tepatnya hanya lima hari sebelum pelaksanaan hukuman mati, hasil test DNA membuktikan bahwa Ron dan Dennis tidak bersalah. Jaksa tidak terima dengan berbagai alasan namun juri telah memutuskan Ron dan Dennis tidak bersalah.

Keadaan ini memicu dan mendesak detektif penyelidikan pada tersangka kuat lain yakni Gore. Lelaki itu memiliki sejumlah catatan kriminal, keluar-masuk penjara, pernah melakukan kekerasan pada wanita dan juga keluarganya sendiri, bahkan keluarganya pernah mendatangi pengadilan agar Gore ditangkap karena kelakuannya yang tidak bisa ditolerir. Hasil tes DNA membuktikan sperma dan rambut pada sprei Debbie adalah milik Gore. Lelaki itu pun sulit mengelak.

Tidak ada permintaan maaf dari pihak negara atau pihak manapun, tidak ada kompensasi untuk Ron dan Dennis selama belasan tahun mendekam di penjara untuk tuduhan yang tidak pernah mereka lakukan. Kasus Ron dan Dennis menasional, setelah bebas mereka kerap diwawancari di televisi nasional. Ia sakit chirhosis hati, kemungkinan karena kebiasaan konsumsi alkohol dan narkoba di masa muda. Depresi, merasa selalu menjadi beban bagi kedua saudarinya, ia kembali kebiasaan buruknya. Selama di penjara ia nyaris mengutuki ayah-ibunya yang membawanya ke dunia dan berujar seandainya ada pilihan untuk tidak dilahirkan. Ron hanya bertahan hidup selama lima tahun setelah bebas dari penjara.