On October 10th, 2006, John Grisham​’s first non-fic­tion book, The Innocent Man, will be released. The book is the com­pelling true sto­ry of Ron Williamson, a for­mer home­town base­ball hero of Ada, Oklahoma, who was con­vict­ed in 1988 of rap­ing and mur­der­ing Debbie Carter. In 1999, Williamson was exon­er­at­ed of the crime after serv­ing eleven years on death row. In the con­text of this case, Grisham address­es many of the fun­da­men­tal issues that sur­round the death penal­ty in the United States. He describes the poor legal rep­re­sen­ta­tion that Williamson received and explores the mind of a men­tal­ly ill man. There are detailed accounts of life on death row and the exe­cu­tion process. In addi­tion to being a fas­ci­nat­ing and well-told sto­ry, the book shows how inno­cent peo­ple can end up on death row. Grisham has writ­ten numer­ous inter­na­tion­al best­sellers, includ­ing The Firm, A Time to Kill and The Pelican Brief. (The Innocent Man, Random House 2006). See Innocence and Books. A total of 123 peo­ple have been freed from death row fol­low­ing their exon­er­a­tion since 1973.

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