PASSAGE OF THE DAY: "Shows such as The Innocent Man, based on best-selling author John Grisham’s first (and only) non-fiction book, are a window into an America that we rarely see, an America that is rarely projected. It is fitting then, that this side of America - a rotten, crime-infested land of rampant corruption and backward beliefs - is brought to our attention by the same people that the country is trying to hide.
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STORY: The Innocent Man review: Netflix, John Grisham end 2018 with an addictive treat for true crime fans," by Rohan Naahar, published by The Hindustan Times on December 21, 2018.
SUB-HEADING: "The Innocent Man review: Netflix’s latest binge-fest, based on John Grisham (only) non-fiction book, is yet another tale of wrongful conviction. An addictive treat for true crime fans."
GIST: "Ada,
Oklahoma, is the sort of small town that has ‘a church on every
corner’, a woman who lives there says in the first episode of Netflix’s
latest true crime
series, The Innocent Man. It is also, as we will see a couple of
minutes later, the sort of small town whose pastors preach the Gospel of
Christ with a loaded gun on their person. “Five in the clip, none in
the chamber,” says one of them, glowing with pride. Only God should have
the power to take a life, he offers as an explanation; but in Ada,
Oklahoma, some men have robbed God of this power. Shows such as
The Innocent Man, based on best-selling author John Grisham’s first (and
only) non-fiction book, are a window into an America that we rarely
see, an America that is rarely projected.
It is fitting then, that this side of America - a rotten,
crime-infested land of rampant corruption and backward beliefs - is
brought to our attention by the same people that the country is trying
to hide. Grisham
came across this incredible story because of his association with the
Innocence Project - a heroic group of lawyers who’ve made it their
mission to exonerate wrongfully convicted prisoners. Grisham was
presented the case of one Ron Williamson, a mentally ill man who in the
mid-80s was arrested for and convicted of killing a young woman.
Williamson was sentenced to death - he spent 11 years on death row - and
came within five days of being executed on one occasion. He was
released when new DNA evidence cleared his name, in an appeal effort
lead by the Innocence Project. But more than a decade spent on death
row, untreated for mental illnesses that were visibly taking over his
body, had an irreparable effect on Williamson, who could not adjust to
life as a free man. “It
took Ron four years to drink himself to death,” Grisham says plainly.
In offering justice for the death of one person, the system took the
life of another. “If I were to write this story as a novel,” says
Grisham, also credited as one of the show’s producers, “no one would
believe it.” But it gets stranger. A few years before the Ada
police picked up Williamson, they’d arrested two young men for the rape
and murder of another young woman. Both Tommy Ward and Karl Fontenot are
still in prison, serving life sentences on the basis of what they claim
were false confessions, coerced out of them by law enforcement officers
covering their own tracks. What
unfolds is a story that is all too familiar but just as difficult to
believe as the several other times we’ve seen similar cases on screen,
in The Thin Blue Line, the Paradise Lost trilogy, and more recently, in
Netflix’s own Making a Murderer.
It’s a story about greed and corruption, about systemic malpractice,
but it is also a story about human perseverance, and decency. As someone who has, like millions of others, lapped up every new true crime series
that we’re given, The Innocent Man is in many ways a reminder of just
how overwhelming certain injustices truly are. It’s so heartbreaking
that simply based on the broadest outlines of certain cases, an
experienced viewer can accurately predict how the story will play out. More
often than not, it begins with a dead woman (it’s always a woman), a
false confession - usually extracted from the most vulnerable they can
prey upon - and ends in a wrongful conviction. What follows is an
indictment of the American justice system - it is estimated that over
90,000 wrongfully convicted prisoners are incarcerated in its
overpopulated (and privatised) prisons - and a story of the many lives
that are affected by such deliberate wrongdoing. In what is perhaps the
most tragic example of this case’s fallout, the victim’s mother, now an
ageing lady who needs a wheelchair to move around, recalls how her life
disintegrated after her daughter’s death. “I have been on
antidepressants for 35 years,” she says, plagued by the guilt of knowing
that it was a belt that she’d gifted her daughter that was used as the
murder weapon. Ada,
Oklahoma is the sort of nondescript Bible Belt town that we’ve seen so
often in shows like The Innocent Man - a town where class distinctions
are a life sentence in themselves. All the power in Ada is concentrated
among a few at the top of the ivory tower, while the poor are
systematically ignored and oppressed. Their lives and their memories are
being washed away by alcohol and drugs and violence. And the criminal
justice system is taking care of whatever’s left. But stories such
as this aren’t restricted to Ada or America; something similar happened
in our own backyard. The recent documentary film, The Karma Killings,
told a version of this story about the rich and the poor and the
murder of innocent girls - that made headlines a few years ago, and
through its own tale of class conflict and cruel injustice, suggested
that perhaps Nithari in Uttar Pradesh and Ada, Oklahoma aren’t too
different after all."
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.hindustantimes.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
The entire story can be read at:
https://www.hindustantimes.
PUBLISHER'S NOTE: I am monitoring this case/issue. Keep your eye on the Charles Smith Blog for reports on developments. The Toronto Star, my previous employer for more than twenty incredible years, has put considerable effort into exposing the harm caused by Dr. Charles Smith and his protectors - and into pushing for reform of Ontario's forensic pediatric pathology system. The Star has a "topic" section which focuses on recent stories related to Dr. Charles Smith. It can be found at: http://www.thestar.com/topic/
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