
Justice and Fairness... These are the 2 things lacking in this world.
I have finished reading John Grisham’s book ‘The Innocent Man’. The book is so frightening to read because its gruesome tale is a true life story.
It’s about the life of Ron Williamson. He was a star college baseball player who was destined to chase after his dreams. But in 1982, the police arrested him for murder. A murder he did not commit. There were no DNA evidence and no trace of him near the young woman who was raped and brutally murdered. And he was wrongfully convicted and sent to Death Row.
The trial given to him was never fair. A bunch of liars took the stand and gave fake testimonies against him. The prosecutors made it their duty to paint a bad picture of this innocent man so that he would be sentenced to Death.
By the way, Death Row isn’t like the way we see it in ‘Prison Break’. Death Row is a serious place. A place where few people have gone and have never returned. Ron was in jail a total of 12 years. Imagine waiting in prison for that day when you will be dragged off the tiny cell you live in to be executed. Imagine not having proper food. Imagine being given 2 pairs of clothes to wear for the rest of your life. Imagine not being able to see your family. Imagine that only 1 hr a day is given to you to breathe fresh air in 4 wall brick compound. Finally imagine you were convicted for something you never did. How would you keep your sanity?
He spent years in prison before his appeal was ever heard. Only after 12 years, he was exonerated. 12 years! 12 years of his life lost. His mother died when he was in prison. He eventually died after being freed from prison due to some liver disease. He prayed to God to take him home.
Everyday someone is being wrongfully sentenced to death. I pray that God will watch over these people and give them the true life that awaits them beyond death.
This was a hard book to read. It taught me how short life is. How we take things for granted and people too. We can’t guarantee that we will be here on earth tomorrow. How meaningless my life suddenly becomes when I read this book.