The first non-fiction work of the American contemporary suspense novel master John Grisham, "Innocent People", Chinese Simplified edition, was recently introduced and launched by Yilin Publishing House. The documentary of the same name, Innocent People, will air on Netflix on December 14.
Cover of "The Innocent Man"
Since his debut in 1988, John Grisham has published a novel every year, becoming the evergreen tree of the literary world. His works have sold more than 300 million copies worldwide and have been translated into forty languages, nine of which have been adapted into films. And, without exception, these blockbusters are starring Hollywood A-list movie stars, such as Tom Cruise in "Sugar-Coated Trap", Julia Roberts in "Gannet Assassination Order", Matthew McConaughey in "Killing Hour" and so on. Many Chinese readers also learned of Grisham's name through these films. Since the late 1990s, Yilin Publishing House has successively translated a number of Grisham's classic novels, including his most famous "Trap", "The King of Litigation", "Pelican Case File", etc., which have been warmly welcomed by readers.
Poster for the documentary "Innocent People"
At a low ebb of creation, he began to investigate an unjust case
On November 19, Grisham posted on social media: "Netflix's documentary's Innocent People, based on my only documentary crime bestseller, will air on December 14, 2018. At the same time, he released a trailer, which caused a large number of fans to "watch", some readers said that this is "one of the best and saddest books" they have read, and more loyal readers have left messages saying that they have read the book fifteen times and will revisit the book on the eve of the documentary broadcast. So why would a writer who is known for his fiction write this nonfiction? Grisham confessed that he was at a low ebb of creation at the time, just in time to see a news report on an unjust case, the complexity and drama of the case far beyond his imagination. He immediately decided to start an investigation, which lasted a year and a half, visited relevant people, and "returned to the scene of the incident again and again, sorted out the truth of the case from countless interviews and millions of documents, and restored the 12 years of injustice of an innocent person."
John Grisham
Grisham's storytelling makes the story meaningful
"The Innocent Man" begins with a brutal murder. On December 7, 1982, a young woman, Debbie Carter, was killed at her home in Eda Township, Oklahoma. Police and forensic doctors arrived at the scene and preliminarily judged debbie to have died of suffocation. The scene of the murder was shocking, and for a while the town was full of rumors and people's trepidation. The police are under tremendous pressure to solve the case, but there are no obvious suspects in this case and no clear clues. Suddenly, an inmate told the police a name: Ron Williamson. So the police listed Ron as a key suspect.
Edda town
Ron, who clearly had nothing to do with Debbie's case, was sentenced to death for false accusations by others and the irresponsibility of judicial personnel such as police, prosecutors and judges. Even more bizarrely, Ron was a bipolar disordered patient with severe mental illness, but during the investigation and trial, no one cared about his mental condition, and he was even abused by the guards in prison, physically and mentally devastated. Five days before the original execution date, the god of fate suddenly reached out to help, and Ron, with the help of lawyers, judges and others, finally settled the injustice. Through the lawsuit, Ron received huge reparations. But the ending of the story is doomed to be sad, and this unjust case makes Ron miss one opportunity for healing after another, and his body and spirit completely collapse, and he dies of illness shortly after his release from prison.
Ron Williamson
Ron's tragic fate is gripping. After reading the book, the writer XiaoBai said: "This murder and grievance incident in the small town of Oklahoma may be just a small human tragedy in itself, but John Grisham's narration makes this story rich and meaningful." The reader can understand not only the real United States, but also the history of the progress of criminal investigation technology and justice. As a professional with ten years of experience as a lawyer, Grisham calmly examined every detail of the wrongful conviction. After the murder, people out of fear and expect justice to be realized immediately, in such an irrational atmosphere, the police had to quickly find a "suspect", convict him, and get "due punishment".
In the book, readers will see how the police in the town of Edda ignored the judicial process, ignored the many precedents of the Federal Supreme Court to protect defendants in criminal cases, and used evidence with extremely high error rates to arbitrarily modify suspects' confessions and polygraph results. Such a flawed investigation process, coupled with the prosecutor's haste and quick success, has led to the real murderer getting away with it, and the innocent person is almost unjustly killed.
The police involved
How to avoid the recurrence of unjust cases is of enlightening significance
The language of the book is similar to Grisham's best-selling novel, calm, restrained, precise, and at the same time directly striking. It is worth mentioning that the Chinese translator of this book, Yu Xiao, is a legal expert, and the simplified version of the translation vividly shows the essence of the original text and accurately translates the professional vocabulary in the book. Grisham has pointed out that in the process of investigating the case, he encountered many dark sides of the judiciary that he had previously dared not have imagined. In the United States, he said, miscarriages occur every month in every state for the same reasons: improper investigative work, garbage science, lying witnesses, irresponsible defense attorneys, arrogant prosecutors. How to avoid the recurrence of unjust cases? On the one hand, from the experience of this book, the development and application of DNA detection technology has greatly improved the accuracy of the evidence. On the other hand, abiding by judicial procedures and adhering to the judicial bottom line is not only the norm of every legal person, but also the wish of every ordinary person.
Prosecutor at the time
Wu Hongqi, associate professor at the Institute of Evidence Science at the China University of Political Science and Law, said, "John Gleason shows us every detail of this tragedy with the delicate brushwork and deep care of a novelist, giving us a clear picture of how the criminal justice system that is supposed to deliver justice has failed at every stage of investigation, review prosecution and trial." For China, which is committed to preventing unjust, false and wrongly decided cases, "Innocent People" undoubtedly has important enlightenment and rhetorical power."
Yangzi Evening News/Yang Eye reporter Cai Zhen