Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions

I haven't finished Framed yet, because the truth of each story so far is so infuriating that I have to take a break and book-hop to the comfort zone of fiction. Each story is stand-alone and the narratives read like an in-depth 'Sunday read'. They are interesting, but very triggering considering that the locations are familiar (one was super local to me) and the time periods are distant but not before I was born. The endings lack the uplifting polish of fiction and instead just leave you thinking about the lives stolen from these falsely convicted people. It's similar to The Guardians, but with more focus on the injustice rather than the people who work so hard to fix it. It's not enjoyable to read, but it's informative and important to read.

Co authors, John Grisham and Jim McClosky, describe in summary fashion the exoneration of wrongfully convicted innocence defendants which sadly includes the execution of one innocence soul. The ten chapters are repleat with examples of tactics used and strategies employed by law enforcement and prosecutors to ensure convictions wrongfully for the advancement of an political career or the salvation of a law enforcement reputation. The reader will be awestruck by some tactics and downright angered by the bumbling efforts and strident violation and defendant rights through perjury of jail house snitches for personal leniency. This is a must read for any critical thinker.

This well-researched, well-written book reveals that our legal system needs to be scrapped. Who knows how many people have been railroaded by incompetent police, duplicitous prosecutors and corrupt judges?The answer is many, many more than I would have guessed before I read this excellent book.

I absolutely love John Grisham and he is unapologetic in his brutal, honest storytelling. I have had to put the book down a couple of times, not because it’s slow or boring, but because I can’t believe how despicable some of the people in the judicial system are. I’m so glad that JG decided to shine a light on the under handed and criminal tactics that those in power have used to get convictions. I’m from Houston and remember the Clarence Brandley case. No innocent person should spend a day in jail, but to be on death row for 10 years for a crime that he didn’t commit is such a travesty.

The real theme of this book is highlighting the work of Citadel Ministries, which Mr. McCloskey heads. It is like the Innocent Project helping wrongfully convicted inmates get the evidence and legal expertise needed to get a reversal.These stories do a good job of describing how prosecutions can go wrong when incompetent or biased or lazy police, prosecutors and judges are in charge. But I didn't like that they use these cases to accuse the whole system of corruption in need of reform. The problem is the people, not the process. The police, prosecutors and judges are a reflection of their communities. After all, the police chiefs, sheriffs, prosecutors and judges are all elected or appointed by elected officials. How else should we pick them?Why were these specific cases chosen? One case involves racism. Unfortunately that is not surprising that officials in rural Texas would be biased and ready to charge and convict someone because he is black. For years it was difficult for a black defendant to get a fair trial in many parts of the nation and probably still is. Others involved police and prosecutors suffering from severe cases of tunnel vision. For whatever reason, they get mentally locked into prosecuting one suspect and can't or will not consider other evidence.The system is designed to avoid errors and is criticized as much for being too lax. Erroneous acquittals, often based on "technicalities," are as outrageous as framed convictions of innocent people. To help ensure justice, convictions must pass at least five levels of investigation and review. First is police investigate. Then a prosecutor has to review the evidence and decide whether to charge a crime. Then a prosecutor must convince a judge or grand jury in a preliminary hearing that there is enough evidence to show probable cause that a crime was committed by the defendant. Then a full trial must convince a judge or jury beyond a reasonable doubt that the defendant committed a crime. Then appellate courts have to review the trial record to determine that it was conducted appropriately. A lawyer must be appointed to represent any defendant that wants one. Suspects can refuse to talk and be interrogated and testify, and no negative inference can be drawn from that. That goes further than just about any other nation to slant the process in favor of innocence and is often criticized as too favorable to suspects while ignoring the rights of victims.The stories in the book show how police and prosecutors are not necessarily looking for the truth when they investigate. They are considering whether there is enough evidence to convince a judge or jury that the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. The police often don't do an exhaustive search of every possible defendant. They don't have the resources to do that in many cases even if they wanted to. The problems happened in these ten cases when the police, prosecutors and judges were lazy or didn't want to consider the possibility they were wrong. That is when they ignore other possibilities and hide exculpatory evidence even though they are required by the constitution to divulge all evidence to the defense. The line between focusing their efforts and getting tunnel vision can be thin. And some police and prosecutors are just not diligent, reasonable and free of bias. That is the problem this book describes.The question this book does not address let alone answer is what more can be done about bad people in the system and still have an effective way to identify and prosecute crimes. It is certainly important to understand where problems occur, which these cases do well. But it is equally important to recognize the importance of having a criminal justice system to deal with crimes and the efforts to ensure fairness. That is entirely missing in this book. In reality most cases are handled fairly. The backlash to decriminalization movements happening in many cities now highlights the public's intolerance for crimes and criminals.The book at times claims to be an indictment of the whole system and a need for systemic reform. That is unfair and tunnel vision in itself. No other nation has gone as far as we have to avoid convicting innocent people, and that is criticized as much or more than wrong convictions. The book would be much better if it presented these cases to explain how investigations involve evaluating evidence rather than seeking pure truth and mistakes can be made by lazy and biased officials and even by diligent police and prosecutors. The system is not perfect but perfection is impossible. This book would be much better if it said that.I'm a lawyer but I don't do criminal cases. Still I remember an old maxim from law school that hard cases make bad law. These are all hard cases that need to be put into perspective relative to the whole system.

“Framed” is much more than a compelling read, it is a public service. With the number of wrongful convictions that occur every day, Grisham and McCloskey could put out a sequel every year. Cops, prosecutors, and judges jettisoned respect for the rule of law decades ago with the militarization of America’s police force. They sublimate their personal defects by asserting corrupt authority. Convictions, even dubious executions, secure their positions, pensions, and cherished “power.” Even governors are not averse to putting potentially innocent people to death in order to win votes. I can think of nothing more meieval, sinful, or disgusting. The only saving grace is that someday they will all face their own justice. From now on, whenever some helium-head tells me America has the best and fairest justice system the world has ever known, I’ll just laugh in their face and suggest that they ask someone to read “Framed” to them.

I've read many of Grisham's books and have never been disappointed. This True Story book is essential information for people to know and understand how our legal system works and often fails. The stories are so sad that I made it past the third story and had to quit reading. The stories are very depressing, even though these individuals are later exonerated after spending decades in prison through an innocent project.

I enjoyed reading this book.The authors did hours of research to write these stories with all the true facts of each court case. A lot of investigations were done but in somecases it took years to exonerate the accused and point fingers at how crooked /not thorough in their investigations and determined the police were to pin the crime on the wrong persons. I shook my head many times and couldn't believe this kind of things happened. I felt sorry for what the victims had to indure.

Astonishing and frightening... What a corrupt system!

These important stories are well-told, just as you would expect from John Grisham. The only reason I gave only 4 stars is that the crime/ rape/ murder scenes are told in such detail.

I was aware of corruption in the justice system and this reading confirms many of the situation I was aware of.... Great reading...

This book shows how easy it is to convict an innocent person and make them believe they actually committed the crime. So scary!!!