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| Categories | Thrillers & Suspense |
| Author | John Grisham |
| Publisher | Anchor (June 16, 2020) |
| Language | English |
| Paperback | 400 pages |
| Item Weight | 8.8 ounces |
| Dimensions |
5.24 x 0.9 x 8 inches |
I. Book introduction
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BEST SELLER • A classic legal thriller—with a twist. • “A suspenseful thriller mixed with powerful themes such as false incarceration, the death penalty and how the legal system shows prejudice.” —Associated Press
In the small Florida town of Seabrook, a young lawyer named Keith Russo was shot dead at his desk as he worked late one night. The killer left no clues. There were no witnesses, no one with a motive. But the police soon came to suspect Quincy Miller, a young Black man who was once a client of Russo’s.
Quincy was tried, convicted, and sent to prison for life. For twenty-two years he languished in prison, maintaining his innocence. But no one was listening. He had no lawyer, no advocate on the outside. In desperation, he writes a letter to Guardian Ministries, a small nonprofit run by Cullen Post, a lawyer who is also an Episcopal minister.
Guardian accepts only a few innocence cases at a time. Cullen Post travels the country fighting wrongful convictions and taking on clients forgotten by the system. With Quincy Miller, though, he gets far more than he bargained for. Powerful, ruthless people murdered Keith Russo, and they do not want Quincy Miller exonerated.
They killed one lawyer twenty-two years ago, and they will kill another without a second thought.
Editorial Reviews
“Terrific…affecting…Grisham has done it again. Such creative longevity is not that unusual in the suspense genre, but what is rare is Grisham’s feat of keeping up the pace of producing, on average, a novel a year without a notable diminishment of ingenuity or literary quality.”—Maureen Corrigan, The Washington Post
“Grisham again delivers a suspenseful thriller mixed with powerful themes such as false incarceration, the death penalty and how the legal system shows prejudice. The Guardian team of characters is first-rate.”– Associated Press
“With his début, 1989’s A Time to Kill, Grisham established himself as a skilled storyteller, a writer who can nimbly portray complex characters who overcome their fears and flaws to pursue justice. Thirty years later, his authorial prowess glows again in this riveting tale.”—Fredericksburg Free Lance Star
“[Grisham] has created a powerful no-nonsense protagonist that you cannot help rooting for in a story stocked with tension and flavor that will have you flipping the pages to a very satisfying ending.”—Florida Times-Union
“Grisham’s colorful prose is riveting, and the issue is a timely one that can be too easily overlooked…His fictional legal happenings convey a loud and clear ring of veracity.”–Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“The Guardians, the newest legal thriller from John Grisham, a true wizard of the form, is certainly not going to disappoint. Fans of the author are going to find it wholly satisfying.”–Anniston Star
About John Grisham
John Grisham (born February 8, 1955 in Jonesboro, Arkansas) is an American novelist, lawyer and former member of the 7th district of the Mississippi House of Representatives, known for his popular legal thrillers. According to the American Academy of Achievement, Grisham has written 28 consecutive number-one fiction bestsellers, and his books have sold 300 million copies worldwide. Along with Tom Clancy and J. K. Rowling, Grisham is one of only three authors to have sold two million copies on a first printing.
Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University and earned a Juris Doctor from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981. He practised criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from 1983 to 1990.
Grisham’s first novel, A Time to Kill, was published in June 1989, four years after he began writing it. Grisham’s first bestseller, The Firm, sold more than seven million copies. The book was adapted into a 1993 feature film of the same name, starring Tom Cruise, and a 2012 TV series which continues the story ten years after the events of the film and novel. Seven of his other novels have also been adapted into films: The Chamber, The Client, A Painted House, The Pelican Brief, The Rainmaker, The Runaway Jury, and Skipping Christmas.
Grisham is a two-time winner of the Harper Lee Prize for Legal Fiction and was honored with the Library of Congress Creative Achievement Award for Fiction.
When he’s not writing, Grisham serves on the board of directors of the Innocence Project and of Centurion Ministries, two national organizations dedicated to exonerating those who have been wrongfully convicted. Much of his fiction explores deep-seated problems in our criminal justice system.
John Girsham lives on a farm in central Virginia.
II. Reviewer: The Guardians
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1. LOU reviews for The Guardians
After a few recent novels that failed to live up to Grisham’s usual, exacting standard I heard many people pondering whether his time as a master of the legal thriller was over. Well, in The Guardians he replies in a way which will shut the naysayers up pretty damn quickly; here he is back to his barnstorming best, and I will undoubtedly be adding this to my favourite reads of 2019. The plotting is superb, the characters engaging, and the twists and turns plentiful and truly shocking; this is definitely up there with his most accomplished in my opinion. From the first page, I was gripped and ended up devouring it in a mere afternoon. Grisham’s storytelling when at its peak is some of the most proficient in the whole of the literary sphere. But this book doesn’t just focus on providing us readers with thrills and spills, it also has an emotional aspect to it which was very refreshing.
It centres around a group of lawyers who have turned their hand to investigating miscarriages of justice and are actively working to exonerate those who’ve become victims of a broken legal/court system. The fact that we are told at the end that this is based on a real-life group made it all the better and temporarily restored my faith in humanity. The story is impeccably structured and extensively researched; the information on miscarriages of justice was spot on, which I appreciated, and our narrator Post’s ability to see situations from all perspectives is fascinating. This translates into him being able to understand the sentiments of both the defence and prosecution in the cases featured. If you enjoy legal-based thrillers then you simply can’t go wrong; this is Grisham back to his finest and most addictive. Highly recommended.
2. MATTHEW reviews for The Guardians
4.5 Stars
I have been very pleased with the last few Grisham releases. They have been decently intricate and felt a lot like some of his early work. He takes what could easily be complicated legal jargon and dumbs it down without making the reader feel stupid. At the same time, the story is interesting and the characters engaging.
For a few books about 5 to 10 years ago, I felt like Grisham was losing his touch. I was having a hard time getting into them and I was reading them as they came out just for the sake of reading them. Now, I am getting back to being excited whenever there is a new release.
The Guardians does have a main storyline, but it also has a few side stories, all based on the docket of a group of lawyers who have given up a glamorous legal life to try and get people who have been wrongly incarcerated out of prison. As a person who gets very frustrated by wrongly accused stories (I get very riled up by the stories in the movies The Fugitive and Double Jeopardy – but, in a good way), I enjoyed the various different ways these lawyers were vindicating the innocent.
I highly recommend this book for Grisham fans and legal thriller fans. I think that there is a lot here to enjoy without getting too bogged down – in other words, a good escapist book for a quick and entertaining read.
3. LABIJOSE reviews for The Guardians
Las injusticias del sistema legal estadounidense de nuevo bajo el prisma de este gran autor, que tan buenos momentos de lectura me ha dado a lo largo de los años.
Cullen Post es abogado y miembro de la iglesia episcopal, y está desencantado con el sistema. Tras un reventón psicológico, ahora sólo se dedica a defender a acusados a los que parece que se les condenó injustamente. Pertenece a una organización que se dedica a ello. Quincy Miller lleva 22 años entre rejas, acusado del homicidio de su abogado. Pero aquel juicio no había por dónde agarrarlo. Suena a amaño y corrupción por todas partes, y Post está decidido a poner las cosas claras, y de paso, exonerar a Miller. No es su única investigación, pero es la que más le afecta, ya que poderosas organizaciones criminales están dispuestas a dejar las cosas como están.
Grisham sigue en su línea de denuncia sobre las numerosas cuestiones pendientes de mejorar, tanto en el sistema judicial, como en el sistema penitenciario de su país. Por ejemplo, los famosos soplones carcelarios profesionales, que, a cambio de una sustancial rebaja en su propia condena han llevado a la cárcel a más de un inocente. Creo que, afortunadamente, esa práctica ya ha sido abolida, pero demuestra una vez más el interior de un sistema judicial que se enorgullece de ser imparcial, sin serlo.
La novela en sí está bastante bien, sin ser ni de lejos una de sus mejores. Los buenos samaritanos son eso, buenos a rabiar, viviendo casi en la pobreza con tal de poder sacar de la cárcel a algún inocente que otro. Y los malos, malotes que no paran en mientes, capaz de organizar palizas en la cárcel y asesinatos sin cuartel, con tal de seguir disfrutando de su status. En esta trama no hay término medio, o se es lo uno, o lo otro. Pero bueno, pelillos a la mar. La verdad es que yo me lo he pasado muy bien leyéndola, y eso es lo que cuenta para mi alta puntuación. Además, hablamos de John Grisham.
4. ANDREW SMITH reviews for The Guardians
Cullen Post is a lawyer and a preacher, or rather he used to be a preacher but these days his efforts are fully focussed on trying to get innocent people out of prison. He’s based in America’s Deep South and works for a nonprofit organisation. Consequently he earns very little money, works crazy hours and hasn’t had a romantic relationship in quite some time. We follow him as he works on a number of cases, primarily concerning two men imprisoned for murders Post is convinced they didn’t commit.
I’ve found Grisham’s output to be patchy of late, but this one had me hooked early. I really liked Post, he’s earnest and pushy and determined to do everything possible to get results. And fighting bent cops, crooked lawyers and dozy judges he’s really up against it here. I guess I always knew how things were going to turn out but it was still a lot of fun getting there. There’s a couple of decent twists and some excellent courtroom scenes – exactly what you’d expect from Grisham’s good stuff.
In a footnote, the author explains that the the character of Post is based on a real life preacher come lawyer and that the case that is given most space here has its genesis in an actual case, as yet unresolved. That certainly provided a sobering moment. Grisham is back on form here, and when he’s good he tends to be very good. This may not be his very best book but it’s not half bad.
5. BECKY WELLS reviews for The Guardians
I’ve been an avid reader for years now. I’m 58 years old. I’ve, of course, heard of John Grisham, and that he is a many times over number one best selling author. I’m embarrassed to say that this was my first John Grisham novel. It was good. Super good. Worthy of all the accolades and a great introduction into what, for me, will be a mini fan following. The Guardians is a novel about legal innocence work: the work of exonerating people wrongly convicted and imprisoned. Our protagonist is Cullen Post, a former public defender, who, after fleeing the system, became an episcopal priest, then helped found The Guardians, a non-profit organization helping those wrongly convicted. We also meet Quincy Miller, one of those afore mentioned innocent people behind bars. It’s been 23 years since the murder of Keith Russo on a Florida small town, but the new evidence to prove Miller’s innocence is compelling. Lawyers requesting post conviction relief are not required to prove who did the crime, only that their client didn’t. Still, once Post and his team start poking around, bad guys start coming out of the woodwork creating danger and making it difficult for The Guardians to do their work. The characters are sympathetic, compelling, and complex. The multiple story lines lend reality, creativity, and excitement to the narrative. It was both challenging and easy to read, meaning it wasn’t simple, but I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommended!
6. CAROLYN SHARA reviews for The Guardians
Like most of his books, The Guardians deals with the justice doled out in America’s legal system. In this case, the death penalty and guilt and innocence are tried and found wanting. Anyone familiar with The Innocence Project will find the subject matter interesting.
Again, like many of Grisham’s books the sense that he defies both the efficacy and the accuracy of the justice system is fully expressed. The protagonist, a lawyer turned clergy, fights to free an innocent man before his execution which is imminent.
A good read.
7. RONALD H.CLARK reviews for The Guardians
This is John Grisham’s 33d novel and he is still going strong as a legal novelist. While this latest legal thriller is not a “page turner” like “The Firm,” which kept me awake until I finished it, it is a good solid craftsman effort that has many interesting rewards. I have noticed, and discuss in other Grisham reviews, that he is now inclined to use his stories not only to entertain but also to inform. That is, recently he has used his novels to explain and explore a number of key legal developments–including mass torts, death penalty cases, public interest law firms, and state lawyer disciplinary boards-by building them into his novels. I think this only enhances the enjoyment of his legal fiction.
Here, he is at it again invoking private jails, prisons as profit centers for their communities, how “snitches” can be bribed into testifying for prosecutors, the abuse of expert witnesses, FBI investigations, blood stain analysis and experts, and DEA investigative techniques. His central character in the novel, both an Episcopalian priest and lawyer (that collar does come in handy in getting into prisons), works for a small public interest law firm whose mission is to exonerate prisoners who have been wrongfully convicted. It is a small version of the well known Innocence Project. Two million folks are incarcerated, one million employees tend to their needs, and $80 billion is the price tag on all this. An estimated 10% of all prisoners are actually innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted. So it is good that Grisham is bringing these important legal actors to our attention.
I always enjoy Grisham when he is writing about his southern homeland and its legal systems. The novel runs 370 pages, and I certainly enjoyed it, as well as all his other novels. But as the reader nears the conclusion, while interesting, there is no pounding need to keep reading in search of the big Grisham finish as used to be the case. Perhaps this just reflects Grisham’s growing stature as a novelist; he doesn’t need people jumping out of skyscraper windows and similar devices to hold his readers’ interest. A good, solid Grisham legal mystery and informative as well.
8. JEAN reviews for The Guardians
This is an “issues” novel about a disillusioned attorney, Cullen Post, who has become an Episcopal priest. Cullen now volunteers as an attorney for a non-profit Innocence project. They are attempting to free a prisoner who was wrongfully convicted.
The book is well written. The plot twists and turns and the characters are interesting. Grisham starts the suspense immediately and continues to build it throughout the story. The book was entertaining as well as informative. It is a quick easy read.
I read this as an audiobook downloaded from Audible. The book is eleven hours and fifty minutes. Michael Beck does a good job narrating the book. He is an actor and audiobook narrator. Beck has narrated a number of John Grisham’s books.
9. LORNA reviews for The Guardians
The Guardians is the latest legal thriller by John Grisham focusing on wrongful convictions and the attempts to overturn them. However, as Grisham points out, this book is based on the work of Centurion Ministries founded in 1980 by James McCloskey when he was a divinity student. This is the fictional account of Cullen Post, a lawyer and Episcopal minister, working for Guardian Ministries headquartered in Savannah, Georgia. This foundation is made up of four people, all dedicated to the work of trying to free the innocent.
The plot of The Guardians centers on prisoner Quincy Miller wrongfully convicted of the brutal killing of a lawyer in the rural area of Seabrook in north Florida twenty-two years ago. There are a lot of twists and turns as they work to exonerate Miller. This was a good book in that it shines light on our justice system. It should also be pointed out that John Grisham is on the Board of Directors of the Innocence Project; its focus to exonerate and free unjustly convicted people on the basis of DNA evidence. This is a cause obviously very important to Grisham.
“Prison is a nightmare for those who deserve it. For those who don’t, it is a daily struggle to maintain some level of sanity. For those who suddenly learn that there is proof of their innocence yet remain locked up, the situation is literally maddening.”
10. LESLIE RAY reviews for The Guardians
This is a legal thriller that I could not put down and typical of some of the previous John Grisham novels that he is known for. The main character is a former trial lawyer, who enters the seminary, and specializes in exonerating the wrongfully convicted, especially death row inmates. This story centers around someone in a backwoods Florida town wrongfully convicted for a death of a successful lawyer. There are a lot of things brought to light, such as “snitches” bribed into testifying for prosecutors, harassment of expert witnesses and the questionable analysis of blood stains by so-called experts with no real forensic background.
If you love the early legal thrillers that John Grisham is known for, this is a book you will enjoy.
III. The Guardians Quotes
The best book quotes from The Guardians by John Grisham
“In the U.S. there are over two million people locked up, and it takes one million employees and $80 billion in tax dollars to take care of them.”
“In white America, prisons are good places where bad men pay for their crimes. In black America, they are too often used as warehouses to keep minorities off the streets. Otis”
“I suppose that in America everything, including education and corrections, is fair game for profiteers. I am led to a room with a row of enclosed booths for”
“suppose that in America everything, including education and corrections, is fair game for profiteers.”
“Once again, I am thankful that alcohol is not my temptation.”
“I had a long night, too much to drink, too much to eat, a rather nasty cigar, and I slept on the porch like a dead man until a really big cat pounced on my chest at three in the morning and scared the hell out of me. How was I to know it was his rocker?”
“defense lawyers challenged the credibility of these experts, but were rarely successful. Judges were often overwhelmed by the science and had little or no time to educate themselves. If a proffered witness had some training and seemed to know what he was talking about, he was allowed to testify. Over time, judges adopted the rationale that since a witness had been qualified as an expert in other trials in other states, then certainly he must be a genuine authority. Appellate courts got into the act by affirming convictions without seriously questioning the science behind the forensics, and thus bolstering the reputations of the experts. As résumés grew thicker, the opinions grew to encompass even more theories of guilt.”
“tower. I heard the laughter”
“Since we can all agree that it’s wrong to kill, why do we allow the State to kill?”
“The bloodstain expert who testified against Quincy was a former Denver homicide detective named Paul Norwood. After working crime scenes for a few years, he had decided to”
“professor taps his laptop, the images change, and we are lost in the world of red blood cells. The cell’s nucleus is small and round and serves as the cell’s command center. It controls the cell’s growth and reproduction. It is surrounded by a membrane. And on and on. Attached to our petition was Benderschmidt’s full report, including pages of impenetrable stuff on cells and blood. I confess that I have not read it entirely, but something tells me Judge Kumar has.”
“Just observe the billboards along any busy Florida highway and you’ll almost wish you could get injured.”
“How many of us have a true friend who loves what we do and is willing to listen for hours?”
“Humans are mammals and their red blood cells are similar in that they do not have nuclei. Reptiles and birds have nucleated red blood cells, we do”
“not for the crocs.”
“On the console between us is a 9-millimeter Glock, properly purchased and registered by him.”
“Frankie’s face never reveals much. His eyes seldom blink, his voice is steady and flat as if he’s measuring every word. Survival in prison required a poker face. Long stretches of solitude were common. “Are you sure?” he asks. It’s obvious he has doubts about Seabrook”
“Justice delayed is justice denied.”
“everything, including education and corrections, is fair game for profiteers.”
“You’re a funny man, Post.”
“have our hands full on this side of the wall.” I say, “There’s also a prison guard who’s probably involved. White guy who looked the other way. He could be the weak link because he has more to lose.” She says, “I like the way you think, Post.” “We’re in the same business, sort of. You solve crimes to lock people up. I solve crimes to get people out.” — IT WAS A typical workday for Adam Stone. He punched in at 7:59 a.m., and spent fifteen minutes at his locker”
“They’re all long shots, but we win more than we lose. I’ve walked eight of my clients out of prison.”
“Such is the nature of my daily reading. I haven’t had the luxury of finishing a novel in years.”
“We like to say that skin color doesn’t matter, but that’s not always true. We often use it to open doors.”
“If Kenny Taft knew something, he took it to his grave.”
“I can’t imagine who would be covering a hearing in a forgotten case in East Nowhere, Florida.”
“It has taken me years to convince her that there are thousands of innocent people locked away.”
“drug charge. When I asked Lonnie about it”
“In at least half of the DNA exonerations of innocent men and women, bad forensics have been the cornerstone of the prosecution’s evidence.”
“As I told you before, it’s fairly easy to convict an innocent man and virtually impossible to exonerate one.”
“her lies, something came over him, maybe the Holy Spirit, and he just couldn’t”
“There are times, many times, when I despise judges, especially blind ones and old ones”
“Jailhouse snitches testify every day in this country. Other civilized countries prohibit them, but not here.”
“We’ve managed to skip the weather, which in the South consumes at least the first five minutes of every casual conversation between two men before the subject turns to football, which goes on for an average of fifteen minutes.”
“When possible, never let the enemy know what you know.”
“When boxed-in and bleeding, prosecutors often become wildly creative with new theories of guilt.”
Excerpted from The Guardians by John Grisham
Chapter One – The Guardians
Duke Russell is not guilty of the unspeakable crimes for which he was convicted; nonetheless, he is scheduled to be executed for them in one hour and forty‑four minutes. As always during these dreadful nights, the clock seems to tick faster as the final hour approaches. I’ve suffered through two of these countdowns in other states. One went full cycle and my man uttered his final words. The other was waved off in a miracle finish.
Tick away—it’s not going to happen, not tonight anyway. The folks who run Alabama may one day succeed in serving Duke his last meal before sticking a needle in his arm, but not tonight. He’s been on death row for only nine years. The average in this state is fifteen. Twenty is not unusual. There is an appeal bouncing around somewhere in the Eleventh Circuit in Atlanta, and when it lands on the desk of the right law clerk within the hour this execution will be stayed. Duke will return to the horrors of solitary confinement and live to die another day.
He’s been my client for the past four years. His team includes a mammoth firm in Chicago, which has committed thousands of pro bono hours, and an anti-death penalty group out of Birmingham that is spread pretty thin. Four years ago, when I became convinced he was innocent, I signed on as the point man. Currently I have five cases, all wrongful convictions, at least in my opinion.
I’ve watched one of my clients die. I still believe he was innocent. I just couldn’t prove it in time. One is enough.
For the third time today, I enter Alabama’s death row and stop at the metal detector blocking the front door where two frowning guards are protecting their turf. One holds a clipboard and stares at me as if he’s forgotten my name since my last visit two hours ago.
“Post, Cullen Post,” I say to the dunce. “For Duke Russell.”
He scans his clipboard as if it holds vital information, finds what he wants, and nods to a plastic basket on a short conveyor belt. In it, I place my briefcase and cell phone, same as before.
“Watch and belt?” I ask like a real smart‑ass.
“No,” he grunts with an effort. I step through the detector, get cleared, and once again an innocence lawyer manages to properly enter death row without weaponry. I grab my briefcase and cell phone and follow the other guard down a sterile hallway to a wall of bars. He nods, switches click and clang, the bars slide open, and we hike down another hallway, trudging deeper into this miserable building. Around a corner, some men are waiting outside a windowless steel door. Four are in uniform, two in suits. One of the latter is the warden.
He looks gravely at me and steps over. “Got a minute?”
“Not many,” I reply. We move away from the group for a private chat. He’s not a bad guy, just doing his job, which he’s new at and thus he’s never pulled off an execution. He’s also the enemy, and whatever he wants he will not get from me.
We huddle up like pals and he whispers, “What’s it look like?”
I glance around as if to evaluate the situation and say, “Gee, I don’t know. Looks like an execution to me.”
“Come on, Post. Our lawyers are saying it’s a go.”
“Your lawyers are idiots. We’ve already had this conversation.”
“Come on, Post. What are the odds right now?”
“Fifty‑fifty,” I say, lying.
This puzzles him and he’s not sure how to respond. “I’d like to see my client,” I say.
“Sure,” he says louder as if frustrated. He can’t be viewed as cooperating with me, so he storms off. The guards step back as one of them opens the door.
Inside the Death Room, Duke is lying on a cot with his eyes closed. For the festivities, the rules allow him a small color television so he can watch whatever he wants. It’s on mute with cable news giddy over wildfires out west. His countdown is not a big story on the national front.
At execution time, every death state has its own silly rituals, all designed to create as much drama as possible. Here, they allow full‑contact visits with close family members in a large visitation room. At 10:00 p.m., they move the condemned man to the Death Room, which is next door to the Death Chamber where he’ll be killed. A chaplain and a lawyer are permitted to sit with him, but no one else. His last meal is served around 10:30, and he can order whatever he wants, except for alcohol.
“How you doing?” I ask as he sits up and smiles.
“Never felt better. Any news?”
“Not yet, but I’m still optimistic. We should hear something soon.”
Duke is thirty‑eight and white, and before getting arrested for rape and murder his criminal record consisted of two DUIs and a bunch of speeding tickets. No violence whatsoever. He was a party boy and hell‑raiser in his younger days, but after nine years in solitary he has settled down considerably. My job is to set him free, which, at the moment, seems like a crazy dream.
I take the remote and change channels to one from Birmingham, but I leave it on mute.
“You seem awfully confident,” he says.
“I can afford to. I’m not getting the needle.”
“You’re a funny man, Post.”
“Relax, Duke.”
“Relax?” He swings his feet to the floor and smiles again. He does indeed look rather relaxed, given the circumstances. He laughs and says, “Do you remember Lucky Skelton?”
“No.”
“They finally got him, about five years ago, but not before serving him three last meals. Three times he walked the gangplank before getting the shove. Sausage pizza and a cherry Coke.”
“And what did you order?”
“Steak and fries, with a six‑pack of beer.”
“I wouldn’t count on the beer.”
“Are you gonna get me outta here, Post?”
“Not tonight, but I’m working on it.”
“If I get out I’m going straight to a bar and drinking cold beer until I pass out.”
“I’ll go with you. Here’s the Governor.” He appears on‑screen and I hit the volume.
He’s standing in front of a bank of microphones with camera lights glaring at him. Dark suit, paisley tie, white shirt, every tinted hair gelled with precision. A walking campaign ad. Sufficiently burdened, he says, “I have thoroughly reviewed Mr. Russell’s case and discussed it at length with my investigators. I’ve also met with the family of Emily Broone, the victim of Mr. Russell’s crimes, and the family is very much opposed to the idea of clemency. After considering all aspects of this case, I have decided to allow his conviction to stand. The court order will remain in place, and the execution will go forward. The people have spoken. Clemency for Mr. Russell is therefore denied.” He announces this with as much drama as he can muster, then bows and slowly backs away from the cameras, his grand performance complete. Elvis has left the building. Three days ago, he found the time to grant me an audience for fifteen minutes, after which he discussed our “private” meeting with his favorite reporters.
If his review had been so thorough, he would know that Duke Russell had nothing to do with the rape and murder of Emily Broone eleven years ago. I hit the mute again and say, “No surprise there.”
“Has he ever granted clemency?” Duke asks.
“Of course not.”
There is a loud knock on the door and it swings open. Two guards enter and one is pushing a cart with the last meal. They leave it and disappear. Duke stares at the steak and fries and a rather slim slice of chocolate cake, and says, “No beer.”
“Enjoy your iced tea.”
He sits on the cot and begins to eat. The food smells deli‑ cious and it hits me that I have not eaten in at least twenty‑four hours. “Want some fries?” he asks.
“No thanks.”
“I can’t eat all this. For some reason I don’t have much of an appetite.”
“How was your mom?”
He stuffs in a large chunk of steak and chews slowly. “Not too good, as you might expect. A lot of tears. It was pretty awful.”
The cell phone in my pocket vibrates and I grab it. I look at the caller ID and say, “Here it is.” I smile at Duke and say hello. It’s the law clerk at the Eleventh Circuit, a guy I know pretty well, and he informs me that his boss has just signed an order staying the execution on the grounds that more time is needed to determine whether Duke Russell received a fair trial. I ask him when the stay will be announced and he says immediately.
I look at my client and say, “You got a stay. No needle tonight. How long will it take to finish that steak?”
“Five minutes,” he says with a wide smile as he carves more beef.
“Can you give me ten minutes?” I ask the clerk. “My client would like to finish his last meal.” We go back and forth and finally agree on seven minutes. I thank him, end the call, and punch another number. “Eat fast,” I say. He has suddenly found his appetite and is as happy as a pig at the trough.
The architect of Duke’s wrongful conviction is a small‑town prosecutor named Chad Falwright. Right now he’s waiting in the prison’s administration building half a mile away, poised for the proudest moment of his career. He thinks that at 11:30 he’ll be escorted to a prison van, along with the Broone family and the local sheriff, and driven here to death row where they’ll be led to a small room with a large glass window that’s covered with a curtain. Once situated there, Chad thinks, they’ll wait for the moment when Duke is strapped to the gurney with needles in his arms and the curtain will be pulled back in dramatic fashion.
For a prosecutor, there is no greater sense of accomplishment than to witness an execution for which he is responsible.
Chad, though, will be denied the thrill. I punch his number and he answers quickly. “It’s Post,” I say. “Over here on death row with some bad news. The Eleventh Circuit just issued a stay. Looks like you’ll crawl back to Verona with your tail between your legs.”
He stutters and manages to say, “What the hell?”
“You heard me, Chad. Your bogus conviction is unraveling and this is as close as you’ll ever get to Duke’s scalp, which, I must say, is pretty damned close. The Eleventh Circuit has doubts about the trivial notion of a fair trial, so they’re sending it back. It’s over, Chad. Sorry to ruin your big moment.”
“Is this a joke, Post?”
“Oh sure. Nothing but laughs over here on death row. You’ve had fun talking to the reporters all day, now have some fun with this.” To say I loathe this guy would be a tremendous understatement.
I end the call and look at Duke, who’s feasting away. With his mouth full he asks, “Can you call my mother?”
“No. Only lawyers can use cell phones in here, but she’ll know soon enough. Hurry up.” He washes it down with tea and attacks the chocolate cake. I take the remote and turn up the volume. As he scrapes his plate, a breathless reporter appears somewhere on the prison grounds and, stuttering, tells us that a stay has been granted. He looks bewildered and confused, and there is confusion all around him.
Within seconds there is a knock on the door and the warden enters. He sees the television and says, “So I guess you’ve heard?”
“Right, Warden, sorry to ruin the party. Tell your boys to stand down and please call the van for me.”
Duke wipes his mouth with a sleeve, starts laughing and says, “Don’t look so disappointed, Warden.”
“No, actually I’m relieved,” he says, but the truth is obvious. He, too, has spent the day talking to reporters and savoring the spotlight. Suddenly, though, his exciting broken‑field run has ended with a fumble at the goal line.
“I’m out of here,” I say as I shake Duke’s hand.
“Thanks Post,” he says.
“I’ll be in touch.” I head for the door and say to the warden, “Please give my regards to the Governor.”
I’m escorted outside the building where the cool air hits hard and feels exhilarating. A guard leads me to an unmarked prison van a few feet away. I get in and he closes the door. “The front gate,” I say to the driver.
As I ride through the sprawl of Holman Correctional Facility, I am hit with fatigue and hunger. And relief. I close my eyes, breathe deeply, and absorb the miracle that Duke will live to see another day. I’ve saved his life for now. Securing his freedom will take another miracle.
For reasons known only to the people who run this place, it has been on lockdown for the past five hours, as if angry inmates might organize into a Bastille‑like mob and storm death row to rescue Duke. Now the lockdown is subsiding; the excitement is over. The extra manpower brought in to maintain order is withdrawing, and all I want is to get out of here. I’m parked in a small lot near the front gate, where the TV crews are unplugging and going home. I thank the driver, get in my little Ford SUV, and leave in a hurry. Two miles down the highway I stop at a closed country store to make a call.
His name is Mark Carter. White male, age thirty‑three, lives in a small rental house in the town of Bayliss, ten miles from Verona. In my files I have photos of his house and truck and current live‑in girlfriend. Eleven years ago, Carter raped and murdered Emily Broone, and now all I have to do is prove it. Using a burner, I call the number of his cell phone, a number I’m not supposed to have. After five rings he says, “Hello.”
“Is this Mark Carter?”
“Who wants to know?”
“You don’t know me, Carter, but I’m calling from the prison. Duke Russell just got a stay, so I’m sorry to inform you that the case is still alive. Are you watching television?”
“Who is this?”
“I’m sure you’re watching the TV, Carter, sitting there on your fat ass with your fat girlfriend hoping and praying that the State finally kills Duke for your crime. You’re a scumbag Carter, willing to watch him die for something you did. What a coward.”
“Say it to my face.”
“Oh, I will Carter, one day in a courtroom. I’ll find the evidence and before long Duke will get out. You’ll take his place. I’m coming your way, Carter.”
I end the call before he can say anything else.
….
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