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Summary: Chapter Five: Of the Coming of John—Part I
Stevenson visits Walter’s large, poor family on his way home from the prison. Family members describe how hard Walter’s conviction is because he was with them at the time of the murder and because it is not in Walter’s nature to commit murder. Stevenson explains that the trial was constructed on lies, and he thinks of how the entire Black community of Monroeville is suffering from the injustice done to Walter. Stevenson shares details of the appeal process with Walter’s family.
On his drive home, Stevenson reflects on a story by W.E.B. Du Bois in which a Black community pools their money to send off a young man to school to become a teacher for their children. Feeling empowered by his education, the young man ends up disrupting the racial order and faces certain death at the hands of a lynch mob. Stevenson has always related to the story, seeing himself as the hope of his own marginalized community. After meeting Walter’s family, he also relates to how such an unjust ending as Walter’s impacts others: Walter’s conviction has burdened his entire community. Stevenson becomes consumed with Walter’s complicated case, and the two men become close friends.
Summary: Chapter Five: Of the Coming of John—Part II
Soon after Stevenson’s meeting with Walter’s family, Stevenson receives a call from Darnell Houston, a young Black man who worked with Bill Hooks. Darnell tells Stevenson that on the day of the Morrison murder, Hooks was at work with him. Stevenson considers refiling Darnell’s affidavit as new evidence necessitating a new trial before continuing the appeal process. Before he can do so, however, Stevenson gets a call from Darnell from jail: Darnell was arrested for perjury based on his story. Stevenson meets with District Attorney Tom Chapman. Stevenson quickly determines that Chapman is convinced of Walter’s guilt and brings up Darnell’s perjury charge, which is illegal. Chapman says since the judge denied the motion to reopen the case, he will drop the perjury charge. Chapman explains that he doesn’t care that Darnell’s story proves Bill Hooks lied, and to Stevenson’s dismay, he continues to defend what happened at Walter’s trial. Stevenson then talks to Darnell, who expresses fears about speaking up again. Stevenson realizes that it will be hard to prove Walter’s innocence when any witnesses can be intimidated by the law. He decides to focus on the appeal.
Summary: Chapter Six: Surely Doomed
Stevenson’s attention turns to fourteen-year-old Charlie, a good student who killed his mother’s abusive boyfriend and is being held in adult county jail. Before meeting Charlie, Stevenson reviews the incident. One night, the boyfriend, George, came home drunk and struck Charlie’s mother, who fell to the ground unconscious. Unable to stop his mother’s bleeding, Charlie worried she would die. He went into the bedroom where George slept to call 911, but instead got George’s gun and shot him. When he returned to the kitchen, his mother had revived. Stevenson learns that George was a respected police officer and the prosecutor persuaded the judge that Charlie should be tried as an adult.
At the jail, Stevenson tries different ways to get Charlie to speak, but the boy is completely disconnected and silent. Finally, Charlie begins to cry and tells Stevenson he was raped by multiple men in jail each night. Stevenson promises to get him out of the jail. He immediately goes to the sheriff and the judge, who move Charlie to a juvenile facility. Stevenson gets the shooting transferred to juvenile court, meaning Charlie will probably be released before turning eighteen. Stevenson continues to visit Charlie and talks about him and incarcerated children at a church group. An older white couple start a correspondence with Charlie and become family to him. They help him get his high school equivalency degree and pay for college.
Summary: Chapter Seven: Justice Denied—Part I
Walter’s appeal has been denied. Stevenson feels genuinely surprised because he had presented valid arguments questioning the evidence and trial itself. He continues investigating the case, helped by a new hire for the nonprofit organization, Michael O’Connor. Together, Stevenson and Michael uncover financial records indicating that Sheriff Tate paid Bill Hooks for his false testimony about Walter’s whereabouts and got charges and fines against Bill dismissed, as well as several other witnesses confirming elements of Walter’s story.
Stevenson receives a call from Ralph Myers asking him to visit. At the prison, Ralph tells Stevenson and Michael that he’s been attending therapy and knows he must right what he has done. He admits that he lied about Walter killing Ronda Morrison and that numerous law enforcement officials were involved in coercing him to give false testimony. Ralph accuses other officials of involvement in the case. He also says that he murdered Vickie Pittman on order from another sheriff and that the police are connected with drug dealing and money laundering. The lawyers follow up on Walter’s leads and visit Karen Kelly, Walter’s former girlfriend, who asserts that Ralph had never met Walter before Ronda’s murder and that Sheriff Tate kept asking her why she had sex with a Black man.
Summary: Chapter Seven: Justice Denied—Part II
Stevenson and Michael decide they need to learn more about Vickie Pittman’s murder, so they arrange to meet with Vickie’s aunts, Mozelle and Onzelle, who share their own suspicions about their brother—Vickie’s father, Vic—and local law enforcement. They also bring up the fact that they were not helped by any victims’ rights groups. To the reader, Stevenson explains the history of how victims in criminal cases came to be seen as a group deserving rights with a larger role in the criminal justice process. However, poor and minority victims usually received worse treatment or consideration than others.
Stevenson requests all the files from Walter’s case through a petition that would give them the right to present any new evidence they discovered in a trial court. The Alabama Supreme Court, to which they have already appealed, agrees to postpone that process, indicating that something is amiss with the case. Stevenson and Michael meet with the district attorney, Tom Chapman, along with other law enforcement officers involved in Walter’s case, including Sheriff Tate, and receive the files. Back in the office, they begin to review the documents and decide to talk to the FBI.
Analysis
Stevenson demonstrates how proximity builds understanding through his meeting with McMillian’s family. As he approaches the McMillian home, he describes it as dilapidated and in profound disrepair, showing that McMillian truly has no wealth. He uses details including rotting wood on the porch floor propped up by cinder blocks, makeshift stairs that don’t connect, windowpanes that need painting, and a yard strewn with car parts and furniture to capture the bleakness of the setting. Stevenson does not judge the family or their situation. When Stevenson and Jackie, the McMillians’ daughter, joke about his car, and Minnie, Walter’s wife, defends his vehicle and his clothes, he demonstrates a nearly instant rapport with the family, absent of any judgment from either side. When Stevenson meets with the crowd of family and community members, Armelia Hand illustrates their welcoming and acceptance as she acknowledges he’s looking out for their loved one and expresses their hospitality. In sharing their hurt with Stevenson, the family is also willing to share their lives. Understanding through proximity works both ways.
One reason McMillian’s case makes a good central thread to the entire book is that it offers a host of contradictions and missteps that can be easily proven through evidence, showing how simple it can be to send an innocent man to death. Following a review of the trial transcript, Stevenson asserts that the trial was built on a multitude of lies. As evidence, Stevenson introduces the story of Darnell Houston, the young man who gets charged with perjury when he steps forward to tell the truth about a supposed witness’s whereabouts. Stevenson backs his assertion that District Attorney Chapman doesn’t care what the law says with examples of Hooks as an unreliable witness and the perjury charges against Houston. Stevenson notes that the trial record shows that people were willing to ignore evidence, logic, and common sense, further highlighting the contradictory nature of the justice system in this case, where feelings and lies surpass the truth. Stevenson offers the short story “Of the Coming of John” by W.E.B. Du Bois as a symbol of hope realized, then destroyed to illustrate how these misjustices have impacted McMillian, his family, the community, and Stevenson himself.
Read more about the story of John in W.E.B. Du Bois's The Souls of Black Folk.
Stevenson illustrates the impact of America’s historical racial divide on the present-day justice system. At the Alabama Justice Building, he stands across the street from the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church where civil rights icon Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., served as pastor at the time of the Montgomery bus boycott. He’s also a block away from the state capitol building, which flies the American flag, the state flag, and the Confederate flag. The symbols of Dr. King and the Confederate flag in such proximity suggest that, in spite of civil rights progress, some courts and legislature have not yet moved on from the days of slavery and lynchings. The chief judge of the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals was John Patterson, a former governor and segregationist whose actions resulted in violence against the Freedom Riders. Systemic racism impacts justice at the state level as well as the local level. Karen Kely reveals Sherriff Tate’s repeated use of a racial slur to refer to McMillian, suggesting that Tate’s personal feelings on race influenced his law enforcement work. From a small town to the capitol building, the longstanding effects of a history of systemic racism impede justice for McMillian.
Through stories of his clients and their cases, Stevenson illustrates the restorative power of truth. The lies Ralph Myers tells about the day of the murder lead to McMillian’s arrest, conviction, and death row sentence. As Myers prepares to recant his testimony, he details the effect the lies have had on him as well. He’s lost sleep and been in a lot of pain over his actions. Myers’s desire to make things right by telling the truth in court and revealing the coercion from law enforcement and the district attorney suggests hope for change. After some time in group therapy, Myers again decides to tell the truth about the case. Stevenson’s story of Karen Kelly demonstrates a similar path from lies to truth. She feels grateful to be able to share the truth at last. Her use of the words foolish and bad to refer to her actions, her crying, and her characterization of McMillian as a kind person who couldn’t violently kill someone illustrate her regret over her past lies. Stevenson demonstrates that both Myers and Kelly realize the errors they’ve made and now seek to restore McMillian’s freedom, and their own peace of mind, through the truth.
