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Ghost of the Innocent Man
Ghost of the Innocent Man: A True Story of Trial and Redemption | Benjamin Rachlin
11 posts | 5 read | 1 reading | 46 to read
During the last two decades, more than two thousand American citizens have been wrongfully convicted. Ghost of the Innocent Man brings us one of the most dramatic of those cases and provides the clearest picture yet of the national scourge of wrongful conviction and of the opportunity for meaningful reform. When the final gavel clapped in a rural southern courtroom in the summer of 1988, Willie J. Grimes, a gentle spirit with no record of violence, was shocked and devastated to be convicted of first-degree rape and sentenced to life imprisonment. Here is the story of this everyman and his extraordinary quarter-century-long journey to freedom, told in breathtaking and sympathetic detail, from the botched evidence and suspect testimony that led to his incarceration to the tireless efforts to prove his innocence and the identity of the true perpetrator. These were spearheaded by his relentless champion, Christine Mumma, a cofounder of North Carolina's Innocence Inquiry Commission. That commission-unprecedented at its inception in 2006-remains a model organization unlike any other in the country, and one now responsible for a growing number of exonerations. With meticulous, prismatic research and pulse-quickening prose, Benjamin Rachlin presents one man's tragedy and triumph. The jarring and unsettling truth is that the story of Willie J. Grimes, for all its outrage, dignity, and grace, is not a unique travesty. But through the harrowing and suspenseful account of one life, told from the inside, we experience the full horror of wrongful conviction on a national scale. Ghost of the Innocent Man is both rare and essential, a masterwork of empathy. The book offers a profound reckoning not only with the shortcomings of our criminal justice system but also with its possibilities for redemption.
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Smartypants
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If you like #truecrime you might enjoy this read on the incarceration of an innocent man in North Carolina and a history of the Innocence Project and the work they do to help wrongly convicted people.

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MallenNC
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Ghost of the Innocent Man
Elly Griffiths
General Hospital (I don't watch too much anymore but I started watching it with my babysitter decades ago!)
Green beans

I almost forgot!

#ManicMonday @JoScho

JoScho Thanks for playing 💖 6y
21 likes1 comment
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MallenNC
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Pickpick

This book is the dual story of the creation of North Carolina's Innocence Inquiry Commission, the first state agency of its kind, and that of Willie Grimes, one of the wrongfully convicted people the commission freed. Reading this made me anxious even though I knew the outcome. It made me proud of North Carolina for establishing this commission, which was established in 2006 and has resulted in 10 exonerations so far. #nonfiction2018

cathysaid Did this commission work with Darryl Hunt? Curious if that was mentioned... 6y
MallenNC @cathysaid The commission didn't because he was exonerated before it was established. His case is mentioned briefly, as is Greg Taylor, who was freed by the commission. 6y
cathysaid Sounds really interesting! Stacked 📚 6y
MallenNC @cathysaid I hope you like it. I can't remember if you're in NC, but if so you'll recognize a lot of the people in the book. 6y
cathysaid I'm in Atlanta now, but I lived in Charlotte for many years. Thanks for the recommendation! 6y
30 likes2 stack adds5 comments
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MallenNC
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I'm picking two answers for #favoritegenre -- narrative nonfiction and mystery. These are my current or most recent reads in both styles. #readingresolutions @Jess7

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MallenNC
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The prompt #Freedom for #readingResolutions day 2 made me think of this nonfiction book about a case handled by the North Carolina Center for Actual Innocence, which works to bring freedom to people who have been wrongfully convicted. @Jess7

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MallenNC
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I just put this on hold at the library, after hearing the story on the Criminal Podcast. This is about a wrongfully convicted man in North Carolina (my home state) and the effort by the NC Center for Actual Innocence to free him. Here's a link to the podcast: http://www.thisiscriminal.com/episode-80-photo-hair-fingerprint-12-1-2017/

Tamra I heard this one too. Tragic. 6y
MallenNC @Tamra I was just amazed by the man's resilience and lack of anger. 6y
Tamra @MallenNC agreed! 6y
Mitch Committed to reading #onenonfictionamonth. This might be February‘s pick! Thank you 6y
24 likes4 comments
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Monica5
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After reading this book, it makes me wonder why more states don't follow after North Carolina.

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Jas16
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Another gut wrenching book about a man completely failed by our justice system for 24 years. There were so many moments in this book that made me want to scream with anger and frustration but looking at the world through Willie's forgiving eyes was a lesson to me. I highly recommend this one.

Tamra 😕 These type of stories are difficult to read - seething. 7y
39 likes2 stack adds1 comment
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Jas16
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There was a knocking at her door.

#firstlineofcurrentread #anditsaugust

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Liberty
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It's been weeks since I finished this book, and I'm still thinking about it. It's heartbreaking and horrifying. It's about a man wrongly convicted of a crime because the system failed him again and again. Reading the psychologist's reports about how Grimes was failing to adapt to prison, wasn't sleeping or eating, and how he'd be better once he admitted his guilt, made me cry. Reading books like this put life in perspective. We are very lucky.

Jas16 Just got this one from the library. Cannot wait to start it. 7y
Crystalblu Try Just Mercy! 7y
Liberty @Crystalblu Yes, that one is excellent as well. 7y
111 likes27 stack adds3 comments