Review of "A Time For Mercy: A Legal Drama" by John Grisham

In this 3rd book in the Jake Brigance series, the attorney represents a juvenile accused of murder. The book works fine as a standalone.

*****

It's 1990, and attorney Jake Brigance is notorious in his hometown of Clanton, Mississippi for getting an acquittal for Carl Lee Hailey, a black man who killed the two white men that raped his daughter. (This story is told in Grisham's 1989 novel A Time to Kill). In the five years since the Hailey verdict Jake's law firm has been doing pretty well with journeyman work like divorces, wills, personal injury, etc.



Now Jake's firm has a huge wrongful death suit on its calendar. Taylor Smallwood, his wife Sarah, and two of their three children were killed when their car collided with a train at a dangerous crossing. A witness said the red crossing lights were not working and the train's engineer swears they were. The Smallwood relatives are suing the railroad, and Jake is representing the family in what might be a seven figure verdict or settlement.



Thus Jake is dismayed when Judge Omar Noose......



..... 'asks' him to represent an indigent 16-year-old boy named Drew Gamble, who's accused of capital murder.



Drew, his 14-year-old sister Kiera, and their mother Josie had been living with a Clanton police officer named Stuart Kofer. Stuart was a good cop and a respected member of the community when he was sober.



But Stuart liked to drink, and when Stuart was soused he would brawl in bars and beat up his girlfriend Josie. Stuart would even hit Drew and Keira on occasion, and they were scared to death of him.

Unfortunately, Stuart's fellow cops covered up his bad behavior and didn't take Josie's 911 calls seriously - which allowed the abusive situation to continue. One night Stuart knocked Josie out and Drew was certain his mother was dead.



So when Stuart fell asleep Drew took the cop's gun and shot him in the head. Shooting a police officer is a death penalty offense in Mississippi, and Drew is facing the gas chamber despite the fact that he's only sixteen.

Jake doesn't want Drew Gamble's case, but since Judge Noose is Jake's mentor - as well as being the judge for the Smallwood wrongful death lawsuit - Jake has no choice.



Representing Drew makes Jake VERY unpopular in Clanton, especially with Stuart Kofer's family and friends, who are grief-stricken and furious. Moreover, Mississippi will pay Jake only $1,000 for representing an indigent, even in a death penalty case.

Since a guilty plea by Drew Gamble would mean an automatic death sentence, Jake has to go to trial. Jake is assisted by his friends and associates: lawyer Harry Rex Vonner;



disbarred attorney Lucien Willbanks;



and paralegal Portia Lang - who's about to start law school and will be the first black female attorney in Clanton.



Everyone knows Jake will have trouble with the Gamble case because Clanton residents are very conservative and think a cop killer should die, no matter the circumstances.



The situation puts a lot of pressure on the Brigance family, especially Jake and his schoolteacher wife Carla, who are stared at in church, getting threatening phone calls, and going broke because of the Gamble case.



Still, the Constitution says 'innocent until proven guilty' and 'fair trial'....and Jake knows his responsibility.

As the story unfolds we follow both the Smallwood wrongful death case and the Drew Gamble murder trial. For the Gamble trial, we watch jury selection; see Jake cross-examine prosecution witnesses; and observe Jake put on a defense. As usual, Jake has some tricks up his sleeve and it's informative to see him put on a case.

Additional characters from A Time to Kill put in an appearance, including law professor Ray Atlee and Sheriiff Ozzie Walls, the first and only black sheriff in Mississippi.



Even now, Ozzie can't dine in certain Clanton restaurants, which - though they've taken down the 'whites only' signs - don't welcome black customers.

The story develops slowly and the book is long, but it kept my interest throughout. I'd recommend the book to fans of John Grisham and courtroom dramas.

Rating: 4 stars