Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions

A seriously great and sad look at today’s justice system.

interesting book but not one of his best.

Good

Astonishing true stories of duplicity and horrendous legal falsehood! These people need to be in prison for what they did to innocent people just to say they "got their man"! Shame!!!

John Grisham is the very best author I can I can say. It fiction books are outstanding always number one and now he writes in the fiction. Unbelievable.

Don’t read this book unless you really want to know how messed up our law and order system really is in this country. John Grisham and Jim McCloskey have written a best seller but I can only read small amounts of the book at a time because it infuriates me to think we have people like this who are willing to ruin peoples lives to satiate their own egos. No wonder, they’re just mimicking what they see the leaders of this “wonderful “country we live in. I hope that I never have any need to depend on seeking justice anymore with officers of the law or the judiciary that will fabricate any lie to convict someone. I know I’m referring to a very small percentage of law enforcement et al, but they tend to taint the overall message of this book. The first story in the book really hit home with me as I was born in Norfolk VA and served 20 years in the military. Four innocent sailors serving their country had their lives ruined by the aforementioned criminals serving as DAs and police detectives. If you’re in law enforcement, this book should be REQUIRED reading. And don’t think these accounts are just fabricated. I went back to the original stories This really is a MUST read.

Page turner. This book should scare anyone. Eye opening

I didn’t realize how many times the police may have not been on the right track when solving crimes.

Grisham’s passion to abolish the death penalty and his desire for truth and justice are so well documented in this book. A lot can go wrong in our system. This is fact based evidence on how disadvantaged are the poor as well as when less than optimally trained law enforcement are involved in trying to find a quick solution in the case.

This author always writes a good fiction story. But, this book is real stories and howthe legal system slipped up until the authors stepped in and found evidence to clearthe innocent.

I've only started reading this & so far its hard to stop reading it

Man is his own worst enemy. He is the architect of his own downfall. Many times trying to be too clever for himself. He is caught in his own web of demons and pride. The truth always trumps wrong and is revealed when spoken or later or even years later. It is sad and damaging to man when is comes out after just one lie. A book well written and researched. Highly recommend

I’ve read all of Grisham’s books. Love them. This one was different. It was not really “entertaining” but I found it really compelling. So many tragic stories. Sobering. Disturbing. Frustrating.I believe there are many people serving in law enforcement and in our judicial system who do a great job. However, there are way to many stories like these. It was also sad to realize how so many people on the juries did not have to courage to stand up against the pressure in their communities to bring a conviction. I wish there were more stories of how some corrupt DA lawyers and police investigators were held accountable for their bias and incompetence, especially when they force a false confession.

These stories are so sad. Corruption at every level. I got dismissed from jury duty because I could not say I could be impartial. Innocent people go to jail and the guilty get let go because something is not admissible. I also said if someone was sent to jail/prison and then found innocent, it doesn't take a week or two to get released, it takes years. That night on the news, an innocent person was release from prison after spend over 20 years behind bars.I back the blue. They have a very hard job. But the corruption needs to stop. Making up stories and lying to solve a crime helps no one. These people need to go to prison for what they did.A huge thank you to the lawyers who work hard to help these innocent people.

This is a non-fiction book telling about 10 people who were innocent, but who were framed for murders they didn't commit, & who spent years incarcerated, either for life, or on death row. McCloskey heads an organization that works to free innocent people. He estimates that there are thousands of prisoners in this situation in America, & not thru' incompetence, but because, for various reasons, they have been framed by the judicial system that should have tried to find the real perpetuators of the crimes. Prosecutors, forensics, judges, cops, detectives - they all want a quick solution so they pick someone to blame, & the poor guy (or gal) goes to prison for it. It's usually a man, predominantly a minority. Shocking stories. Someone on death row is confined to a cell 5 x 9 feet (& that's sharing with another prisoner). Statistically, America is far worse that other western countries when it comes to incarcerating innocent people. On every page, I kept says, "What the F—-?!?!" I think you'll want to read this book. America is not the land of the free, not for these poor folks.

I pre-order very few books, and begin the day they arrive. That is exactly what I did with "Framed: Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions" by John Grisham and Jim McCloskey. I will never forget "An Innocent Man", also by Grisham, and the impact that book had on my belief in the death penalty. "Framed" was 10 of those same types of stories to further perpetuate my disbelief in the death penalty which I was at one point in my life very much in favor of. At the same time, it unfortunately makes me look at some aspects of our law enforcement and judicial system differently. There are bad seeds in every profession, to be sure. In life, death, and justice though, it is heartbreaking.The reason my review is only 4 stars instead of 5 is only due to the writing itself, and I don't want to pinpoint who because it wasn't that. There are a lot of names in this book. There are the victims, defendants, prosecutors, investigators, judges, experts, snitches (excuse me, informants), and a host of other people. At times the person would be noted with their first name, and at other times their last name. More confusingly, their first name is in one part of the paragraph, and their last name is in the latter part of the paragraph. This was unsettling and dropped my rating because of how many times I had to go back and figure out who was who.Please don't let that deter you! Just be prepared for it and you'll be fine. You'll still be as disgusted at what happened to the people in these pages, both sets of victims.

“Framed” is a bit hard to read, in that it’s frightening what unethical police and prosecutors can do when they become laser focused on proving someone guilty. The stories are tragic. Lives are destroyed because authorities manufacture evidence in order to support their theories, instead of finding the truth.I found the stories by Grisham to be well written as usual, but the ones by Mr McCloskey were hard to follow and jumped around chronologically.Still, the book is worth reading as it exposes serious flaws in our justice system.

FRAMED – Astonishing True Stories of Wrongful Convictions by Bill McCluskey and John GrishamWell, the title says it. It is a non-fiction book that narrates ten carefully researched and selected stories about people who committed no crime and were either put on life with no possibility of parole or on death row. Were the attorney generals and state lawyers aware of this? Yes. Instead of the presumed innocent until proven guilty situation, we have a justice system establishing their own theory of the crime and finding a presupposed guilty party to fit that theory. Never mind that it is illogical, outrageous and absurd, and only fit for the ungifted fiction writer. And yet, judges accept this without even considering suspicious individuals with strong motives who are right under their nose.Why do that? For political reasons, which is to please an impatient electorate that wants a nation to be safer (when absurdly it gets only more dangerous); sometimes to feed their own egos for fear of public judgement. They sacrifice the innocents for this, bury their conscience and indirectly become murderers themselves.I had my mouth open from outrage and astonishment as I read about a thoroughly corrupt system, and people like you and me doing time, 16 years, 25 years, or being executed. Indeed it is a hard read that may not be your favorite entertainment during this Christmas season, and you may want to wait until next year until you open the book.But thanks to the prose of Jim McCluskey and Grisham’s masterful one, it is gripping and astounding. You tell yourself it’s time to read something else, but it haunts you and you come back. And it should. Whoever thinks capital punishment is fair must go through every line of FRAMED and realize that innocents are killed by a judicial system with no conscience, and that killers go free. Framed will probably become a reference in law school. For my part I am not a law student, but it is not difficult to realize that this is an important book, and I hope that it will lead to the cleansing of our justice system.December 16, 2024

I am impressed by the hours and hours of research it took to get to the bottom of these stories. It begs the question, if the truth can come out, why now and not before or during trial? I understand partisan judges, tunnel vision detectives and prosecutors and lackluster defense attorneys, but some of these stories are almost like reading fiction - my brain says they had to be made up!! I'm only halfway through the book but had to take a break because none of the stories have very happy endings and I wish in my own heart for true redemption for the innocent not just a pardon after serving decades in prison. It also occurs to me, though possibly just not room in the book to cover, but did any of these police officers/prosecutors/judges ever see punishment for their crimes? As always Mr. Grisham, I never regret picking up one of your books and I think I maybe I have read all of them by now! Thank you.

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.