In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen
from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he
signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his
hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big
league glory.
Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad
arm and bad habits drinking, drugs, and women. He began to
show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he
moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on
her sofa.
In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named
Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five
years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons
that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and
his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in
1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical
evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science
and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts.
Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence.
Ron Williamson was sent to death row.
If you believe that in America you are innocent until
proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in
the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you
believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book
will infuriate you.