It doesn’t help his bank book when the meaningfully named Judge Omar Noose orders him to defend the kid. Jake Brigance, the hero of the tale, is a lawyer who’s down to his last dime until a fat wrongful-death case is settled.

“Did it really matter if he was sixteen or sixty? It certainly didn’t matter to Stu Kofer, whose stock seemed to rise by the hour,” writes Grisham of local opinion about giving Drew the benefit of the doubt. Unfortunately for the kid in a place where uniforms are worshipped, Stu was a well-liked cop. He’s done terrible things to her children, too-and now her 16-year-old boy, Drew, puts an end to the terror. One night, coming home in a foul mood with a blood alcohol count more than triple the legal limit, he breaks his live-in girlfriend’s jaw. He drinks way too much and likes to brawl. Compassion ad forgiveness are clear and inescapable.A small-town Mississippi courtroom becomes the setting for a trademark Grisham legal tussle. I could sense the tension in the courtroom as unpopular subjects were presented and uncovered. I found myself able to picture small town Mississippi, both its beauty and its ugliness. The novel is populated with complex, interesting people. Portia Lang, Jake’s paralegal, and Lucien Wilbanks, his legal mentor, have significant influence on the direction of the defense. You are walked through the detail of pretrial preparation. Grisham portrays a strong collection of secondary characters. Jake is not alone in his search for the truth. Jake’s job becomes a mission to untangle the web and achieve justice for Drew.

Bible belt attitudes toward abortion vs adoption.

capital punishment for underage defendants.

The investigation into the shooting death of Stuart Kofer, a Clanton police officer, follows a path the requires diligent examination of evidence regarding a web of multiple factors, including: However, Jake discovers there is more to the story and is determined to save Drew from the gas chamber.

The evidence seems overwhelming for a quick trial and a death penalty conviction. Jake Brigance finds himself as the court appointed attorney for Drew Gamble, a sixteen year old charged with the murder of an off duty law enforcement officer. It is 1990 in small town Clanton, Mississippi. He is faced with a case where the evidence apparently is stacked to one side, but compassion stands on the other side begging for truth and justice to be served. Again, Jake Brigance is a masterful protagonist in a “Time for Mercy”. This story line may sound familiar to you, if you have read John Grisham’s novel, “A Time to Kill”, published in 1989. In “A Time For Mercy”, Jake Brigance ends up with an unpopular defendant in a very divisive trial.

John grisham a time for mercy review