The Innocent Man

Rumors about the Carter murder case fly around town. Both the local newspaper and the gossip mill take Ron's and Dennis' guilt as a given. Dennis Fritz writes a letter to the Ada Evening News to defend his innocence. Ron is assigned Barney Ward as adefense attorney. Barney is blind, and a colorful character around the Ada courthouse. He is known for giving a great argument in court, but is getting older and is considered to be not as sharp as he once was. Ron is "generally uncooperative with his lawyer" (79) and neither trusts the other. Greg Saunders is assigned to represent Dennis Fritz. In jail, Ron continues to yell for hours, when not overmedicated to a point of sedation.

At the preliminary hearing, the police taunt Ron to get him worked up, and he is belligerent in court, throwing a table that hits his lawyer's assistant. Barney moves to withdraw from his appointment as Ron's counsel, but the judge denies his motion. After three tries, Ron is still not calm enough to cooperate in court, and he waives his right to appear at the hearing. Though Ron has been evaluated many times by mental-health experts, at no point is a question raised about his