Just Mercy Summary

Just Mercy Summary

Just Mercy by Bryan Stevenson

Setting

The book is set in the southern state of Alabama.

Main Characters

Bryan Stevenson - he is the author, narrator, and protagonist of the book

Walter McMillian - Walter’s legal case serves as the central storyline of the book.

Ralph Myers – he is the man whose false accusation sends Walter to death row.

Steve Bright – he is the director of the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee, an advocacy organization where Stevenson has an internship during law school and then works following his graduation.

Henry – he is the very first inmate Stevenson meets on death row, and their encounter is transformative for Stevenson.

Stevenson’s grandmother - As a child, Stevenson is especially close with his grandmother, who powerfully influenced his views toward the world and people.

Judge Robert E. Lee Key – he presides over Walter’s original trial. He does not intervene in the State’s efforts to select an all-white jury and he collaborates with other state officials to secure Walter’s conviction.

Minnie McMillian – she is Walter McMillian’s wife. Like Walter, she is from the poor black community just outside of Monroeville.

Karen Kelly – she is the younger white woman from Monroeville who has an affair with Walter prior to his conviction.

Ronda Morrison – she was the young adult daughter of an influential local white family in Monroeville.

Sheriff Tom Tate – he is the sheriff of Monroeville at the time of Ronda’s murder.

Vickie Pittman – she was the woman murdered in Escambia County near the time of Ronda Morrison’s murder.

Simon Benson – he is the ABI Investigator on Walter’s case.

J.L. Chestnut and Bruce Boynton – are the attorneys who are hired by Walter’s family to defend him during his original trials.

District Attorney Ted Pearson – he is the state prosecutor at the time of Walter’s indictment. He cooperates with the police to suppress evidence and works with the courts to secure an all-white jury in Walter’s case.

Plot Summary

Just Mercy is Bryan Stevenson’s account of his decades-long career as a legal advocate for marginalized people who have been either falsely convicted or harshly sentenced. Though the book contains profiles of many different people, the central storyline is that of the relationship between Stevenson, the organization he founded (the Equal Justice Initiative, or EJI), and Walter McMillian, a black man wrongfully accused of murder and sentenced to death in Alabama in the late 1980s.

Born to a poor black family in rural Delaware, Stevenson grew up questioning the racial and economic inequality that he witnessed in his community. The story of Stevenson’s career begins when, while attending Harvard Law School, he interns with the Southern Prisoners Defense Committee (SPDC). After meeting and befriending Henry, a death row inmate, Stevenson recognizes his passion for prison justice and for fighting against the death penalty. He moves to Atlanta to work for the SPDC, and he eventually relocates to Montgomery, Alabama to found EJI.

In Alabama, Stevenson represents many death row inmates, though the book focuses on the case of Walter McMillian. A successful black businessman from a poor community in Monroeville, Walter lost his reputation after his affair with Karen Kelly, a white woman. At the same time, the murder of a beloved local white woman, Ronda Morrison, rattled the town. Ralph Myers, a mentally unstable white man involved in criminal activity with Karen Kelly, arbitrarily accused "Karen’s black boyfriend” of murdering Ronda. The openly racist local sheriff, with the help of the District Attorney and several investigators, pursued Walter’s conviction. Together, they suppressed evidence, bribed witnesses into false testimony, and forced Myers to testify even after he tried to recant. Walter was convicted of murder by Judge Robert E. Lee Key and sentenced to death, which left his wife Minnie and his five children on their own.

While on death row, Walter becomes connected with EJI and Stevenson decides to take on the case. Over the course of a few years, Stevenson and his associates pursue a retrial, a direct appeal, and a post-conviction appeal on Walter’s behalf. Walter’s family and the rural black community in Monroeville actively support him and collectively feel the suffering of his wrongful conviction and sentence. As Stevenson gets to know the community and uncovers new evidence in Walter’s case, he uncovers a web of racial discrimination, political corruption, and a long history of suffering.

Eventually, a remorseful and reformed Myers contacts EJI and recants his testimony. EJI discovers proof of the bribery and illegal activity used by the State to secure Walter’s conviction. The deeper EJI gets the angrier powerful officials and the white community become. EJI receives several bomb threats, but they persist. Following national media coverage of the case, new District Attorney Tom Chapman begins to doubt the integrity of the State’s conviction and he launches his own investigation. The new state investigation confirms EJI’s claims that Walter is innocent. EJI ultimately motions for the state to drop all charges against Walter. The motion is approved and Walter is released after six years on death row.

EJI helps Walter to reenter society. Despite his optimism, Walter is not the same. He and his wife get separated, and he eventually develops anxiety and dementia related to trauma he experienced on death row. Walter and Stevenson remain friends until Walter’s death. At his funeral, Stevenson gives a speech about all the lessons Walter taught him about resilience, hope, dignity, and forgiveness.

Interspersed between segments of Walter’s story, Stevenson also tells the stories of many other individuals treated unfairly by the criminal justice system. EJI takes on the cases of several juveniles sentenced to life in prison for homicide and non-homicide crimes, including Trina Garrett, Antonio Núñez, Ian Manuel, Joe Sullivan, Evan Miller, and Ashley Jones. Stevenson describes how each of these children suffered different forms of trauma, abuse, or neglect prior to their crimes. He also illustrates how easily juvenile offenders are abused within the prison system. He makes the case that juvenile offenders deserve special mercy and compassion given their backgrounds, which are often troubled), immature brain development, and capacity for change and redemption. EJI ultimately wins two landmark Supreme Court cases banning life sentences for juvenile offenders.

Stevenson writes that EJI has represented low-income mothers falsely accused of murdering their children, such as Marsha Colbey. He illustrates how media sensationalism around "killer moms” has influenced the unreasonable criminalization of poor, drug-addicted, and mentally ill mothers. He also argues that the criminal justice system is unfair toward the mentally ill and disabled. He illustrates his argument with the stories of Herbert Richardson and Jimmy Dill, two mentally ill men that EJI unsuccessfully represented during the late stages of their cases. Stevenson tells the stories of both men’s executions and the profound, heartbreaking impact that their deaths had on him.

Throughout the book, Stevenson writes about the histories of different marginalized groups. He describes the racial history of the United States, from slavery through Reconstruction, post-Reconstruction, Jim Crow, the Civil Rights Movement, and the modern era. He argues that efforts to oppress and dominate black people have not ended, but have endured through new institutions and social practices. He argues that mass incarceration, which disproportionately affects poor people and minorities, is the latest incarnation of systemic racial and economic violence.

Throughout the book, Stevenson describes his own journey by showing how the relationships he has built and the cases he has fought have altered his understanding of kindness, hope, justice, and mercy. The climax of the story occurs shortly after Walter is diagnosed with advancing dementia, on the night that Jimmy Dill is executed. Completely emotionally exhausted and overwhelmed by the persistence of suffering and injustice, Stevenson considers quitting. He remembers the words of Rosa Parks and Johnnie Carr, two veterans of civil rights who’d befriended and encouraged him years ago. Rosa Parks told him his work would make him "tired, tired, tired” and Johnnie Carr explained that was why he had to be "brave, brave, brave.” Stevenson goes home that night, determined to continue his work.

Themes

1. Resistance and Advocacy. Just Mercy emphasizes the importance of active resistance to unfair institutions. Bryan Stevenson describes the racism, corruption, and cruelty that pervade American court systems and lead to the systematic abuse of marginalized communities. Despite the power and ubiquity of these problems, Stevenson remains steadfast in the power of resistance and advocacy to change conditions for individuals and for marginalized groups overall.
2. Systemic Power, Oppression, and Dehumanization. Stevenson’s stories detail how legal structures, which are meant to ensure that all Americans are treated fairly can contribute to the systemic oppression of marginalized groups, such as African Americans, women, the poor, and the disabled. By favoring individuals and groups who have more power, the criminal justice system perpetuates a cycle of vulnerability, poverty, and racial inequality in the United States. Stevenson demonstrates this claim through historical research, personal anecdotes, and political analysis,
3. Empathy, Mercy, and Humanization. At the heart of the book is the idea that everyone is capable of making mistakes, even terrible mistakes, and that, at one time or another, everyone will need to be granted mercy. Harsh punishments, in Stevenson’s eyes, perpetuate violence rather than deter it: for Stevenson, giving and receiving unexpected and undeserved mercy is the only way to break the escalating cycles of violence, punishment, and hatred that characterize the criminal justice system.