Analysis of Chapters 5-7

Hello and welcome back, readers!

The next three chapters of Just Mercy move the reader from the introductions of Stevenson and Walter's case to the specific details and evidence about the case. Along the way, Stevenson challenges different aspects of court rulings and the validity of evidence that has been taken as truth.

Chapter 5 serves mainly to introduce the reader to Walter's family life, as Bryan is brought to a family gathering to relay information about the case. It is immediately made clear that his family is poor, due to the decrepit appearance of his house, where his wife Minnie and daughter Jackie live together. However, they also appear to be very non-materialistic and uncaring of appearances, as is evident during a conversation where Jackie pokes fun at Stevenson's car.

"We piled into my two-door Corolla, which was stacked with papers, trail transcripts, and court records. 'You must spend your money on other things,' Jackie joked as we pulled away.

'Yes, expensive suits are my spending priority these days,' I replied.

'There's nothing wrong with your suit or your car,' Minnie said protectively" (97).

This brief interaction tells me a lot about Minnie and how simplistic and down to earth she is, which provides a window into how Walter's nature must be as well. It is evident that Walter's family life is a caring a nurturing environment, which further adds to how unlikely it is for him to have committed the crime that he is being accused of.

Stevenson then visits Walter's extended family, who are incredibly polite and grateful to him, but also very distraught and incredulous at the suddenness of Walter's conviction. They share their concerns and disbelief at the evidence that was presented, referring to Walter as "Johnny D", which is their nickname for him. 

For me, this series of introductions to the members of Walter's family makes the case easier to digest and reminds me that this a real person, and this was a real case. Because of the horrible injustice of the case, it has been easy for me to forget that this actually happened, because many of the testimonies seem like a work of fiction due to the blatant lying and bending of the rules that has occurred throughout Walter's trial. 

This section also brings up the issue of how much families suffer when their loved ones are incarcerated, and how little is done for them. 

Walter's family was incredibly desperate for any information that Stevenson could provide, which showed how little they have been told about the case. It is clear that this whole ordeal has taken a serious toll on them emotionally, and has left them anxious and upset. I can assume that the most they have learned was through the media, which makes me incredibly sad. I can't imagine how it must feel to not know anything about what is happening to my loved one, and Stevenson includes their behavior and emotions to show how families of those convicted of a crime should be kept in the know. 

One detail that I have noticed is the frequency that Stevenson alludes to the novel To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee. This is because the movie adaptation of this novel used the courthouse in Monroe County as a model for the sets, and this is also where Walter's case has taken place. Locals take a lot of pride in this fact, which I find ironic because both Stevenson's case and Atticus Finch's case involved the defense of a convicted black man. For a town that seems to care so much about To Kill a Mockingbird, they don't seem to show nearly as much interest for a very similar case to the one depicted in the novel.

Stevenson then goes into the details of a case where fourteen-year-old Charlie shot and killed his abusive stepfather, George. His stepfather had hit his mother and caused her to fall, cracking open her head on a counter top and leaving her unconscious, which angered Charlie enough to take violent action against George. Charlie is then issued the death penalty as a fourteen-year-old, and put into state prison.

I think the most shocking thing about this case is the trauma that Charlie had to endure while in prison. When Stevenson went to meet with the young boy, he refused to speak until finally he broke into tears and confessed the horrible things that had been done to him.

"He was sobbing when he finally spoke. It didn't take me long that he wasn't talking about what had happened with George or with his mom but about what had happened at the jail" (123).

I had never really thought about all the things that must go on inside prisons, particularly to younger kids who are convicted. Charlie admitted to Stevenson that he was sexually abused by the older inmates during his brief exposure to prison life. This makes me sick-- a fourteen-year-old boy should never have to be put through that, and there should be laws that protect him from having such traumatic encounters.

I didn't even know that kids as young as Charlie could be sentenced to death! It just seems so wrong that children should have to deal with that at such a young age; it prohibits them from learning from the consequences of their behavior because there are no second chances when you are put on death row. However, Stevenson was not only able to transfer his case to juvenile court and move him to a juvenile prison, but his sentence was reduced to only a few years in juvenile prison. This gives me hope that, with good lawyers, young people won't have to go through the terrors of adult prison and sentences that don't reflect the whole story. Unfortunately, it happened to be too late for Charlie to have escaped unscathed.

Stevenson's focus then returns back to Walter's case, where we learn that his appeal has been denied. This comes as a shock to Stevenson, because

"State law required credible corroboration of accomplice testimony in a murder case, and there simply wasn't any in Walter's case. [He] believed that the court would have a hard time affirming the conviction with so little evidence. I was wrong" (129).

In this quote, I can hear the disbelief in Stevenson's voice, because he was so sure that the court would reconsider Walter's case due to the fact that very little provable evidence had been given. The line "I was wrong" is so simple yet so powerful in the way that it conveys Stevenson's sense of defeat, which I, too, feel, because I was also very sure that Walter must have some luck and justice coming his way at some point.

Walter then talks to both Ralph Myers (the man who got Walter convicted in the first place) and Karen Kelly, who admit that Walter should not be on death row. This is new evidence that will prove helpful in his case, and I am excited to see how the court reacts to the findings, and whether they will give Walter the justice he deserves or not.

This section of reading not only provided more insight on Walter's family life and how they are affected by his conviction, but it also explored the lives of imprisoned youth. I can only wonder what will happen next with the new evidence found about Walter, but I hope (and I'm sure you do too) that the court will take this new information seriously.