The Last Juror
 First edition cover | |
| Author | John Grisham |
|---|---|
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre | Legal thriller novel |
| Publisher | Doubleday |
Publication date | 2004 |
| Media type | Hardcover, Paperback |
| ISBN | 0-385-51043-8 |
The Last Juror is a 2004 legal thriller novel by John Grisham, first published by Doubleday on February 3, 2004.[1]
Plot introduction
The story is set in the fictional town of Clanton, Mississippi from 1970 to 1979. Clanton is also the venue for John Grisham's first novel A Time to Kill which was published in 1989. Some of the characters appear in both novels with the same occupation and characteristics. Although A Time to Kill was published 15 years before The Last Juror, it took place in 1985 (on the first page of Chapter 3, it notes the date as Wednesday, May 15), which is a year after Grisham formed the idea for A Time to Kill, his first novel, and began writing it. Therefore the characters who appear in both novels, such as Lucien Wilbanks and Harry Rex Vonner, have matured in A Time to Kill. Harry Rex Vonner also appears in the novel The Summons, published in 2002, as an adviser of the protagonist Ray Atlee.
Some references in the book are clearly hinting at things known to readers of A Time to Kill. For example, in 1970 most blacks in Ford County don't take part in elections - taking for granted that since whites are the great majority in the county, no black candidate would have chance of being elected to local office. However, as A Time to Kill makes clear, a decade later a black Sheriff would be duly elected, with the overwhelming support of blacks and whites alike.
The novel is divided into three parts of approximately equal length. The first covers the trial of Danny Padgitt, the second focuses on Willie adjusting to life in Clanton, and the third includes the main events, the murder of the jurors.
Plot
In 1970 the first person narrator - a 23-year-old college dropout named Willie Traynor - realizes that his dreams of becoming a Pullitzer-winning star reporter for the "New York Times" or "Washington Post" would never come true. He ends up coming to Clanton, Mississippi for an internship at the local newspaper, The Ford County Times. However, the aging editor, Wilson Caudle, a WWI veteran, drives the newspaper into bankruptcy through years of neglect and mismanagement. Willie spontaneously decides to buy the paper for $50,000, using money borrowed from his wealthy grandmother, and becomes the editor and owner of The Times.
Soon afterwards, a member of the notorious Padgitt family brutally rapes and kills a young widow, Rhoda Kassellaw. Getting on the front page a photo of the blood-spattered Danny Padgitt being led to detention is a landmark in Willie's efforts to revive The Times' fortunes. Readership increases, but Traynor is accused of "yellow journalism" and pre-judging Padgitt.
Soon afterwards, Willie runs prominently an article about Callie Ruffin - a local black woman whose seven children all gained doctorates and teaching positions in various universities. A worthy human interest story by any standard, in this case it is also the first one ever published about a black person. In the process of researching the story, Willie becomes a close friend of Callie and her family, regularly invited to eat her excellent (though a bit fattening) Southern Cuisine dishes.
In the process of jury selection for Danny Padgitt's trial, Callie becomes the first ever black person to serve on a Ford County jury. Though far from enthusiastic about the prospect of having to pass a death sentence, Callie - who had been in the forefront of the local Civil Rights struggle - does not shirk this civic duty.
In the trial Danny Padgitt is duly found guilty of rape and murder, a witness purporting to provide him an alibi having been discredited by the prosecution. Before the jury starts deliberations, Danny Padgitt shocks all in the courtroom by openly threatening to kill each and every one of the jurors, should they convict him. But though unanimous on his guilt, the jury is divided on whether to send him to life in prison or to death row, so Padgitt is sentenced to life in prison at the Mississippi State Penitentiary. In fact, however, "life" is not really a lifelong sentence, especially not to a member of a rich and influential family such as the Padgitts. Soon afterwards, a prosecution witness who discredited the Padgitts' false alibi is murdered in another county. There is no hint at the killers' identity, and the Sheriff having jurisdiction is clearly disinclined to tangle with the Padgitts.
During the trial there are rumors that the Deputy Prosecutor Hank Hooten had been the lover of the victim, Rhoda Kassellaw - which, if true, would raise an issue of conflict of interest. But there is no proof available, and in any case Hooten's role in the trial seems marginal; in fact, he never says a word during the entire proceedings. Some years later, Hooten takes a rifle and goes on a wild shooting spree in the center of Clanton. Fortunately, no one was hurt in the shooting. Hooten, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, is taken off to a mental hospital and the affair is eventually forgotten.
In the ensuing years, The Ford County Times becomes highly successful and steadily increases circulation, due mainly to Willie's hard work. Willie witnesses the coming of school desegregation, which is implemented in Ford County more smoothly than in other parts of the Deep South. Following the death of a local boy in the Vietnam War, Willie publishes a strong anti-war editorial - touching off a fierce debate in the predominantly conservative community, but managing to keep on the paper's rising circulation. Meanwhile he keeps an eye on Danny Padgitt, campaigning against extremely favorable prison conditions which his family procured and foiling the Padgitts' first attempt to get him paroled after only eight years behind bars. Willie gets threats on his life on the phone but discounts them - assuming that even the Padgitts would not dare to assassinate the editor of the town's only paper.
After nine years in prison, Danny Padgitt is finally paroled - as unconfirmed rumor has it, due to a large bribe paid by his family to an influential state senator - and returns to Clanton. Immediately afterwards, two of the former jurors are killed by sniper rifle. The entire county is convinced that Danny is exacting his revenge as promised, and other jurors live in fear. Callie Ruffin's children arrive from their universities, to stand by their mother, and her neighbors in the black community organize to stand guard day and night. However, Danny Padgitt is hiding out at his criminal family's "island", where in the past Padgitts opened fire on law enforcement officers trying to enter. The Padgitts offer alibis as to Danny's whereabouts during the two murders. This is taken with great scepticism, given the Padgitts' past record - but with no tangible proof, the authorities hesitate to take action.
Callie reveals that the recent victims were exactly among the jurors who were against sentencing Danny to death row. There is great perplexity as to why he should be targeting exactly these ones, and some theories are offered - none very convincing. Then a third juror - also one of the three who opposed a death sentence - narrowly escapes being blown up by a bomb sent through the mail. The explosion does wound her and three others, due to inexpert handling by a policeman not trained in bomb disposal. The resulting public uproar forces the authorities' hands, and the judge in Clanton issues an arrest warrant for Danny Padgitt.
Against expectations, the Padgitts do not offer resistance to the forces of law, and Danny Padgitt is duly taken off to prison. He does ask for bail - and it may have been granted, since there is still no concrete evidence against him. However, during the bail hearing, a shot is suddenly heard in the courtroom and Danny Padgitt falls dead. It turns out that Hank Hooten had hidden in the crawl space above the courtroom with his sniper rifle, shot and killed him. Hooten then barricades himself in the court house tower and, after a short standoff that mainly destroys a few windows, commits suicide.
Thus, to everybody's surprise, it turns out that Danny Padgitt - though guilty of the original rape and murder - was after all innocent of the later murders of the jurors. Though having threatened them at the trial, he had no intention of carrying out the threat. He wanted to keep a low profile, working at his family's more-or-less legal business, and the alibis produced for him were in this case genuine.
The real culprit in the later murders is shown to have been Hooten. Willie discovers that during his years in the mental institute, Hooten was obsessed with the rape and murder of Rhoda Kassellaw, with whom he had been in love, and often heard in his head the voices of the victim's children, exhorting him to take revenge on Danny and on the three jurors who voted against the death penalty. Being mistakenly pronounced cured and set free, Hooten's schizophrenia did not prevent him from setting out and implementing a meticulous plan of multiple revenge murders.
This turns out to be the last big story covered by Willie Traynor for the Times. A big newspaper chain, extending operations throughout the South, is interested - and after nine years of owning The Ford County Times (and writing most of it himself), Willie is a bit tired of it. He finally manages to sell the paper for $1.5 million. But his satisfaction at this deal is marred when his friend Callie Ruffin dies of a heart attack. The book ends with Willie writing her obituary.
Characters in The Last Juror
- Joyner William "Willie" Traynor - the narrator, protagonist, and editor of the local newspaper, The Times.
- Calia "Miss Callie" Harris Ruffin - a black woman with eight children, seven of whom have Ph.Ds. She is selected for jury duty at the Padgitt trial. She and Traynor share an unlikely friendship.
- Baggy Suggs - an alcoholic reporter for The Times.
- Wiley Meek - photographer for The Times.
- Danny Padgitt - a member of the notorious Padgitt family. He rapes and murders Rhoda Kassellaw but is given parole after only nine years in prison.
- Lucien Wilbanks - defense lawyer for Danny Padgitt.
- Harry Rex Vonner - a lawyer who befriends Willie, helping him with various legal and moral issues throughout the novel.
- Sam Ruffin - eighth child of Calia Ruffin. He had an affair with a married white woman and is afraid to return to Clanton.
- Rhoda Kassellaw - the victim of Danny Padgitt.
- Judge Loopus - the judge at the Padgitt trial.
- Ernie Gaddis - prosecution lawyer at the Padgitt trial
- Hank Hooten - another lawyer at the Padgitt trial. He is rumoured to have had a relationship with Rhoda Kassellaw before her death. He later goes insane, killing two jurors and Danny Padgitt.