essay on innocent man

“The Innocent Man” by John Grisham Essay

Introduction.

The Innocent Man is a book written by John Grisham concerning the misery and injustice in the town of Ada, Oklahoma. John Grisham narrates a shocking story of Ron Williamson and his friend Fritz. The two friends were arrested under false charges and convicted without trial. Williamson is a baseball star who ends up a dissolute mentally unstable and the two were faced with charges of rape and murder. Grisham’s book gives a shocking tale of how Williamson led his life in judicial crime injustice until the time of his death row sentence. Ron Williamson was a sportsman in the town of Ada, Oklahoma before he left to work on his dreams. Years later, he joined a life of drinking, drug abuse and women. The book analyses the hash and mishandled mission of the police in Ada. He reports on how the police and prosecutor used confession, false witnesses and baseless evidences to convict Williamson. Ron Williamson faced deep and permanent psychological wounds during this time of torture. After suffering in a conviction and detention for eleven years on a death row, Williamson and Fritz were guilty of the crimes according to DNA test evidence (Grisham, 2010).

Grisham’s book gives an analysis of the false convictions, poor police work and corrupt prosecutions that requires serious alerts on judicial reforms. He gives a transparent picture of the legal system and reflects how the judicial systems are so unfair to the poor and the middle-level people in the United States. It is quite shocking to read the story of Williamson’s mental decline and the way the society are failing to deal correctly with this disorder. Williamson’s life story before and after the imprisonment is extremely tormenting. His lifetime encounters from the time as a young professional baseball player until the time the court took him to a death row, shows how the judicial system in the United States is far from justice. Out of the four suspects, Williamson turns to be the centerpiece of police investigations. He eventually finds himself in a death row sentence in the Oklahoma Criminal court whose target seems to reduce the inmate’s rights to zero. This is evident in the case where Fritz also faces arrest and charges with the same crime just because he is a friend of Williamson (Grisham, 2010).

The key issues reflected in The Innocent Man covers a complete picture of the criminal injustice practiced in the United States. The first case in reference is the police abuse of power. This comes in when the police are under pressure from their seniors and the public to arrest and torture the suspects on a serious public crime even before trying them. The suspects could not face justice even after the media had provided a videotape on how the police were violating the law by committing the brutal acts. The community has a misleading belief that the police only arrest guilty parties. The second case of injustice in the judicial system is evident in the way the criminal justice system fails to recognize and deal with the mentally ill inmates in a humane sense. Although Williamson was able to resume back into the ball clubs by 1980, he had developed a condition of drugs addiction, alcoholism and mental disorder. A third case is the worst instance of judicial injustice in their prosecutors arrogance and the mishandling of evidence provided against the suspects in court.

A witness gave a statement of having been with Williamson and his friend Fritz in the eve of Debbie’s murder. He narrated how he had spent the previous night with Williamson and his friend Fritz in the flashlight. However, police ignored this statement and instead arrested and convicted the two suspects of Debbie’s murder. The suspects had to face a death penalty and life imprisonment without trials, which is a serious case of humans’ right violation according to the constitution. The final case of judicial injustice was when the false persuasive expert witnesses used baseless science to blind the jury during their judgments. The police, the jailhouse informers and the prosecutors’ panel employed expert witnesses to provide false testimony and baseless science to nail the suspects. These baseless sciences acted as substitutes for evidence in trying the suspects in court. The two friends receive death sentence without any physical evidence of their guilt. Their prosecution case could not face justice because of the junk Science and false expert witnesses framed against them (Grisham, 2010).

The Innocent Man brings into light the dark and shocking information on judicial injustice experienced in the US. It gives a picture of how the small towns within the cities in the United States still face the unbelievable truth of injustices. Judges in these towns still operate in mind that they can run free and regulate the U.S. Supreme Court in their own constitutional guidelines. It is evident that one cannot get justice if he/she does not have money and the right connection. It is clear evidence that only the rich can challenge these bloated injustices. It is sad to note that those who have money in the society are most likely not falling victims of these challenges of injustice. If they do, then they bribe their ways out of this situation without minding their constitutional rights.

Grisham, John. The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town , 7 th Ed. NY: Random House, 2010.

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The Innocent Man

Murder and Injustice in a Small Town

by John Grisham

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About this Book

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Book Summary

John Grisham’s first work of nonfiction, an exploration of small town justice gone terribly awry, is his most extraordinary legal thriller yet.

In the major league draft of 1971, the first player chosen from the State of Oklahoma was Ron Williamson. When he signed with the Oakland A’s, he said goodbye to his hometown of Ada and left to pursue his dreams of big league glory. Six years later he was back, his dreams broken by a bad arm and bad habits—drinking, drugs, and women. He began to show signs of mental illness. Unable to keep a job, he moved in with his mother and slept twenty hours a day on her sofa. In 1982, a 21-year-old cocktail waitress in Ada named Debra Sue Carter was raped and murdered, and for five years the police could not solve the crime. For reasons that were never clear, they suspected Ron Williamson and his friend Dennis Fritz. The two were finally arrested in 1987 and charged with capital murder. With no physical evidence, the prosecution’s case was built on junk science and the testimony of jailhouse snitches and convicts. Dennis Fritz was found guilty and given a life sentence. Ron Williamson was sent to death row. If you believe that in America you are innocent until proven guilty, this book will shock you. If you believe in the death penalty, this book will disturb you. If you believe the criminal justice system is fair, this book will infuriate you.

The rolling hills of southeast Oklahoma stretch from Norman across to Arkansas and show little evidence of the vast deposits of crude oil that were once beneath them. Some old rigs dot the countryside; the active ones churn on, pumping out a few gallons with each slow turn and prompting a passerby to ask if the effort is really worth it. Many have simply given up, and sit motionless amid the fields as corroding reminders of the glory days of gushers and wildcatters and instant fortunes. There are rigs scattered through the farmland around Ada, an old oil town of sixteen thousand with a college and a county courthouse. The rigs are idle, though–the oil is gone. Money is now made in Ada by the hour in factories and feed mills and on pecan farms. Downtown Ada is a busy place. There are no empty or boarded-up buildings on Main Street. The merchants survive, though much of their business has moved to the edge of town. The cafés are crowded at lunch. The Pontotoc County ...

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Judged against Grisham's fictional works, The Innocent Man compares well, his prose style is tight and fast-paced, the extremely large cast of characters are sketched succinctly and courtroom legalities are explained in a style simple enough for the layman to follow, and we're left in little doubt about who are the good guys and who are the bad .... However, Grisham's black and white approach to the real world which, unlike fiction, is always drawn in shades of gray, is the weakness of The Innocent Man when judged as a work of nonfiction... continued

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Beyond the Book

The sad tale of ron williamson & dennis fritz.

Ada, Oklahoma local boy Ron Williamson achieved hero status when drafted by baseball's Oakland Athletics in 1971, but within a couple of seasons his baseball dreams had been dashed and he took to drowning his sorrows in alcohol.  In 1978, having twice been charged with rape and found not guilty, and having been left by his wife and having been in and out of mental institutions, he returned to Ada to live with his mother, where he became known around town as a drifter.  One of his few friends was Dennis Fritz , a high school science teacher, who was raising his 8-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, whose mother had been murdered by a deranged neighbor six years earlier. In 1982, cocktail waitress Debbie Sue Carter...

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John Grisham’s The Innocent Man

For any who are not familiar with The Innocent Man by John Grisham, it is about the murder of a young woman in Ada, Oklahoma. The book focuses on two men that are charged for this murder: Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz. The story follows Ron’s struggles to deal with all of the changes he has to make once he is convicted of the crime he didn’t commit. The book also tells about Dennis Fritz, who is Ron’s friend and ultimately his co-defendant in this case.

The Innocent Man was made into a Netflix documentary. The story follows how Ron Williamson faces wrongful imprisonment during 40 hellish years while trying to maintain hope for an improbable escape. The documentary also features the experiences of Dennis Fritz, who mistrustfully seeks justice after being wrongfully imprisoned alongside with Ron Williamson. The story has led him on a mission to expose the difference between legal innocence and actual innocence that leads him into another unjust situation.

It was produced by Tommy O Haver, directed by Clay Tweel, written by Mark Lipson, Seth Gordon, O Haver, and Fritz, and it is scored by Jeff Beal. The Innocent Man has also been adapted as a stage play by Dennis B. Fritz and Katherine Fugate. The story presents the mystery behind the murder of Debbie Carter in 1982 and how Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz were convicted for the crime even though they both repeatedly stated that they did not do it. The two men spent 12 years in prison for this crime before DNA testing proved their innocence.

The book continues to follow Ron’s struggles throughout his last day of freedom before he was turned over to the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, his first night in prison where he was raped, and his legal proceedings which led to his release from prison after serving 11 years for a murder he didn’t commit. The story also presents how Ron is haunted by his time in prison and is struggling with overcoming it to hold down a job and maintain a normal life. The book concludes with the details of Dennis Fritz’s exoneration and releases from prison after he spent 12 years, also for a murder he didn’t commit.

The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town was written by John Grisham, who is an American author born on February 8, 1955. The legal thriller novels that this book has been categorized into were all written by Grisham, such as The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, The Chamber, A Time To Kill, etc. He wrote about classic courtroom dramas before shifting his focus to the criminal justice system. The books The Innocent Man and The Confession were written by Grisham in 2006 and 2010, respectively.

The book The Innocent Man was re-released in 2016 with a new afterword from John Grisham. The book The Innocent Man is about the murder of Debra Sue Carter, which happened on December 8, 1982. Ada is a small town where everyone knows each other in Oklahoma. Ron Williamson grew up there and always dreamed of playing pro baseball someday. He went to high school with Dennis Fritz who was an honors student at his high school, played football well, and has many friends that still live in Ada even today. One night when they are both 19 years old, they go out drinking and get in a fight with two men.

The two men find Ron and Dennis the next day where they are told that if they don’t pay the guys $4,000 dollars by December 21st for their crime, then these men will kill them. The story continues to tell how Ron comes up with the idea to rob an elderly woman who always carries plenty of money on her due to people constantly asking her for it. The book continues to follow Ron’s life after this event as he becomes very wealthy, has a daughter named Tina, gets married three times, etc. , but ends up struggling with drugs over everything else in his life.

The Innocent Man describes events in the 1980s in Ada, Oklahoma. The book is told through the eyes of Ron Williamson, a 24-year old man who was wrongfully sent to death row after being falsely accused of rape and murder. The story is set out with characters that are very believable. The innocent man John Grisham’s The Innocent Man character development is for example for Ron Williamson, not only does his barrack life develop but also his mental condition starts deteriorating due to all the stress and accusation he faces.

This book shows how easily things can go wrong in the justice system; it shows how even by an accidental hair strand or a person’s testimony can lead you into becoming wrongly accused and facing life sentence or even death sentence. The book also shows how hard it can get if you are wrongly accused and all your family turns against you and you have no one to support you in the case, the only person who did was his mother and she ended up dying during the time he had been imprisoned where they did not even tell him that she had died until weeks after her funeral.

The book also shows that whether or not someone did actually commit a crime or did something wrong should always be judged on what they actually do rather than by their past; John Grisham’s The Innocent Man character development for Ron Williamson starts with him being an ex-drug addict (which never lead to any crimes) and ends with him becoming a religious man which is something he was not before. The book also shows how easily a police officer can manipulate a testimony and lead a murderer to remain free, which is something very disturbing that has been happening for decades.

The Innocent Man character development of the murderers is that they have never actually faced their crimes or what they have done wrong because most of them kept living as normal people without facing their crimes. There are many John Grisham’s The Innocent Man quotes throughout the novel that quote different feelings and actions; The innocent man quotes such as “It was sometimes better to be guilty and free than innocent and imprisoned”. It makes you think about how terrible it would be if you were wrongly accused and held in prison for years.

Most people cannot even imagine staying in their rooms for a month, but The Innocent Man book shows how this could be done if you are wrongly accused. The quote “He killed them both” is used in The Innocent man book when Ron Williamson’s father says it to the detective when he was told that his son had been arrested for raping and murdering Debbie Carter, which later turned out to be a false accusation. This The innocence man quote shows how wrongfully accused someone can face years of a prison sentence or even death sentence before they can prove their innocence.

The quote “His voice sounded like he’d eaten broken glass” is also another The innocent man quote that proves how John Grisham develops character in The Innocent Man book; this one in particular suits Ron Williamson well because throughout The Innocent Man book John Grisham develops The innocence man character and it seems as if broken glass fits right with Ron Williamson because he is a broken man and those who know him would never suspect that The innocent man character development in The Innocent Man book was for him.

The quote “I don’t care how they do it in Mexico, but over here you’re innocent until proven guilty” shows how The innocent man quotes vary from different backgrounds; This one makes people think about how easy it would be to accuse someone of murder or rape just by saying they did something wrong without any proof behind them and without any evidence. The Innocent Man is a non-fiction novel written by John Grisham. It tells the story of Ron Williamson, a man from Ada, Oklahoma who was wrongly accused of a double murder then sentenced to death.

The story focuses on Ron’s trials and tribulations as an Innocent Man. The book premiered on January 11, 2006 at number one on The New York Times bestseller list where it remained for over two years. The Innocent Man includes detailed information about the legal system in Oklahoma through fictionalized court transcripts and dialogue between Grisham’s characters, along with factual information provided by Ron Williamson via letters written while he was incarcerated Grisham has said that The Innocent Man is “the most important book I have ever written”.

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The Innocent Man

48 pages • 1 hour read

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

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Chapters 2-3

Chapters 4-6

Chapters 7-9

Chapters 10-12

Chapters 13-15

Chapters 16-17

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Chapters 10-12 Chapter Summaries & Analyses

Chapter 10 summary.

The chapter begins with a history of execution in the state of Oklahoma, which is carried out by lethal injection, since "chemicals were considered to be more merciful" than the electric chair, and "thus, less likely to attract constitutional attacks of cruel and unusual punishment; thus, more likely to speed along executions" (133). The author notes that "Since 1990, Oklahoma has executed more convicts on a per capita basis than any other state" (133). Grisham describes the standard procedures for executions in Oklahoma, from the secret contractors who prepare the chemicals, to the removal of the body after the procedure is complete.

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An Innocent Man

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Not guilty and not innocent, just O.J.

O.J. Simpson is impossible to mourn without reservation. Without anger. Without a sense of dismay that society once celebrated this broken and destructive man as “great.” Do we even know what that is?

Simpson, 76, died of cancer Wednesday, according to a social media post from his family. In the years after a mostly Black jury found Simpson not guilty in the murders of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her acquaintance Ron Goldman, the former football player moved through the remainder of his life under the mistaken impression that his fellow citizens had declared him innocent. They had not.

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In the televised trial that mesmerized a nation in 1995, the jury merely acknowledged that the prosecution failed to meet its burden of proof. Theirs was a case tainted by a cop known to have spewed racist vitriol and a pair of bloody gloves that famously did not fit Simpson’s hands. In its verdict, the jury recognized the weaknesses in the prosecution and the sharp defense put on by an astute Johnnie Cochran — a Black man who spoke with swaggering confidence — and the other lawyers in Simpson’s corner. Simpson’s victory in this country’s two-tiered justice system, one that leaves people of color and those without financial means at a disadvantage, was not that he’d demonstrated his innocence, rather he’d shown his ability to hire a team of skilled attorneys who put on a vigorous defense to win his acquittal.

Simpson had risen above his lot. For some Black men and women, that was something to behold because it was so rare. For many White Americans, the acquittal was a disgrace.

In the middle of this divide, there was at least one truth: The trial revealed Simpson to be a vicious man whose record of domestic abuse was documented in 911 calls made by his ex-wife. When Simpson walked free, he exhibited little grace. Instead, Simpson made noises about finding the real murderer. He participated in a mocking book, “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer,” that rehashed the tragedy. In a civil trial, a mostly White jury found Simpson responsible for the deaths and ordered him to pay the Goldman and Brown families $33.5 million. Years later, with financial woes mounting, he charged into a Las Vegas hotel room and armed with a gun, tried to steal his own personal items from memorabilia dealers. He claimed the belongings were stolen. This was the case that finally landed him in prison. He was sentenced to 33 years for kidnapping and armed robbery. Simpson was released in 2017 and started posting musings and videos on social media in a manner that was despairing and bewildering. A man who once had a reputation of heroic proportion, Simpson became a cauldron in which race, misogyny and the glorification of professional athletes swirled into a toxic brew.

Simpson made inroads in Hollywood and became a pitchman for corporations because he was a football star — a Heisman Trophy winner. He was a running back who’d set records on the gridiron and when he was on trial for murder, he had the kind of fame — sports fame — that resounded as loudly as any of the arguments made by his defense team. His celebrated career drowned out the cries of help from his ex-wife. It gave him a degree of privilege that was insulating and he reveled in that.

Simpson’s fame was different from that of a dashing actor, a musical heartthrob or a captain of 21st-century technology. Simpson was an all-American and was emblematic of the ways in which football wraps itself in patriotism and the American flag. Football’s soundtrack is “The Star-Spangled Banner.” Simpson was someone around whom men and women, Black and White, rallied. Sports fame elevated Simpson and protected him. But it was not armor.

He came to define himself as a man who transcended race, which is to say he’d moved beyond some part of himself. What to make of this Black man who believed he’d moved beyond race and then became a powerful symbol of the country’s racial divide ? When the verdict in the murder trial was announced, 22 percent of Black people thought he was guilty, while 63 percent of White people did. It’s hard to mourn a man who portrayed himself as singular and separate, without the community of the generations of people who looked like him, who helped cleared a path so that he could run down it at the speed of light. It’s hard to mourn a man who rose to rarefied status and only looked back after he’d fallen down.

Other men of wonder have tumbled from great heights by committing terrible deeds or revealing themselves to be deeply flawed. Yet it has been possible to hold both their accomplishments and their failures side by side and to see them clearly. That’s impossible with Simpson. The darkness of what he became blots out what he once was.

The greatest athletes are held in high regard outside the realm of aficionados and fans, not because of what they did on the field, in the ring or on the court, but because of how they carried those achievements forward, changing the culture for the better and making outsiders believe in the enriching, inspiring power of excellence. The most revered among them recognized all that athleticism symbolizes, the struggle and focus and determination, and shared that more broadly to build their legacy.

The paintings of a misogynistic artist can still hang in museums and galleries and move viewers to think more deeply about the human condition. A song can evoke rich personal memories even if the musician was revealed to be despicable. But can a running back’s derring-do, no matter how record setting, continue to inspire long after the game is over, the athlete has retired, and he’s shown to be a violent brute and not much more? His exploits were mere statistics waiting to be surpassed. Simpson excelled at his sport and because his sport was football and not volleyball or rowing, he was lionized and his fame was everything. Until it wasn’t. It’s impossible to hold two versions of Simpson in your mind simultaneously. The latter pummeled the former into nothing.

So one leaves it to his family to grieve. To his friends to reminisce. The public can only ask: What did we see in Simpson? The only way to mourn him is with regret.

At Least 6 Dead in Mall Stabbing That Horrifies Australians

The attack, Australia’s deadliest in eight years, stunned a nation where mass violence is rare. A police officer shot the attacker, preventing worse carnage.

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Victoria Kim ,  Yan Zhuang and Isabella Kwai

Here are the latest developments.

Six people were killed and several others injured in a stabbing rampage Saturday afternoon at a crowded major mall in Sydney, Australia’s deadliest act of mass violence in at least eight years.

The attacker was shot and killed by a lone police officer who was directed into the mall by people fleeing the scene, police said. The officer was following the man with the knife, trying to catch up to him, when he turned and lunged at her with the weapon, according to the police. The officer then opened fire, saving lives, Anthony Cooke, assistant commissioner for the New South Wales Police, said.

The man stabbed people as he moved through the mall, the police said. Four women and one man died at the scene. Emergency responders said eight people were transported to area hospitals, and the police said that one of them, a woman, later died. A 9-month-old baby was among those injured and has been in surgery, Karen Webb, the New South Wales Police commissioner, said.

The police said they have not formally identified the man but believe they know his identity. They believe he was 40 years old and acted alone. There is no continuing threat and the attack was not motivated by terrorism, Police Commissioner Webb said.

The attack has stunned and horrified a country where acts of mass violence are rare. “Australians will be shocked tonight,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference on Saturday afternoon.

Here’s what you need to know:

The police said the attacker’s motive was unclear, but there were no immediate indications that it was a hate crime. He did not appear to be targeting any specific person, the police said.

The attack happened in Bondi Junction , a busy commercial district in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, a wealthy area near the coast.

Multiple calls about a stabbing began coming from people at the mall, the Westfield Bondi Junction, shortly after 3:30 p.m.

Damien Cave contributed reporting.

Acts of mass violence are rare in Australia.

The stabbing attack in a Sydney shopping center that left at least six people dead on Saturday was Australia’s worst act of mass violence since 2017, when a driver killed six people by deliberately plowing his car into pedestrians in Melbourne.

In a country where mass stabbings and shootings are rare — in part because of strict gun laws — the latest attack has horrified Australians.

Here is how it compares to other acts of mass violence in the country in recent years:

June 2019: A gunman killed four people in a shooting spree across the main business district of Darwin, in the Northern Territory.

January 2017: A man with drug-induced psychosis drove his car into a busy shopping street in Melbourne’s central business district, killing six people and injuring more than 20 others.

December 2014: A gunman held 18 people hostage in a cafe in Sydney’s central business district. The standoff with the police, which lasted 16 hours, ended with the deaths of two hostages and the gunman . The authorities later labeled it a terrorist attack.

November 2011: Fourteen people died when a nurse set fire to a nursing home in Quakers Hill, near Sydney.

April 1996: Australia’s worst mass shooting occurred at Port Arthur, Tasmania, when a gunman killed 35 people. Just weeks later, the country’s leaders brought in strict gun laws.

Andrew Reid was shopping for a bed when he heard that people had been stabbed at the mall. He used his training as a lifeguard to help treat two women who had been stabbed on the mall’s fourth floor. “We grabbed some clothes out of the clothes store, trying to stop the bleeding,” he said, adding that he had managed to stop one of the women from bleeding further.

John Yoon and Isabella Kwai

Witnesses describe harrowing scenes as shoppers fled or huddled in stores.

Witnesses to the stabbings at a mall in a Sydney, Australia, on Saturday described a scene of terror as shoppers fled from the knife-wielding man or huddled in stores as panic spread through the shopping center.

Some shoppers hid inside as alarms blared. Others ran out, screaming as they passed by bodies on the floor.

When Gavin Lockhart, 37, saw people running as he sat inside a coffee shop at the mall, there was a moment of confusion. “Is it a celebrity?” he first thought. “Is it because of a gunman?”

Then he fled when he heard, “He’s got a knife! He’s got a knife!”

He followed the coffee shop’s owner, Michael Dunkley, 57, who also brought his wife, who was cooking, and two baristas into a staffroom where they could lock the door. Mr. Dunkley said afterward that just one thought was in his mind when the screaming began: “I have to get my wife and staff to safety.”

Mr. Dunkley left the room to try to chase down the attacker, whom he described as a thin man with a beard and short hair, wearing dark green pants and a green jersey.

Then, Mr. Dunkley recounted, he saw a police officer attempt to stop the assailant. When the officer told the man to put his knife down, he lunged toward her with his weapon, the cafe owner said.

“He didn’t say anything,” Mr. Dunkley said. “He seemed determined.”

The officer then shot the attacker on the fifth floor of the mall, on a walkway near a phone store and a clothing alteration shop, Mr. Dunkley said. When the attacker fell, the officer immediately began administering CPR on him, the cafe owner said.

“In this country, this stuff shouldn’t happen,” Mr. Dunkley said. “People come here because it’s safe.”

Andrew Reid, 44, had been shopping for a bed when he heard that people had been stabbed at the mall and shoppers were told to evacuate. Many of the stores were in lockdown, but after seeing people lying on the floor, bleeding, he said, he used his training as a lifeguard to help two women.

One had a wound in her back, he said, expressing outrage that the attacker would stab someone from behind. “It’s so cowardly,” Mr. Reid said.

“We grabbed some clothes out of the clothes store, trying to stop the bleeding,” he added.

About 30 yards away, the second woman lay unconscious, he recounted. He ran over to find a deep wound on her chest just above where he needed to do compressions, which made CPR difficult.

“There was a lot of blood around her,” he said. “I honestly don’t think she made it.”

Even hours after the attack, witnesses were struggling to process what had just happened.

In his 20 years working as a lifeguard at nearby beaches, Mr. Reid said, he had mostly dealt with drownings. While he had experience with wounds, he said he did not usually treat several stab victims in succession. He said that he was horrified, but tried not to be affected while trying to save people’s lives.

“You just detach emotion from that sort of stuff,” he said. “You just got to.”

Mr. Lockhart, who said he had seen the officer shoot the attacker, sounded dazed. “The one positive I’m looking at is the police officer probably saved my life,” he said.

Witnesses struggled to process what had happened at the mall even hours after the attack. “I don’t think it’s really sank in,” Lockhart, who also saw the officer shoot the attacker, said in an interview. “The one positive I’m looking at is the police officer probably saved my life.”

Gavin Lockhart was sitting in a coffee shop at the mall when he suddenly saw people running. “Is it a celebrity?” he first thought. “Is it because of a gunman?” Then he said he fled when he began hearing, “He’s got a knife! He’s got a knife!”

The officer appeared to shoot the attacker in the chest two to three times on the fifth floor of the mall, on a walkway that bridges two buildings, near a phone store and a clothing alteration shop, Dunkley said. When the attacker fell, the officer immediately began giving him CPR.

Michael Dunkley, 57, who runs a coffee shop at the mall, said he witnessed the moment the police officer apprehended the attacker. The officer told the man to stop and put the knife down, then he lunged forward with his weapon. The attacker “didn’t say anything,” Dunkley said. “He seemed determined.”

The police “became aware of who we believe the offender is,” but have not formally identified him, the New South Wales police commissioner said. “If it is in fact the person we that believe it is, then we don’t have fears for that person holding an ideation — in other words, it’s not a terrorism incident,” she said.

The shopping mall will be closed tomorrow as police conduct their investigation.

Isabella Kwai

“It looked like he was on a killing spree,” said a witness, describing the moment that a police officer fatally shot the attacker. “If she didn’t shoot him, he would have kept going.”

The police commisioner added that it did not appear that the victims were specifically targeted. Among those injured in the attack was a 9-month-old baby, who has been in surgery.

The victims are five women and one man. Five people died at at the scene, and one woman died later in a hospital.

The attacker was a 40-year-old man, said Karen Webb, the police commissioner for New South Wales. The police believed they knew his identity but were still in the process of confirming it, she said.

People evacuated from the shopping center said they were terrified as they huddled in place. “I thought I was going to die,” one woman told the national broadcaster, ABC, adding that she saw a woman lying on the floor in the Chanel store. “It was insanity.”

Routine bus routes have been rerouted around the Bondi Junction area, with transport authorities warning of lengthy delays.

Local officials have postponed several events in the area in response to the police investigation, they said, including a concert at Bondi Beach and a film night at a nearby park.

Following the ongoing police operation at Westfield Bondi Junction, we have postponed tonight's Bondi Beach Bash concert for Youth Week at Bondi Pavilion as well as Movies in the Park at Varna Park. New dates will be announced in the coming days. — Waverley Council (@WaverleyCouncil) April 13, 2024

Bondi Junction is a popular meet-up spot and transit hub.

Tourists wandering the sprawling mall for gifts. Beachgoers picking up sunscreen before heading to the water. Friends meeting for coffee.

Bondi Junction, the area of Sydney, Australia, where Saturday’s stabbings took place, is a bustling hub that regularly draws crowds on weekends. They can go to the glossy Westfield mall complex and buy from high-end stores like Chanel and Gucci, catch a film at the cinema or buy their weekly groceries at major retailers.

The shopping area’s early development in the 1970s made it one of Australia’s largest development projects. And during a major renovation in 2005 , it was known as one of the largest shopping centers in the Southern Hemisphere. An array of small businesses, including cafes and yoga studios, have sprung up in the area, making it an attractive meeting ground.

It is also a major gateway that funnels beachgoers and residents from central Sydney to the wealthy eastern suburbs that are home to many of the city’s most popular coastlines. That includes the famous Bondi Beach, which means that on any given weekend, tourists and backpackers are in the mix along with residents of the area.

The New South Wales Police commissioner, Karen Webb, will address the media at 8:30 p.m. local time (in about half an hour), the police said in a statement.

One more person injured in the attack has died, taking the total number of stabbing victims from five to six, according to a statement from the New South Wales police.

Mass acts of violence are rare in Australia. In 2019, a gunman killed four people in Darwin, in the Northern Territory. In 2017, six people died in Melbourne’s central business district when a driver plowed his car into a pedestrian zone. And in Sydney in 2014, a gunman held 18 people hostage in a cafe in a 16-hour standoff, which ended with the deaths of two hostages and the gunman.

“This was a horrific act of violence indiscriminately targeted at the innocent people going about an ordinary Saturday, doing their shopping,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese praised the courage of the police officer who confronted and shot the attacker. “She’s certainly a hero; there’s no doubt she saved lives through her actions,” he said.

“The devastating scenes at Bondi Junction are beyond words and understanding,” Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said at a news conference on Saturday evening. “Australians will be shocked this evening.”

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Minnesota man guilty in fatal stabbing of teen on Wisconsin river, jury finds

A 54-year-old Minnesota man was convicted Thursday in the slaying of a high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (AP produced by Javier Arciga)

Nicolae Miu, right, stands alongside his defense and waits as the jury leaves the courtroom after requesting to watch the Jawahn Cockfield video during his trial at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, has been convicted in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

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“Justice for Isaac,” said Isaac Schuman’s father Donny Hernandez as he tears up while talking to the media alongside Schuman’s mother, Alina Hernandez, left, and other family after Nicolae Miu’s guilty verdict at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, has been convicted in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

Nicolae Miu makes his way out of the courtroom after the guilty verdict at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, has been convicted in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

Nicolae Miu’s twin brother Mihai Mui and his family leave the courthouse after his brother’s guilty verdict at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Nicolae Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, has been convicted in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

St. Croix County District Attorney Karl Anderson gives a statement to the media alongside Deputy District Attorney Brian Smestad, left, after Nicolae Miu’s guilty verdict at the St. Croix County District Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 11, 2024. Miu, a 54-year-old Prior Lake man, has been convicted in the slaying of a 17-year-old high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

FILE - Nicolae Miu looks on during his murder trial, Friday, April 5, 2024, at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis.. Jurors on Thursday, April 11, 2024, convicted Miu in the killing of 17-year-old Isaac Schuman and wounding of four others in a 2022 fight in the Apple River. (Aaron Lavinsky/Star Tribune via AP, File)

Investigator Mitchell Schaeppi displays the knife found along the Apple River , from an evidence box during the fourth day of the Nicolae Miu trial at the St. Croix County Circuit Court in Hudson, Wis., on Thursday, April 4, 2024. Nicolae Miu was convicted Thursday, April 11, in the slaying of a high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river. (Elizabeth Flores/Star Tribune via AP)

HUDSON, Wis. (AP) — A 54-year-old Minnesota man was convicted Thursday in the slaying of a high school student and stabbing of four other people who were tubing on a western Wisconsin river.

A Wisconsin circuit court jury found Nicolae Miu guilty of first-degree reckless homicide, four counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and one count of battery, Minnesota Public Radio reported . No sentencing date has been set.

Isaac Schuman , 17, of Stillwater, Minnesota, was stabbed to death in late July 2022 while he and the other victims were tubing along the Apple River in St. Croix County, which sits along Wisconsin’s state line with Minnesota.

Two men from Luck, Wisconsin, a woman from Burnsville, Minnesota, and a man from Elk River, Minnesota, were wounded.

Miu, of Prior Lake, Minnesota, attacked the group after people accused him of approaching children in the water, investigators said in court documents. Miu told investigators that he acted in self-defense.

Miu was tubing down the river with his wife and several other people, according to a copy of a criminal complaint obtained by Minnesota Public Radio.

Miu told investigators that he was using a snorkel and goggles to look for a lost cellphone. Video and witness accounts indicate bystanders accused him of approaching children in the water. Witnesses said Miu was bothering a group of juveniles and others told him to leave, the complaint stated.

Instead of leaving, Miu punched a woman and a fight ensued, according to the complaint. Video shows him falling into the river, emerging with a knife and then stabbing a person.

Miu told investigators that he was provoked, according to the complaint. “They attacked me,” he said. “I was in self-defense mode.”

Prosecutors had argued that Miu had opportunities to diffuse the situation or walk away.

Defense attorney Aaron Nelson told reporters Thursday that he was surprised and “respectfully disappointed” by the verdict. Nelson said Miu was “sad, obviously disappointed in the result. And, you know, contemplating his future life.”

Schuman was heading into his senior year at Stillwater High School when he was killed. His family described him as an honor roll student who was preparing to apply to several universities to study electrical engineering.

Queensland man accused of killing toddler stepson Jaylen Priest declared innocent in court

A Queensland man who spent more than two years in jail accused of killing his toddler stepson, has been declared innocent, having all charges against him dropped and the death deemed an "awful tragedy".

Concerns were raised about the evidence against Aaron Harley James in the Supreme Court in Brisbane on Tuesday, including a problematic police interview of a minor.

The revelations came on what was supposed to be day one of a two-week trial.

In early 2022, police arrested Mr James over the death of 16-month-old Jaylen Priest, after he was critically injured in their Burpengary home.

The boy died in hospital days after suffering a serious skull fracture and brain bleed.

Mr James was initially charged with the boy's murder, but was arraigned on a charge of manslaughter on Tuesday, which he pleaded not guilty to.

After a jury was sworn in, but before the crown opened its case, prosecutor David Nardone dismissed both the murder and manslaughter indictments presented against Mr James.

'It's either you or him'

It came shortly after Justice Peter Callaghan questioned both legal parties about the police interviews with some of the child witnesses, which would have formed part of the prosecution's evidence.

Justice Callaghan told the court he was particularly concerned about the officer's conduct with a 14-year-old boy, after a transcript revealed he had told him "Jaylen was definitely killed by somebody" and "it's either you or him", referencing Mr James.

The officer continued to press the boy by saying "so at this point mate, you've either seen it or you know more, or you've done it," and then "it's either you're a witness or you're the offender", Justice Callaghan said reading from the transcript.

Justice Callaghan then asked Mr Nardone whether this police officer had been reported to the police commissioner, the Crime and Corruption Commission, the Queensland Family and Child Commission or the Human Rights Commission over this, to which he replied, he did not believe so.

"So… the last two years this police officer has been thinking, it's perfectly okay to question a 14-year-old child like this? And nobody's done anything about it?" Justice Callaghan asked.

"Is the inference that the Director of Public Prosecutions is perfectly okay with this, that they don't think it's worth reporting to anyone?"

Mr Nardone said this was not the position of the DPP.

Justice Callaghan then questioned how other witness accounts could be put to the jury, and asked if the DPP believed any conviction would "survive the sort of scrutiny that will be received in a court of appeal", including the High Court.

"What I want to know Mr Nardone, is that you and the director [of public prosecutions DPP] are both of a view that a conviction obtained in these circumstances would be reasonable, not that you can get one," he said.

"I think that assurance should be given ... before we embark on 10 days."

After consultation with the DPP, Mr Nardone formally withdrew the case.

'Tragedy compounded'

Justice Callaghan brought the jury back into court to explain why they were being discharged, telling them "your role and the court's role is complete".

The jury was told at the time, Jaylen lived with his mother and her then partner, Mr James, and four others, including children who were all home at the time.

"There is no suggestion that at any time there had been any violence or mistreatment or anything bad done by Mr James or anybody else for that matter, to Jaylen," Justice Callaghan said.

"In fact, the evidence that you would have heard, would have established there was a loving relationship with Mr James and Jaylen."

Justice Callaghan said there was evidence Jaylen had been running on a wet floor and slipped and hit his head and it was an "awful" accident.

"At least it is the case, that this tragedy will not now be compounded by a conviction of an innocent man," he said.

'Painted as murderers'

Outside court the boy's mother Savannah-Rose Wilson, who has always stood by Mr James, said she was "very disappointed" the case had come this far, but now could "finally grieve" her son.

"I lost family, I lost friends, because we have been painted as murderers," she said.

"It's ruined a lot of families."

Ms Wilson said she was happy for Mr James, who "doesn't deserve to be in there", and believed the police owed him answers.

"All I can say is everybody who was in the house that day knows what happened and we've told the truth from day one and the truth is prevailing today," she said.

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