During an event sponsored by the OCU School of Law, author John Grisham, left, visits with Mary Hughes and her husband, David Wiggs, pastor at Enid-First UMC.

Best-selling author John Grisham spoke on Oct. 13 to about 1,800 people at OCU’s Henry Freede Wellness Center.

In his program, titled "The Innocent Man and Wrongful Convictions in America," Grisham told the story behind his nonfiction work, "The Innocent Man." The book recounts the saga of the wrongful conviction and exoneration of Oklahomans Ron Williamson and Dennis Fritz.

The journey of writing this book, Grisham said, "exposed me to the world of wrongful convictions, something that I, even as a former lawyer, had never spent much time thinking about. This is not a problem peculiar to Oklahoma—far from it. Wrongful convictions occur every month in every state in this country."

Grisham has dedicated himself to support programs throughout the nation to identify and correct wrongful convictions.

His presentation was the first in a series of efforts to establish a center at the OCU Law School that will focus on this concern.

"John Grisham’s novels have captivated millions," said Lawrence Hellman, dean of the Law School. "But his lone nonfiction work, ‘The Innocent Man,’ has brought to public attention the fact that erroneous convictions happen more often in America than we would like to admit.

"We know of 18 such cases in Oklahoma and more than 240 nationally. Mr. Grisham’s appearance was dedicated to raising awareness about the disturbing frequency of such mistakes and to raise the funds necessary for law schools to train students how to minimize such mistakes in the future, and how to rectify those that have yet to be discovered."