http://www.tv.com/john-grisham/person/1 ... raphy.html
John Grisham - From A time to Kill's Author's Note
"One day I stumbled upon a horrible trial in which a young girl testified against a man who brutally raped her. It was a gut wrenching experience for me, and I was only a spectator. One moment she was courageous, the next pitifully frail. I was mesmerised. I could not imagine the nightmare she and her family had been through. I wondered what I would do if she was my daughter. As I watched the jury, I wanted personally to shoot the rapist. For one brief yet interminable moment, I wanted to be her father. I wanted justice. ...I became obsessed with the idea of a father's retribution. What would a jury of average people do to such a father ? Naturally there would be a great deal of sympathy, but would there be enough for an acquittal ?"
It was so "gut-wrenching" that he changed the rapist's ethnicity from black to White.
FACTS
On July 11, 1984, Julie Scott, 16 years old, and Marcie Scott, her twelve-year-old sister, were forcibly raped and badly beaten in their home in Southhaven, DeSoto County, Mississippi. The young girls were the only ones at home on the afternoon of that day. About 2 p.m. Julie was in the bathroom, about to take a shower, and Marcie was in her bedroom. Julie heard a loud banging noise at the front door, and, wrapped only in a towel, she left the bathroom and went to determine the cause of the noise.
She discovered a young black man, approximately six (6) feet in height, wearing a green shirt and cut-off tan pants climbing through the shattered front-door window. The trespasser had a silver pistol in his hand. Julie screamed and attempted to lock herself in the bathroom, but was overpowered by the man. Marcie, hearing Julie's scream, started for her bedroom door, but was met there by Julie and her assailant. At gunpoint, he forced the girls into Marcie's bedroom. Over the next thirty minutes to one hour, he raped and beat both girls. While he assaulted one girl, he kept the other locked in the bedroom closet.
After the assailant raped Julie, he forced her to lead him through the house where he gathered money and other valuables. During this time, he repeatedly struck Julie on her head with his pistol. Julie collapsed, lapsing in and out of consciousness, but the beating did not cease. As she lay on the floor, the assailant stabbed her some twenty (20) times in the head, neck, back and abdomen with a long barbecue fork.
As Julie lay unconscious, the assailant took Marcie from the bedroom closet and beat her about the head with the butt of a shotgun that he had found in the house. The beating continued until the stock of the shotgun splintered into pieces. Marcie was then choked with a bed sheet until she lost consciousness.
Upon regaining consciousness, Marcie checked on her sister Julie and then went next door to the home of Mrs. Barbara Jones for help. Marcie was so bloody, bruised and beaten that Mrs. Jones did not even recognize her as her nextdoor neighbor. Finally, when she did determine Marcie's identity, Mrs. Jones let her in the house, sat her down, tried to help and called the police, an ambulance service, her husband, and the girls' parents. She then locked the front door of her house, took a pistol and went next door to see about Julie.
Mrs. Jones found the Scott house in disarray. The front door had been broken in. Blood was in Marcie's bedroom, on the floor, on the bed, in the living room, and in every part of the house where the assailant had taken the girls. She found Julie sitting on the commode in the bathroom, unclothed, bloody, practically all over, and
semi-conscious. The commode bowl was red with blood. Blood was on the telephones where Marcie tried to call out.
The police, the Scott parents and ambulance arrived. Marcie was able to provide the police with a description of their assailant before she was taken to the hospital. The description was relayed to the dispatcher for police broadcast. After hearing the description given by Marcie Scott of the assailant, DeSoto County Sheriff James Albert Riley proceeded to Southhaven to investigate. While cruising the area, Sheriff Riley was approached by two unnamed men who claimed to have seen a young black man fitting the description of the Scott girls' assailant. They led Sheriff Riley to the home of Bobbie Jean Harris, mother of appellant Willie James Harris.
Appellant was at the house, and Sheriff Riley, joined by Southhaven Police Officer Bud Smith, briefly questioned appellant concerning the rape of the two Scott girls and the clothing described by Marcie. He denied any knowledge of the crimes and ownership of either a green shirt or tan cut-off pants, which Marcie said the assailant was wearing. About this time, a green shirt and bloody tan cut-off pants were produced from the house, either by the appellant's mother or aunt and were given to the police. The appellant was then placed under arrest and was advised of his Miranda rights.
On July 11, 1984, at approximately 6:40 p.m. appellant signed a waiver of rights form witnessed by Investigator Thomas McCloud and Deputy Sheriff Ray Richardson. Appellant then gave a confession in the presence of the above two officers and Deputy Sheriff Jack McCauley. The statement was tape recorded, transcribed and signed by appellant.
At approximately 1:30 p.m., on July 12, 1984, appellant signed another waiver of rights form which was witnessed by Investigator Jack Bartholemew and Investigator Jimmy Radford. Again, he gave a statement of confession to the assault and rape of the two Scott girls.
On August 15, 1984, an indictment was returned by the DeSoto County Grand Jury charging appellant Harris with the forcible rape of Marcie Scott in violation of MCA § 97-3-65(2). Beginning October 30, 1984, appellant was tried on that charge, and on November 1, 1984, after deliberating forty (40) minutes, the jury returned a verdict finding appellant guilty as charged and sentencing him to life imprisonment without the benefit of parole under MCA § 99-19-81.
http://www.leagle.com/decision/19891862 ... 1325_11825