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| John Ray Grisham Jr. |
Introducing the Novelist
- John Ray Grisham (born February 8, 1955) was an American novelist, lawyer/attorney, politician, activist and author
- He is best known for his popular legal thrillers
- Grisham graduated from Mississippi State University
- He received a J. D. degree from the University of Mississippi School of Law in 1981
- He practiced criminal law for about a decade and served in the Mississippi House of Representatives from January 1984 to Sep. 1990.
Setting of the Novel: (Can be taken as multiple settings)
i. Waverly Creek
Waverly Creek is a quiet community only two miles east of the city named Strattenburg. The city has three golf courses, the golf shop, tennis courts, driving range. The Duffy (Peter Duffy and Myra Duffy) home was a new, less than three years old, and it was on a wooded lot that backed up to the golf course. The house had heavy gates, guardhouse and security cameras. Because of the trees, the house was barely visible from the street. It was Thursday when Mrs. Duffy had a luncheon date at noon with her sister. She was killed when she was about to leave.
ii. Courtroom: Judge Gantry, defense table, where Mr. Duffy, the man accused of murder, will be seated. Next to the defense table is the prosecution table. Lawyers, paralegals, jury box having fourteen chairs – twelve for the jurors and two for the alternates. The court reporter with a machine called stenograph, balcony with three long benches.
Chapter I
Theodore Boone was an only child of busy lawyers. Thirteen-year-old boy Theo spent more time in the court. He usually had cold cereal and orange juice as a breakfast alone because his father was in the habit of leaving early and his mother had been going on a diet (only coffee as breakfast). There was a dog that ate sitting beside Theo's chair. Theo went to school at 8:00 am. His mother (worked at Family court/ a famous divorce lawyer) asked him if he had lunch money and asked him to smile to make the world a happier place.
The County Courthouse
It was the largest building in downtown Strattenburg. It was on the north side of Main Street, halfway between a bridge over the river and a park. Some courtroom was small where more private matters were handled without juries. The main courtroom was on the second floor where lawyers baffled like gladiators and judges ruled like kings.
Aim of Theo
· One day he dreamed of being a famous trial lawyer, one who handled the biggest cases
· The next day he dreamed of being a great judge, noted for his wisdom and fairness.
His friend (April Finnemore)
· She was sitting on one of the old wooden benches of courtroom, small and frail and nervous.
· They sat very closely because they were close friends since they could remember.
· Her parents were divorcing (father: eccentric antiques dealer and drummer, mother: raised goats and made goat cheese)
· Her older brother named August and an older sister named March. They left the family (August: after graduation from high school and March: at the age of 16)
· She doesn't want to live with either one of her parents but she wants her aunt Pen in Denver.
Some people
· Gantry: Theo’s favorite judge (had been a judge about 20 years / handled only criminal cases)
· Mrs. Hardy: Theo's favorite secretary in the court house
· Jenny: Theo's favorite clerk over in Family Court
Chapter II
This chapter starts with the description of Theo's way from courthouse to the middle school (takes fifteen minutes). Theo went to school on his bike as usual. He worried about April even when he was in the class. Most of classmates dreamed of getting tickets to the big game or concert but he lived for the big trials.
Madam Monique
· Teaches Spanish (From Cameroon). She is tall and dark
· She had moved to Strattenburg three years earlier
· She had grown up speaking Beti, her tribal dialect). She speaks French and English (the official languages of Cameroon)
· Her classroom was filled with large, colorful maps of the world
· Her students believed she had been everywhere, seen everything and could speak any language
· She encouraged her students to explore many languages.
Mr. Mount
· He may be in his mid-thirties
· He had once worked as a lawyer in Chicago.
· His father and grandfather had been lawyers and judge and his brother was a lawyer too
· He thought of himself as a lawyer though he loved teaching and he considered the classroom far more important than the courtroom.
· He was good at law and spent most of his class time for case discussion
Theo' presentation
· Mr. Mount informed his students that they would go to the court as a field trip the next day
· He asked Theo to set the court's stage that they were going to watch.
· Theo presented the stage using overhead projector in detail:
Ø bench (at the center)
Ø defense table (where Mr. Duffy, the man accused of murdering his own wife would seat)
Ø Clifford Nance (probably the top criminal lawyer in that part of the state)
Ø prosecution's table
Ø the lead prosecutor (Jack Hogan's photo) also known as the district attorney
Ø jury box, seats for other lawyers and paralegals
Ø seat for reporter (Sorata), witness chair
Chapter 3
Mr. Boone (Woods Boone) and Mrs. Boone had a law firm. It was an old converted house on Park Street. Woods Boone's office was on the second floor. He was slob and his office were wreck. He was a real estate lawyer. He had a habit of smoking.
Theo and his friend Sandy Coe talked about foreclosure, bankruptcy and mortgage. Theo seemed to be a resource person/counselor in their talk.
Elsa
Full name is Elsa Miller. She is old and worked for the Boones. She was the receptionist, secretary, office manager and paralegal
Chapter 4
In the same building, there are:
Probate court, Family court, Criminal Court, Small claims, Drug, Animal, Civil, bankruptcy and so on.
Jenny
Theo hoped to find April but he found beautiful Jenny. He liked her very much but she was married and pregnant. They talked about Mr. Duffy. Jenny thought he was guilty but Theo said, "He is presumed to be innocent."
Talk between Ike (Theo's uncle, tax lawyer) and Theo
According to Ike, there was no proof, no evidence that Mr. Duffy killed his wife and it was a tough case for the prosecution. He put the idea what claim could be made by the prosecutor: Mr. Duffy choked her, ransacked the house, took her jewelry, tried to make it took as if she walked in on a burglar.
Chapter 5
This chapter begins with the scene of the court where Judge Gantry is ready to proceed. Everyone – spectators, jurors, lawyers, clerks, all the participants, is present in the court. The matter is state versus Mr. Duffy. Mr. Hogan was a career prosecutor who handled the major cases in Strattenburg. He was tall, wiry, bald and wore black suit every day.
The judge addressed the jury and said that they were selected previous week. He gave specific instructions that they were not allowed to discuss that case with anyone. He warned them that if anyone tried to approach them and discuss the case, then they were to notify him. He said that both sides would have the opportunity to address the jury directly and make an opening statement; a summary of each side’s version of what happened. He said that the state had burden of proving guilt, the state would always go first.
Mr. Jack Hogan introduced Myra Duffy (the victim): she was 46 when she was murdered. The cause of her death was strangulation She had two sons 'Will' and 'Clark'. Her husband had been killed in a plane crash. Mr. Duffy was her second husband. Her dead body found in the living room Waverly Creek. It was a new house on a wooded lot that backed up to the golf course. When her body was found, the front door of their home was unlocked and slightly open. Someone had taken her jewelry from her closet, a set of antique watches owned by Mr. Duffy, three handguns from a drawer. The estimated value of the missing loot was about thirty thousand dollars.
Mr. Hogan's Presentation: Mrs. Duffy was lying on the chapter floor, well dressed, seemingly untouched, her high heeled shoes still on her feet. He explained that on the day was she was murdered, a Thursday, she had had a luncheon date at noon with her sister. Apparently, she was ready to leave the house when she was attacked and killed. The murderer then went through the house, took the items that were missing. Her sister began calling. She came there because her sister didn't receive10 calls and found her dead. Mr. Hogan explained that there was no sign of struggle, no broken fingernails, no scratches, nothing because Mrs. Duffy knew the killer. His indication was that the killer was her own husband.
None of the neighbors saw any strange vehicles and strangers walking too. Nothing unusual reported.
An autopsy revealed that true cause of death. The person who killed Mrs. Duffy grabbed her from behind and pressed firmly on her carotid artery. Mr. Hogan placed his fingers against his own carotid artery, on the right side of his neck. He explains that if someone gets pressed firmly for 10 seconds in just the right place, the he/she (victim) loses consciousness. He did so to show how Mrs. Duffy was killed. According to him, Once Mrs. Duffy passed out, her killer kept pressing, firmer and firmer, and sixty seconds later she was dead.
On the day of murder, Mr. Duffy played golf alone as usual. Mr. Hogan claimed that Mr. Peter Duffy was the killer. He killed her for life insurance money and also their relation was not good.
Mr. Hogan claimed that it was perfectly planned and carefully executed murder. He further said that Mr. Duffy began playing golf alone only after when he bought the life insurance policy.
Defense lawyer, Clifford Nance started defending by saying that there was no evidence, no witness and no crime-scene proof. According to him, Mr. Hogan just played the 'Maybe Games'. He said that Mr. Hogan had no alternative to do this. Mr. Nance attempted to protect Mr. Duffy by claiming that he was innocent. He put forward his logic that a thief unexpected encountered Myra Duffy, attacked her with his hands because he had no weapon. In this way, he became a murderer. Mr. Nance admitted that the Duffys had struggled with their marriage and they had separated on more than one occasion but they'd never filed for divorce.
Questions:
What is the murder motive??
Discuss ‘Half the Man Twice the Lawyer’ as the story of perfect murder.
What was the cause of death of Myra Duffy?
Who killed Myra Duffy? What was she killed for?
Do you think Peter Duffy killed his wife? Justify in reference to the text.
Discuss Mr. Clifford Nance is a perfect defense lawyer.
Mr. Hogan placed fingers against his own carotid artery. Why did he do so?
Chapter 6
This chapter begins with the talk between Mr. Mount (the teacher) and the boys (students) and between the boys. Most of them thought Mr. Duffy was not guilty except Theo and few others.
They saw walking Mr. Duffy, Clifford Nance, two other solemn faced lawyers and a fifth man Theo had not seen in the courtroom that morning but one he knew well. Hi name was Omar Cheepe (Theo heard Omar Cheepe described as 'an armed thug' and a man who enjoyed breaking the law'). Peter Duffy was laughing whom Theo thought the murderer. Judge Gantry talked with sixteen boys including Theo when he told that first potential witness was Emily Green, Mrs. Duffy's sister who found the dead body.
New facts emerged fingerprint tests found matches throughout the house for Mr. Duffy, Mrs. Duffy and their housekeeper. This meant one of two things:
i. the thief/murderer wore gloves or carefully wiped away any prints or
ii. the thief/murderer was either Mr. Duffy or the housekeeper. The housekeeper was not at work on the day of the murder. she was out of town with her husband.
Chapter 7
This chapter talks about the people living in Strattenburg. Many of them are homeless and poor. his parents asked Theo to skip school because he was not feeling well but to go to the court to watch Duffy trial. Theo's thoughts kept switching back and forth, from April to the Duffy murder trial.
Chapter 8
This chapter begins with the conversation between Theodore Boone and Julio. They talked about Mr. Duffy who was on a trial for murder. the records proved that Mr. Duffy's car was at home when his wife was murdered.
Chapter 9
Julio said that he had a cousin, from EI Salvador. He was about 18/19 years old. He worked at the golf course, are where the lady was murdered. According to Julio his cousin saw the man going inside the house, taking off his golf shoes, wearing white glove on his left hand. The man put his golf shoes by the door, pulled out another glove from his pocket and wore quickly on his right hands. When the man came out of the house, he looked around, very suspiciously, to make sure no one saw him. He didn't know his cousin was watching. the man came out of the same door. He walked around the patio for a minute, looked up and down the fairway, and as he was doing this, he removed both gloves and stuffed them in his golf bag. He put his shoes on, then hopped in his golf cart and took off.
In the afternoon, the police came and everyone heard that a woman had been murdered.
Chapter 10
This chapter shows various activities by Theo, Julio and his cousin. At first, the cousin didn't want talk to Theo because he was very much nervous. He was afraid to tell anything to Theo about what he saw in the murder day. Theo and Julio convinced the cousin to tell it to Theo telling him that he would tell it to no none. Theo had printed a color Google Earth Search map of the Creek course, and marked the Duffy home. The cousin told the story in Spanish and Julio interpreted to Theo. The cousin described the frenzy around the golf course after the police showed up and gossip. According to one of his friends, a kid from Honduras who waited tables in the clubhouse grill, Mr. Duffy was having a late lunch and a drink when he got the news that his wife had been found. Theo didn't tell anything about the cousin thinking that the cousin would be picked up by the police, dragged into court, forced to testify, then detained as an illegal migrant, they would put him in jail and in some sort of detention center.
Chapter 11
Theo talked with his uncle, Ike. He told his uncle that there was someone who knew something about Duffy murder. At the meantime, he informed his uncle that he wouldn’t tell anyone about the person as he had promised not to tell anyone about him. He was confused whether to tell this to his parents or not as his parents were ethical. He thought that his parents would force him to tell the truth in the court. On the other hand, Judge Gantry was about to give the case to jury and Jury was about to declare that Mr. Duffy was not guilty because of the lack of witness/ roof. He wanted to stop it as he knew that Pete Duffy was cold –blood murderer.
At the end of this chapter, Mr. Mount asked Theo to give the class an update on the Duffy trial. Theo explained that the prosecution was attempting to prove that Mr. and Mrs. Duffy had been through a rocky marriage and that they had almost filed for divorce two years earlier. Theo didn’t open his laptop for he was hacking into the court reporter’s site (it wasn’t a crime, but definitely something wrong with it). Theo tries to convince Ike that Peter Duffy is guilty. He says that jurors also do not like Mr. Duffy but they lack proof to convict him.
Questions
What is a mistrial?
A judge in a criminal trial has the authority to declare a mistrial if the judge thinks that something improper has occurred. It gives a few examples: a juror gets contacted by someone with an interest in the outcome; an important witness gets sick or can’t testify for some reason; key evidence disappears.
In this novel, judge Gantry declare mistrial explaining that a mistrial means that the trail is over. He said that the charges against Mr. Duffy are dismissed, but only for the moment. The charge will be filed again. Thus, a mistrial is a dismissal of an ongoing trial by the judge in a criminal trial to avoid improper verdict. In the novel, a cold-blooded killer Mr. Peter Duffy is going to walk free in the lack of witness, evidence and proof, so the judge declares the mistrial after he comes to know that there is a faceless witness.
Chapter 12
the most popular girl in eighth grade was Hallie. She was very cute and outgoing and loved to flirt. She was good at tennis too. Theo helped her making her dog free from custody that was picked up by Animal court for the second offense. While they returned from the court, Hallie told him that he was a good lawyer. Theo thought his life was very complicated because of girls, murder trails, and secret witness.
Chapter 13
Theo's uncle Ike talked to Theo about the jury and what verdict the jury could reach. Ike thought that the jury was about to make the wrong decision on the basis of evidence. He thought system doesn't always work.
Julio was very nervous because he saw policemen in the golf course. He thought that Theo had told about his cousin to the policemen and they were searching him but it wasn't so.
Chapter 14
Theo had an online chat with April and went to sleep with various things in mind about Duffy trial. He couldn't sleep well. He couldn't touch the gloves (they were worn by Mr. Duffy). They should be examined. There could be Mrs. Duffy's skin, or her hair, or even have DNA from her Mrs. Duffy's sweat.
Chapter 15
Theo made his parents know that there was a witness for the Duffy trial and his mother asked him to tell who he was but Theo denied because he had promised his friend (witness) that he wouldn't tell anyone. He said that the witness was in the woods (jungle) near the Duffy home at the time of murder. Theo informed his parents that the witness was and illegal migrant, so he didn't want to tell about him and his parents agreed and advised him not to tell it to anyone.
Chapter 16
Mr. and Mrs. Boone wanted to inform the Judge about witness at break. Theo could see that Pete Duffy was confident, almost certain that the court was on his favor and the jury would find him not guilty. Mrs. Boone informed the Judge that there was a witness who was hiding, unknown to the police, the prosecutors and defense too. Theo informed the judge that he knew the witness but he'd promised he wouldn't tell his name.
Chapter 17
Jurors had taken steps and the courtroom was quiet. The judge asked Mr. Nance to call the last witness. The defense called Mr. Peter Duffy himself. The witness (Mr. Duffy) explained that he was firm believer in life insurance. He further said that when he married his second wife Myra, he insisted on purchasing life insurance and she agreed. $1 million policies had been her idea. Mr. Duffy admitted that some of his real estate deals had gone sour, that some of the were squeezing him, that he'd lost a few partners and made some mistakes. Mr. Nance moved to Duffy's marital troubles, here again the witness did a fine job. He admitted things had been rocky and they had gone to marriage counselors, they consulted different divorce lawyers. There had been fights too but non-violent. These ideas made him believable. Mr. Nance said that Mr. Duffy played golf with friends and even with his son, for his business but he preferred alone.
According to Theo, there were four people in the court who knew who had killed Mrs. Duffy; Theo, his dad, Ike and Mr. Peter Duffy. Mr. Nance told that when Mr. Duffy found his dead body he collapsed and had to be assisted by the detective and he was seen by a doctor and given some medication. Theo thought he was the best liar. Mr. Duffy was pretending to be weeping saying 'I'm sorry', I'm sorry'. Theo watched the faces of the jurors. He could read total sympathy and belief on their faces.
Chapter 18
Theo slept well for the first time several nights. they talk about several things while playing golf. Theo's dad told hi that he and his wife were thinking of sponsoring Julio's cousin to make legal. They knew that Pete Duffy was watching them playing golf with his binoculars.
Chapter 19
Theo asked Julio to convince his cousin to tell what he saw when Mr. Duffy was killed. He convinced Julio telling both his parents were lawyers and they were ready to take steps to sponsor his cousin, Bobby so that he could be legal. He advised Julio to talk to Julio's mother and both of them talk to Bobby. He said that his cousin should come forward and to tell the truth to the Judge. He said that he wouldn't go to jail.
Chapter 20
Julio phoned Theo telling that he had talked to his cousin Bobby and told him what Theo had proposed. He said that Bobby was too scared. There were police checking papers and looking for trouble. They took two boys from Guatemala, both illegal. Bobby thought the police were after him. Theo asked them to meet at Truman Park by the carousel. Theo asked Julio, Bobby and Theo stayed together. Bobby hadn't told any anything about being a witness of the murder but he was very much scared.
Chapter 21
The Boones met Judge Gantry. Theo was very close to him. He talked various things connected to Duffy trail. He talked to him about witness and showed photos duly taken when they were in the golf course. Some of the photos clearly showed where the witness was at the time of murder and how he easily could see the man going into the house and coming out of it. After a talk between judge Gantry and the Boones, the judge was sure that Pete Duffy was guilty. The judge gave words to the Boones that Bobby wouldn't go to jail. Though they were sure Pete Duffy was murder, Bobby couldn't say that he was the man who entered the Duffy home at the time of murder because he hadn't seen him before. Theo showed photo after photo Bobby identified the man by his dress. it was Pete Duffy.
Chapter 22
It was Monday morning for the final drama. Jurors were serious and lawyers wore their finest suit and appeared fresh willing to get their verdict. The defendant looked confident. Contrary to their expectation, Judge Gantry gave a formal greeting and informed that he was declaring a mistrial. He further explained to jury members that a mistrial means that the trail is over. He said that charges against Mr. Peter Duffy were dismissed but only for the moment. The charges would be filed again, there would be another trail in the near future but with a different jury. He said, “In any criminal trial, judge has the absolute discretion (freedom to make own judgment) to declare a mistrial when he believes that something has happened that might adversely affect the final verdict. Such is the case now."
The jurors were thoroughly bewildered, but some of them came to realize that their civic duty was over. A bailiff herded them through a side door. As they shuffled out, Theo watched and admired Judge Gantry. At the moment, Theo decided that he wanted to be a great judge, just like Judge Gantry. In this sense, the judge appeared to be the source of inspiration for Theodore Boone. For him, Judge Gantry was the one who knew law inside and out and believed in fairness, but, more importantly, a judge who could make the tough decision.
Stunned by the declaration of mistrial, the jurors wanted more information, but Judge Gantry informed that he would not explain his action at the moment. According to him, they would meet the following day in his own office where he would state his reasons. He wanted to the charges over Peter Duffy refiled as soon as possible. He would schedule the retrial for the third week in June. He adjourned the court and vanished.
