This proves true when, despite having no history of racist inclinations in his rulings, Noose refuses Jake's perfectly reasonable request for a change of venue, even though the racial make-up of Ford County virtually guarantees an all-white jury. It is claimed that the judge presiding over Carl Lee's trial, Omar 'Ichabod' Noose, has been intimidated by local white supremacist elements. The team also receives some illicit behind-the-scenes help from black county sheriff Ozzie Walls, a figure beloved by the black community and also well respected by the white community who upholds the law by arresting Carl Lee but, as the father of two daughters of his own, privately supports Carl Lee and gives him special treatment while in jail and goes out of the way to assist Jake in any way he legally can.Ĭarl Lee is prosecuted by Ford County's corrupt district attorney, Rufus Buckley, who hopes that the case will boost his political career. Ellen appears to be interested in Jake romantically, but the married Jake resists her overtures. Later, the team is assisted by liberal law student Ellen Roark, who has prior experience with death penalty cases and offers her services as a temporary clerk pro bono. Helping Jake are two loyal friends, disbarred attorney Lucien Wilbanks and sleazy divorce lawyer Harry Rex Vonner. Despite efforts to persuade Carl Lee to retain high-powered attorneys, he elects to be represented by Jake.

Carl Lee is determined to avenge Tonya and, while Pete and Billy Ray are being led into holding after their bond hearing, he kills both men with an M16 rifle.Ĭarl Lee is charged with capital murder. Jake tells Carl Lee not to do anything stupid, but admits that if it had been his daughter, he would kill the rapists. Tonya's distraught and outraged father, Carl Lee Hailey, consults his friend Jake Brigance, a white attorney who had previously represented Hailey's brother, on whether he could get himself acquitted if he killed the two men.

Tonya is later found and rushed to the hospital while Pete and Billy Ray are heard bragging at a roadside bar about their crime. In the small town of Clanton, in fictional Ford County, Mississippi, a ten-year-old African-American girl named Tonya Hailey is viciously raped and beaten by two white supremacists, James 'Pete' Willard and Billy Ray Cobb. A Time to Kill (Jake Brigance, #1), John GrishamĪ Time to Kill is a 1988 legal thriller by John Grisham.

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