Summary: Chapters 17–20

After firing Boston attorney Alan Black, in Chapter 17, “God’s Best Lawyer,” Hinton contacts Bryan Stevenson and requests that he come to the prison to meet him. He calls Stevenson the next day, and they have a short conversation. Months later, Stevenson visits the prison in person, and Hinton learns Stevenson is a Black man about the same age as himself. Hinton tells Stevenson his full story, while Stevenson listens to him intently, wanting to hear “every idea” Hinton has. Hinton is surprised when Stevenson is receptive to his suggestions. One is that they hire a racist white ballistics expert to retest the bullets, as long as he is an honest man.

In Chapter 18, “Testing the Bullets,” Hinton finally accepts that Holman Prison is his home, but he does not give up hopes of freedom, even though “hope can be a four-letter word in prison.” As Stevenson visits, the two get to know each other and become friends as well as attorney and client. Stevenson begins to build a case by chasing down all the leads that Perhacs and previous attorneys ignored. He also brings the case to the attention of the general public, thus adding pressure to the state of Alabama to reverse the unjust conviction.

Chapter 19, “Empty Chairs,” opens with the state refusing to recognize its mistake, 16 years after Hinton’s conviction. Hinton now recognizes the refusal as a concerted effort to frame an innocent man for murder. Stevenson must fight just for the court to agree to a hearing to reconsider the evidence. At the hearing, in 2002, Stevenson delivers an impassioned speech before Judge Garrett, who seems stubbornly unwilling to consider the new evidence. Meanwhile, the prison book club loses members, leaving empty chairs in the meeting room where executed prisoners used to sit. The prisoners also have “bootleg book club” discussions in which they yell at each other about books while in their cells.

In Chapter 20, “Dissent,” Hinton is devastated to learn his mother has died of cancer. Not even his imagination can soothe his grief from losing the most important person in his life. However, both guards and prisoners alike do their best to console him, while he imagines his mother’s voice scolding him for considering suicide. As the appeals process drags on, Hinton’s case is brought to the Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals, where two of the five judges dissent and rule in his favor. Although his appeal is again defeated, for the first time two judges have shown they believe he is innocent.

Analysis: Chapters 17–20

These chapters serve as an emotional microcosm of the entire book in that they show how Hinton constantly glides through peaks of hope and pits of despair. His genial influence shows in death row as the guards treat him with kindness and respect, while the other prisoners look up to him as a leader. Between the guards telling Hinton that he isn’t like the other death row prisoners and the two judges dissenting in his favor, Hinton finally begins to feel support from within the system. Meanwhile, in Bryan Stevenson he finally finds an attorney who is supportive, driven, and skilled enough to give him real hope of exoneration. While Stevenson’s race isn’t dwelled on much, it likely explains why Hinton feels comfortable enough to befriend him in a way he never did with his other attorneys. Also, as a Black man, Stevenson is better equipped to understand the racial bias Hinton has faced throughout his time in the hands of the legal system.

However, while Stevenson inspires new hope, the death of his mother sends Hinton into one of his lowest moments. Hinton has always defined himself around his mother and as his mother’s son. When Buhlar Hinton dies of cancer, he suddenly loses a large part of his identity as well as the pillar of his morality. For the first time in his confinement, Hinton seriously considers suicide, and not even his rich imagination can help him at first. But this ideation is short lived as he imagines his mother speaking to him from heaven and through the voice of another inmate. His mother’s voice reminds him that she raised him not to give up, even in the face of impossible odds. Hinton also experiences the reward for his selfless efforts to help others in the prison, as the other inmates and—shockingly—the guards all do their best to console him and cheer him up.