This is a true crime story alright, one with the cruelest twist. The criminals are the police officers and the Virginia injustice system.
When innocent citizens are kidnapped off the streets or from their home in America it is a high crime. When done so by the County Attorney's office it is called an arrest, yet no less of a crime and extreme tragedy for the victims and their families.
And the media, fed only one side of the story, add to the misery by 'reporting the lies' as facts. They always claim that they verify stories with two sources yet rarely, if ever ask the accused one question.
The events and documentation laid out in Actual Innocence may be a 'one in a million' kind of event but it continues to happen far to often in our criminal justice systems. We read books like this and shake our heads in disbelief. Upon arrest, the innocent too shake their heads in disbelief, and at their initial appearance in court, at the bail hearing that was denied, at the public defenders who always advise: just take the plea deal. And at sentencing, usually 20 years to life because they refused the plea deal Not admitting to a crime they didn't commit is viewed by the judge as being a hard core criminal: not an innocent.
When the innocent wake up in prison that first depressing morning they become a believer, problem is, no one believed them.