A Time For Mercy

“The fact that he was dead was a relief to both of them and they felt fear but no remorse.”

This passage occurs after Drew shoots and kills Stuart and demonstrates how Josie and Kiera feel relieved knowing he can’t hurt them anymore. This relief shows the violent circumstances the teens were living in and the conflict between them and Stuart. Unfortunately, this passage is ironic because Drew killed Stuart thinking his mother was dead when she is still alive. Drew will never say he regrets killing Stuart, even as he goes on trial for capital murder.

“When I was a kid here it was still used by the Klan for meetings that were not so secret. We may be living in 1990, but the people who shop and dine at Sawdust, along with those who sit by the old iron stove in the wintertime and tell n***** jokes, and those who chew tobacco on the front porch and spit on the gravel as they whittle and play checkers, are not the kind of people I want to hang with.”

This excerpt references the racial tension still present in Clanton. When Ozzie and Tatum go to breakfast, Tatum suggests a café known for its racism against Black people in the past. Once the men are seated, Ozzie sees pictures of professional football players on the walls. The café doesn’t display Ozzie’s because of his race. This image of a Black sheriff still facing racism in 1990 demonstrates the novel’s volatile setting.

“His Presbyterian brethren were considered a bit more tolerant than the fundamentalists down the street—the Baptists and Pentecostals who loved the death penalty—but judging by the thirst for vengeance in the small classroom Jake figured the boy who killed Stu Kofer was headed to the gas chamber at Parchman.”

Religion is a central motif in the novel, sometimes portraying the downside of religious convictions and sometimes the upside of living them. In this instance, Grisham demonstrates that the Clanton populace has firm ideals about the death penalty with little regard for sympathy and circumstances. This lack of compassion adds tension and suspense to the trial later in the novel.

“Ozzie will want a big trial because one of his boys is dead. Everybody’s up for reelection next year so it’s a perfect moment to get tough on crime.”

Like religion, politics is a recurring motif in the novel. This passage shows that some key characters—such as Noose, Ozzie, and Lowell Dyer—are up for re-election next year. This fact makes other characters and readers question how politics affects other characters’ behavior and decisions.

“I seldom do. Sure, you’ll take some heat for defending an unpopular client, but what the hell? Most of my clients were unpopular, but that didn’t mean they were bad people. I didn’t care what these yokels thought about me or them. I had a job to do and it was completely unrelated to the gossip in the coffee shops and churches. They may talk about you behind your back but when they get in trouble they’ll want a lawyer who knows how to fight, and fight dirty if necessary.”

One of Jake’s significant character developments is moving beyond what other people think and doing what he feels is best for himself and his client. Lucien makes this statement to Jake during one of their many conversations, and he is trying to teach Jake what it takes to be a successful lawyer. Lessons like this are likely why Jake names his adopted son after Lucien.

“It was a heartbreaking image that he would never forget. Two little people facing nothing but fear and the wrath of the system, a mother and daughter who’d done nothing wrong but were suffering mightily. They had no voice, no one to protect them. No one but Jake. A voice told him that they, along with Drew, would be a part of his life for years to come.”

Jake experiences significant internal conflict about staying on as Drew’s defense lawyer. The more he gets to know Drew and his family, the more obligated he feels to stay. This passage also foreshadows Jake’s connection with the Gambles, especially once he and Carla adopt Kiera’s baby.

“And why is he dead? Is he dead because he came home drunk and fell asleep and this stupid kid thought it would be fun to blow his brains out? No. Is he dead because his girlfriend wanted his money? No, Marshall. He’s dead because he had the bad habit of gettin’ bombed and punchin’ her around and her boy tried to protect her. This will be an ugly trial, boys, so just get ready for it.”

Ozzie makes this statement in a meeting with some of his deputies, acknowledging that Stuart was not the innocent victim Clanton is making him out to be. When he references Stuart’s behavior, the sheriff implicates Stuart’s responsibility in the domestic violence that led to his death. Ozzie also foreshadows how difficult the trial will be and how the town’s citizens will fight to ensure Drew is brought to justice.

“‘You want sympathy, Jake?’ Jake took a deep breath and studied his friend. ‘No.’ Ozzie turned to leave and said, ‘When you get the chance, ask that kid why he pulled the trigger.’ ‘He thought his mother was dead.’ ‘Well, he was wrong, wasn’t he?’ ‘Yes he was. So let’s kill him, too.’ Jake held the envelope and watched the sheriff disappear around the corner.”

This passage demonstrates the conflict between characters when they find themselves on opposite sides of the Gamble case. Initially, Ozzie feels sympathy for Drew but resists it out of loyalty to his dead deputy. Jake, however, feels more sympathy for the teen the more he works on the case. Jake also sees the injustice of killing Drew in a gas chamber because he killed the man he believes killed his mother.

“She was just a gossip who could now boast to her friends that she had bumped into Jake Brigance and dressed him down in public for representing such a despicable killer. She would no doubt expand the story, lunch on it for the next month, and gain the admiration of her friends.”

When Jake goes to his daughter’s school and talks with another parent about Drew’s case, he demonstrates the pervasive gossip that is a hallmark of his small-town community. This gossip initially affects Jake and makes him more timid in his practice, yet as his character develops, he learns to ignore the gossip and stops caring about what others think. This passage also demonstrates how valuable gossip is in a small community and how it boosts those who gossip in the eyes of other community members.

When Jake goes to his daughter’s school and talks with another parent about Drew’s case, he demonstrates the pervasive gossip that is a hallmark of his small-town community. This gossip initially affects Jake and makes him more timid in his practice, yet as his character develops, he learns to ignore the gossip and stops caring about what others think. This passage also demonstrates how valuable gossip is in a small community and how it boosts those who gossip in the eyes of other community members.

This excerpt is one example of Grisham’s using pathetic fallacy to link the novel’s setting to the characters’ mood and attitude. In this case, Grisham matches the mood of Stuart’s funeral to the gloomy weather that was so nice only a week before. This shift in weather symbolizes how the Kofers’ attitude has shifted since Stuart’s death.

“‘The sooner the better,’ Josie said. ‘I want this mess behind us.’ ‘It’s not going away with the trial, Josie.’”

One strength of Josie’s character is her willingness to take responsibility for her life choices. At this point, Josie wants to move on from her time with Stuart, hoping to start over in Oxford, far enough from Clanton that no one will know her, her children, or Drew’s trial. However, she naively thinks that life will return to normal after the trial. Because of Kiera’s pregnancy and the Gambles’ trauma, Jake foreshadows that the family will continue to deal with the fallout of living with Stuart for some time.

“Side by side, cop killer and lawyer. Each as guilty as the other.”

Many community members feel Jake is wrong to defend Drew, regardless of Drew’s age, living with domestic violence, and mental state. Many who live in Clanton have a black-and-white mindset about law enforcement: A police officer can do no wrong, so Drew must simply be a ne’er-do-well who deserves the most the Mississippi justice system can give. They are unsympathetic to the circumstances surrounding Stuart’s death and only want Drew held accountable for murdering a police officer. Because Jake is defending a cop killer, the citizens see him as just as guilty and go to varying lengths to demonstrate their disapproval, including threatening phone calls and physical violence.

“The law practice was crumbling around them. The bank wanted money. Smallwood, their pot of gold, had become another kind of train wreck. The Gamble trial was two months away and loomed like its own execution date. As their income fell, their debts climbed and seemed insurmountable.”

As Jake works to build Drew’s defense for trial, he’s also struggling to keep the Smallwood case going after his debacle with Neal Nickel and the significant debt accrued from his work on Smallwood. Thus, Jake works under constant conflict and stress from multiple avenues, which heightens the story’s resolution because he’s ultimately able to overcome all of these to his benefit.

“He wanted to suggest that she go hire herself another lawyer. He had his hands full with her son, and that would probably drive himself into bankruptcy. He had never agreed to represent her. On the contrary, he had been strong-armed into defending Drew. But he was the family’s lawyer and there was no way out of it.”

After working on Drew’s case for a few weeks, Jake realizes that by defending Drew, he’s also supporting Josie and Kiera. Jake didn’t want the case, so his internal conflict increases as Josie becomes more demanding of his time and resources. However, Jake understands that he’s the only lawyer willing to help this family, and the more he learns about them, the more sympathetic he becomes.

“She tried not to think about who the thugs were, but she knew the beating was related to Kofer. Five years earlier, the Klan had burned their home and taken a shot at Jake outside the courthouse during the Hailey affair. For three years they had lived with guns and extra security because the threats continued. She could not believe the violence was back.”

As Carla reflects on Jake’s attack, she remembers the violence done to her family during the Carl Lee Hailey trial. Carla’s flashback to the events recorded in A Time to Kill demonstrates Grisham’s connection between the two novels. This passage also shows the conflict the Brigances must endure while Jake defends another controversial client.

“Oddly enough, I don’t care about the Kofers right now, and I don’t care if Noose has a fit and Dyer has a stroke. Think about the jurors, Portia. Nothing matters but the jurors. How many of them will be shocked and angry when the truth comes out?”

One of Jake’s strengths as a lawyer is his ability to convince a jury, illustrated in A Time to Kill and this novel. This characteristic also establishes Jake as a foil to Lucien, a brilliant lawyer who failed at winning juries to his side. Because Jake knows how to successfully cater his argument toward the jury, he will likely continue winning his cases and become the famous trial lawyer he hopes to be.

“Josie began wiping her eyes as she looked at her pitiful little son. What a tragedy, what a mess, what a screwed-up life she had led her children into. She carried the burdens of a hundred bad decisions and ached with the guilt of being such a rotten mother.”

In this passage, Josie demonstrates her strength of character by acknowledging her role in Drew’s crime and her failure as a mother. This passage also shows Josie’s internal conflict, as she knows that she put her children in a violent, traumatic situation that leads to Stuart’s death and Drew’s indictment for capital murder. While Josie isn’t at fault for any of the violence, she still feels responsible for not doing better for her children and avoiding such a life-altering tragedy.

“Add politics to the mix, and Jake doubted Noose would show much sympathy for a cop killer. Leniency would be out of the question, regardless of the facts.”

One of the novel’s motifs relates to politics and their role in some characters’ behavior and choices. Judge Noose is one of these characters, as he is up for re-election next year. As a result, Noose sometimes allows the impending election to affect his judgment and how he lets the trial unfold. It also affects Jake’s work in Drew’s defense, as he knows he must cater to a judge preoccupied with an election instead of a teenager’s innocence.

“That’s your problem, Jake. You worry too much about this town and all the gossipmongers. To hell with them. Where are they now? Where are all these wonderful people when you need them? […] They’re all fickle and uninformed and none of them realize what it takes to be a real lawyer, Jake. You’ve been here for 12 years and you’re broke because you worry about what these people might say. None of them matter.”

One of Lucien’s strengths as a lawyer stems from his ability to ignore gossip and remain apathetic in the face of public opinion. On the other hand, Jake allows what others think to affect his actions. By the novel’s end, however, Jake applies Lucien’s advice to stop caring what others think. This change allows Jake to become a better lawyer and save Drew from a guilty verdict and the death penalty.

“Dyer took his time. He was playing his strongest hand and making the most of it.”

Courtroom drama is one of the hallmark attributes of a legal thriller. Lowell uses a rhetorical pause in this excerpt to add tension and suspense to his opening statement. By doing so, he knows he’s engaging the jury’s attention. Lowell and Jake both use other rhetorical tactics to appear more persuasive to the jury, hoping to win them over to their side.

“‘You were enduring these terrible attacks, yet you never sought help?’ ‘From who?’ ‘What about law enforcement? The police?’ Jake’s heart froze at the question. He was stunned by it, but prepared, as was his witness. With perfect timing and diction, Kiera looked at Dyer and said, ‘Sir, I was being raped by the police.’”

Kiera’s statement that she couldn’t ask the police for help because a police officer was raping her is one of the most poignant statements of Drew’s trial and the novel. Her statement illustrates her helplessness in the situation, making the jury more sympathetic to her and, by extension, Drew. It also taps into the novel’s theme of Loyalty and Justice and the fact that the police knew Stuart was violent and abusive yet did nothing.

“The girl’s testimony is the most dramatic moment I’ve ever witnessed in a courtroom. It surpasses even your closing argument in the Hailey trial.”

During the recess following Kiera’s testimony, Drew’s defense team discusses Jake’s work so far. Lucien compliments how Jake hid Kiera’s pregnancy and then used it and a well-prepared testimony to sway the jury. Lucien’s allusion to Jake’s trial in A Time to Kill also connects the two novels and makes the reader want to read the prequel and see Jake’s work in the Hailey trial and how it compares to this one.

“That’s nice to hear, Dell, but I really don’t care anymore. I’ve starved for 12 years because I’ve worried about the gossip. Those days are over. I’m tired of starving.”

Jake’s comment to Dell about no longer caring what others think marks a turning point in his character and demonstrates that Jake has changed. This change results from his work with Drew and the trial and establishes Jake as a dynamic character. This passage also foreshadows the likelihood that Jake’s practice will bring in more business and save him from the oppressive debt his current cases have put him under.