Convicted, by Jameel McGee and Andrew Collins

Convicted is a really incredible (and true!) story.  Let me just start there.  I finished it yesterday, in my car after an appointment, because I couldn't bear waiting until I got home.  I have not been able to stop thinking or talking about it since.

Jameel McGee was an innocent young man who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.  Andrew Collins was a corrupt cop who was determined to make another drug arrest.  A falsified police report ensured McGee's "guilt," and he was ultimately sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.

The story is told, in alternating chapters, from both McGee's and Collins's points of view.  While McGee describes the horrors of being wrongfully convicted and incarcerated, as well as the violent anger that it caused, Collins honestly recounts his descent from eager young cop making some bad decisions, to the full-blown corruption that prompted an investigation, cost him his job, and eventually landed him in prison as well.

While the book reads like a gripping crime novel, it is really the ultimate story of forgiveness.  When Collins' crimes are brought to light, leading to McGee's full exoneration and release from prison - after four years! - the very last thing you'd expect would be for the two to become friends.  But that is exactly what happened.  Both men found their own paths to God, to redemption, and to forgiveness (both of self and others) and forged the most unlikely of relationships.

The story was superbly told, and while I immediately had compassion for Jameel McGee, I found myself having compassion for Andrew Collins as well.  Yes, he did utterly inexcusable things.  Yes, he put an innocent man in jail.  But never did I feel he was a bad person... just a person who let his ego take charge, and made some really terrible, snowballing decisions.  His remorse and shame at what he had done felt genuine and sincere.  He was a man who truly wanted to right his wrongs,while McGee was a man who truly wanted to learn to forgive.

Beautiful, inspiring, and touching true story.



I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.