Review: Gripping case with a great "Perry Mason Moment"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 07 11, 2011
Kindleing through Paul Alexander's "Accused" is like watching an episode of "Dragnet," and a very good, thrilling episode at that. Fast paced and straight forward "Accused" is a police procedural that has the immediacy, feel and veracity of a great piece of "Just the facts, ma'am" reporting.The story is real. It made news in 2009 in Texas when Tommy Harris, an off-duty Huston cop was involved in an early-morning fight outside a bar that resulted in the death of a Nigerian man Sylvanus Okhueleigbe.The altercation occurred after the bar's manager asked Harris to escort a waitress to her car because Okhueleigbe earlier in the evening had harassed the woman by badgering her for her phone number. In the parking lot Okhueleigbe for no apparent reason charged Harris. Harris wrestled the man to the ground. Okhueleigbe suddenly stopped breathing and was later pronounced dead at a Houston hospital.A Texas grand jury indicated Harris who was then charged with negligent homicide. "Accused" follows the case to its dramatic courtroom conclusion.Since the news was mainly of regional interest, most readers won't be aware of the outcome, or for that matter, that the events described really happened or that much of the dialogue was actually spoken and the testimony was taken verbatim from the court record. So for the many uninformed this becomes a story with real suspense and real thrills and its very own "Perry Mason Moment" of revelation.Cop and victim are two of a very large cast of characters representing all interested parties: the FBI, the local police, the prosecuting attorney's office, the defense attorney and the medical examiner's office.Everyone gets their say. Their views, opinions and statements create a fascinating account of the machinery of justice as it operates in Houston. Especially juicy are the comments and testimony of Mary Anzalone, the assistant medical examiner, who conducted the autopsy and certified the cause of death.Throughout this suspenseful yarn the accused, who thought he was being a good Samaritan and ended up facing likely ruin and jail time, remains a man caught in the middle, a guy counting on the system to work and hoping simply for justice. Does he prevail? It's worth the price of admission to find out.[Give it 4.5 stars for fast-paced thrills and real suspense]